A report said that cuts to the funding that local councils in England received from central government had forced a reduction of between 16 and 44 per cent in councils' spending on 'pro-growth' services such as roads and transport, culture, housing, planning, and development.
Source: Tony Travers, Local Government's Role in Promoting Economic Growth: Removing unnecessary barriers to success, Local Government Association
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Dec
A report examined ways of promoting the economic growth of cities.
Source: Alexandra Jones and Tom Bolton (eds), Plan C for Cities, Centre for Cities
Date: 2012-Nov
A government-commissioned report set out a comprehensive economic plan designed to improve the country s ability to create wealth. It made the case for a major rebalancing of responsibilities for economic development between central and local government, and between government and the private sector.
Source: Michael Heseltine, No Stone Unturned in Pursuit of Growth, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Report | Review press release | Heseltine speech | DBIS press release | BCC press release | CBI press release | Core Cities press release | Institute for Government press release | IOD press release | Labour Party press release | LGA press release | Localis press release | NPI blog post | REC press release | TCPA press release | TUC press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Inside Housing report | Public Finance report | Telegraph report (1) | Telegraph report (2)
Date: 2012-Oct
A report said that strong partnerships between local councils and the property industry were crucial to bringing forward investment and development to create jobs and drive growth in local economies. It called for the removal of a series of 'blockages' preventing councils and the private sector from investing in economic development.
Source: Unlocking Growth through Partnership, British Property Federation/Local Government Association
Links: Report | BPF press release
Date: 2012-Oct
A report said that countries in Europe that over-invested in capital cities and under-invested in second-tier cities were less economically competitive over the long term.
Source: Michael Parkinson et al., Second Tier Cities and Territorial Development in Europe: Performance, policies and prospects, ESPON Programme (European Commission)/European Institute of Urban Affairs (Liverpool John Moores University)
Links: Report | Technical report | Core Cities press release
Date: 2012-Oct
A briefing paper examined town centre regeneration. Notwithstanding significant efforts by central and local government, many high streets and town centres were still in decline. The Portas Review had identified many of the problems as national in nature, but both it and other investigations had also identified a multiplicity of highly local causes.
Source: Ed Hammond, High Street and Town Centre Regeneration, Centre for Public Scrutiny
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Oct
A think-tank report said that local enterprise partnerships in England risked being seen as ineffective and losing business support. An 'overwhelming majority' of business leaders surveyed were ready to reconsider their involvement unless considerably more progress were made. The report called for the partnerships to be established as legal bodies with real accountability, and to be given a greater role in awarding regional growth fund cash.
Source: Nye Cominetti, Lizzie Crowley, and Neil Lee, The Business of Cities: The private sector, local enterprise partnerships and growth, Work Foundation
Links: Report | Public Finance report
Date: 2012-Oct
A think-tank report examined local authority pension funds. Many funds were starting to take an interest in local capital projects (such as social housing) that offered wider socio-economic benefits as part of their investment strategies. The report called for smarter government initiatives and set out an agenda for alternative local investment.
Source: Local Authority Pension Funds: Investing for Growth, Smith Institute
Links: Report | Public Finance report
Date: 2012-Sep
A think-tank report said that local councils in England often made decisions on their property portfolios 'without wider regard for the strategic importance of their holdings'. In the past, this had resulted in assets being sold to the highest bidder rather than being used to achieve the best possible local growth and investment. It said that councils should consider buying private buildings and land to boost local regeneration initiatives and create additional revenue; and they should also take into account any negative impact on the local economy of selling off their own properties and land.
Source: Joe Manning, More Light, More Power: Reimagining public asset management, New Local Government Network
Links: Summary | Public Finance report
Date: 2012-Sep
The coalition government announced that it had agreed to devolve new powers to England's eight largest ('core') cities, in order to help them invest in local growth, jobs, and skills.
Source: Written Ministerial Statement 5 July 2012, columns 63-65WS, House of Commons Hansard, TSO
Links: Hansard | DCLG press release | DPM press release | CBI press release | CCG press release | Centre for Cities press release | Labour Party press release | LGA press release | SERC blog post | BBC report | Guardian report | Inside Housing report | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Jul
A think-tank report examined the role of local government in funding infrastructure at the local level. A lack of financial freedom over local revenues restricted local government's ability to finance capital projects. Policies such as localized business rates retention was a small first step in the right direction. Central government should work with local authorities to explore ways to introduce more financial freedoms and flexibilities into the local government finance system.
Source: Zach Wilcox, Joe Sarling, and Ewan Wright, Banking on Growth: Trends in local government funding and finance, Centre for Cities
Date: 2012-Jul
The coalition government began consultation on proposals to make it easier for temporary or 'pop-up' shops to utilize vacant high street premises.
Source: New Opportunities for Sustainable Development and Growth Through the Reuse of Existing Buildings: Consultation, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Consultation document | DCLG press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Jul
Government guidance set out ways in which under-utilized urban spaces could be used to revitalize high streets and town centres – increasing high street vitality, attracting 'footfall', and boosting local economies.
Source: Re-Imagining Urban Spaces to Help Revitalise Our High Streets, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Guidance | DCLG press release | Living Streets press release
Date: 2012-Jul
Date: 2012-Jun
Date: 2012-Jun
An article examined whether 'league table' orderings for the economic performance of local areas were robust to the use of spatial units other than the local authority. It concentrated primarily on the overall index from the recently published index of multiple deprivation for England. It was found that local economic performance league table standings could exhibit marked sensitivity to the adopted definition of local area.
Source: Michael Nolan, Michael Reynolds, and Stephen Trotter, 'Does the local economic performance league table lie? Concentric banding and the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2010', Local Economy, Volume 27 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-May
A think-tank report said that local government needed to seize a new role as social venture capitalists to unblock stalled developments and seed-fund new jobs. It urged councils to collaborate in setting up 'revolving investment funds' that sought a commercial return from investments driving local economic growth. By combining their borrowing power, councils could raise vitally needed finance to help make up the over £4 billion drop in regional development funding since the election of the coalition government in 2010.
Source: Joe Manning and Daria Kuznetsova, Grow Your Own: Skills and infrastructure for local economic growth, New Local Government Network
Links: Summary | Public Finance report
Date: 2012-Apr
A think-tank report examined the potential role of universities in encouraging local and regional economic growth.
Source: Katie Schmuecker and Will Cook, Beyond Bricks and Mortar Boards: Universities and the future of regional economic development, Institute for Public Policy Research
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Feb
A think-tank report said that without proper resources the new system of local economic partnerships would lack the scale and scope to foster the economic growth needed in the English regions.
Source: Michael Ward and Sally Hardy (eds.), Changing Gear: Is localism the new regionalism?, Smith Institute
Links: Report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2012-Feb