Recently in Stacey Meadwell Category

It's been a slightly surreal day.

Got to see representatives from the cities of Manchester and Leeds standing shoulder to shoulder at a breakfast presentation and it wasn't to see who could nab the last croissant. Manchester's Sir Howard Bernstein and Jean Dent, director of development at Leeds City council were there to extol the virtues of working together as city regions.

But don't worry, a bit of champagne in the sunshine hasn't completely killed off old rivalries. Bernstein said: "There will be occasions where Leeds and Manchester have to compete."

Then it was off to the Birmingham stand for a quick interview with Leader of the Council Mike Whitby which was conducted in the back of the Jag that is on display there. It was the quietest place said the PR. You can listen to what Cllr Whitby had to say here.

Well the sun came out eventually and delegates with it. The Croisette seems less busy with branding this year and there are far fewer boats moored off-shore but Cafe Roma remains popular with its drinkers still spilling out onto the pavement.

Feels like people have got more to say compared to last year and while there aren't the big development announcements of the boom years, there is definitely a shuffling of position in readiness for a more positive market upswing.

...well the East Midland's contingent are anyway. Not content with cycling from London to Cannes two keen cyclists left Nottingham yesterday to join the official start in London tomorrow. EG's Midlands editor Lisa Pilkington has more on her blog

The sunglasses aren't even packed and the backlash has already started. The cost of Croydon Council's presence at Mipim has come under the scrutiny of local press which is questioning whether £165,000 is good use tax-payers money.

It is not a new issue but a harder pill to swallow with a bruised and battered economy and public sector spending cuts on the horizon.

The public sector will argue that Mipim is a valuable forum in which to promote regeneration projects and attract inward investment, and so it is, but try telling that to Mr and Mrs Smith of Croydon who will inevitably feel the effects of public sector penny-pinching in years to come.

Certainly if last year's austere event was to go by there will be no return of the frivolous expenditure of the boom years - Birmingham city council famously flew curry chef's over to cook 'Balti on the Beach' in 2007.

But there is a strong contingent of English councils heading to the south of France, alongside representations from Wales and Scotland. Conscious of the reaction back home their presence in Cannes might  illicit, some are keeping their plans for the show quite quiet. Indeed Birmingham city council has only just launched its Mipim website and is having a discreet invitation only dinner on the first night while Manchester has a Mipim page on its tourist board site which remains light on detail of actual events.

Leeds has decided to collaborate with its rivals Bradford, Calderdale, Kirkless and Wakefield to promote the 'Leeds City region' as a whole at the event. Whether this pooling of resources means the axe for TV's Linda Barker, who has been a regular fixture in the Bradford apartment in previous years, remains to be seen.

Sunglasses picture by Andres Rueda on Flickr and used under creative commons

The 85 cyclists are in training, LinkedIn groups are organising get-togethers and the invites to parties and events have started to appear. MIPIM 2010 is fast approaching.

Official estimates puts attendance figures on a par with 2009 at 18,000.

Last year proved to be a much more sober and less frivolous event and with 2010 expected to still be a tough year economically, I doubt there will be return to the levels of indulgence (and silly canapes) enjoyed during the boom times.
Although there are signs that one or two parties that disappeared last year are making a return, albeit in a slightly scaled down format.

The public sector is facing spending cuts post the election and with many a regeneration project stuck in the recession mire, it will be interesting to see how the UK's cities and regions promote themselves and indeed what they decide to promote.