Tag Archives: RGF

The case for a ‘local growth pact’…

By , Friday, 11 May 2012, Be the first to comment

One of the most striking political contrasts of early May was between Presidential elections in France and Local Government elections in England. In France we had M.Hollande elected on a turnout over 80% whilst in England we struggled to achieve 32%. One of the most striking economic policy contrasts is between M.Hollande’s priority to agree a European Growth Pact, and a Queen’s Speech in the UK widely reported as NOT providing the ‘answer to growth’.

Perhaps it is facile to link these contrasts. However, given the publics’ undoubted economic concerns, surely IF local political leaderships were putting forward radical, decisive and credible economic growth propositions, these would be of significant public (electoral?) interest. So, is there now a case for ‘local growth pacts’ (to match M. Hollande’s continental ambitions)? And, if so, what might these look like and how might they be delivered?

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Ten questions government should answer about the Regional Growth Fund

By , Saturday, 14 April 2012, 2 Comments

Will government be transparent about RGF?

On the balance of probabilities, Regional Growth Fund (RGF) is neither a ‘national scandal’ nor ‘the best thing since sliced bread’ – but you would never know this from the information Government has made available about the Programme. The Department for Business Innovation and Skills (DBIS) ‘transparency’ web page starts “BIS is committed to providing the public with information on the performance and productivity of the department”. With applications for £1bn available for RGF Round 3 closing on 13th June, the public, and particularly potential applicants, would benefit from clear, evidenced answers by DBIS to the following ten questions.

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Making Local Economic Sense of the Budget…

By , Monday, 26 March 2012, Be the first to comment

My last blog questioned ‘What are LEPs for’, and made suggestions about how to organise to deliver different LEP roles and functions. Last week’s budget was somewhat disappointing in helping to clarify these important issues. Government is still (in Vince Cable’s own words) ‘lacking a compelling vision of where the country is heading’, and nowhere is this more evident than in government’s approach to local economic growth.

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Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice – What is your LEP made of?

By , Tuesday, 13 March 2012, Be the first to comment

The popular nursery rhyme ‘What are little boys made of’ was the inspiration for The Searchers’ 1963 hit single ‘Sugar and Spice’ (as a response to the question ‘what are little girls made of?’). As Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) finalise their 2012/13 Budgets and Business Plans, I have been asking myself (and those LEP Boards with whom I am working) whether they are now clear ‘what their LEP is for?’ and, therefore, ‘what they need to be made of’ in the coming financial year and beyond.

It is important that LEPs do ask themselves those questions – ideally in that order – because my observation is that we are seeing LEPs take on widely varying roles and functions. These require quite different resourcing, organisation arrangements, and responses/support from local authorities, business and other partners if LEPs are to be effective.

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Regional Growth Fund still doesn’t add up…

By , Monday, 30 January 2012, 1 Comment

Regeneration and Renewal, and this blog in particular, has previously (November 2011) questioned government’s approach to Regional Growth Fund (RGF) and their claims for its effectiveness and value-for-money. There is virtually no transparency in the process by which applications have been appraised and approved, and scant assurance on the manner in which jobs created/safeguarded and private sector leverage have been calculated.

With bidding for the next round of funding (worth up to £1billion) due to be launched in February, it is now an appropriate moment to return to government to demand a transparency and accountability for RGF decision-taking and implementation that matches their rhetoric and purported values.

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’Unlocking growth in cities’…’Unlocking incoherence in government’

By , Tuesday, 17 January 2012, Be the first to comment

Clegg and Clark’s announcement of ‘new city deals’ in December 2011 was broadly welcomed as a positive outcome of the Core Cities Group engagement with the Localism Bill (now Act), and was presented as a radical opportunity for putting Government’s ambitions for local growth and decentralisation into practice. It provided some localism and decentralist seasonal cheer from our Minister for Cities AND Decentralisation (not forgetting ‘Big Society’ and ‘Planning Policy’) at the end of a long arduous 2011.

In the cold light of 2012, however, Government’s ‘offer’ (in ‘Unlocking Growth in Cities’) appears incoherent and incomplete. How can cities, LEPs and other local partners turn it into something that will actually do ‘what it says on the tin’?

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Do they know it’s Xmas…?

By , Sunday, 18 December 2011, 1 Comment

I must admit I still always feel a shiver down my spine, a lump in my throat, and a need to temper watery eyes, when my favourite Xmas Number One of all time – the original Band Aid version from 1984 – comes on. In a somewhat more prosaic context, I suspect many economic development professionals will have similar feelings about 2011 when they reflect back on government’s approach to the subject area we love and into which we put our professional energies.

In recent years the race to become Xmas Number One has pitted manufactured (un)reality-show pop-floss against edgy, darker musical and social statements. Similarly, in 2011, the Coalition’s superficial lip-service to local growth and development is countered by the much more problematic, perverse experience of practitioners in our cities and communities. Indeed, major features of 2011 bring to mind a number of Xmas Number Ones of both the superficial and the edgy variety.

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Towards an industrial policy for local economies

By , Monday, 17 October 2011, 3 Comments

Local economic leadership teams need a local industrial policy. This case, and how to set about achieving it, is likely to be at the forefront of a workshop – ‘Delivering Local Policies for Manufacturing’ – hosted by the institute for Manufacturing (IfM) at Cambridge University this week[1]. With bold leadership and sustained commitment a credible industrial strategy can be formulated, agreeed and can deliver economic growth in local economies.

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Economic Success – more than a ‘hole in one’

By , Monday, 18 July 2011, Be the first to comment

The marvellous scenes from the British Open Golf Championship this weekend, and Darren Clarke’s immensely popular victory, has projected Sandwich in Kent positively to a global audience. This should assist the Sandwich Economic Development Task Force (SEDTF) – set up in the wake of Pfizers decision to close its pharmaceuticals R&D facility with the loss of 2400 jobs – to promote the location for inward investment.

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