Older blog posts
Jen Rickard
11 Jan 2012
Although now symbolic, in medieval England freedom of the city was originally conveyed to signify that someone enjoyed a ‘free status’, had the right to trade, earn money and participate fully in the economy. The parallel for decentralisation to cities from the state is similar in this one respect. Cities drive growth, and they do best when freed from central constraint. Core Cities Group has laboured over this single, critical message for more than 15 years, building evidence and positive argument, and many others have made very significant contributions particularly in recent years.
‘Unlocking City Growth’, launched at a recent IPPR North event by the Deputy Prime Minister, and the Minister for Cities Greg Clark MP, is therefore very much welcomed by...
Jen Rickard
30 Sep 2011
Its party conference season again, and Core Cities are holding events at all three. The debate and polemic are high this year, with much at stake for each of the parties and for many of the other stakeholders, not least of all our major cities.
The economy tends to divide political opinion, but there are some critical issues that all parties do agree on, and one of them is, increasingly, devolution to cities and their local authorities to drive growth. Core Cities Group worked with the Coalition Government and the Opposition over the Summer to refine an amendment to the Localism Bill which aims to achieve exactly this. Championed by Lord McKenzie (Labour), Lord Shipley (Governments Adviser on Cities – Lib Dem), Lord Tope (Lib Dem) and Baroness Hanham (Conservative), it went through debate in the...
Jen Rickard
17 Jun 2011
When there’s less finance to go round, it stands to reason it must be used more efficiently; but that’s not just about creating savings, its also about getting the best return you can on your investment.
Forecasts undertaken for Core Cities LEP areas (‘Our Cities, Our Future’, 2011) have shown that an additional 1million jobs and £44billion economic output could be achieved in our cities within the next decade. This is dependant on a number of growth factors, some of which are global influences, but others are more local, including a decentralised approach to investment, for example for infrastructure, targeting it where it will get the best results.
The Localism Bill offers an opportunity to back up the debate on localism with real action, creating a binding narrative around other localist and...