May 2011

A question of scale: a challenge for the Black Country LEP

By:
Published May 22, 2011, in LEPs


Image by Getty Images via @daylife

The thinktank this week published an excellent overview of the state of play of Local Enterprise Partnerships across the UK.

The report, , succinctly presents the challenges for the country’s 33 LEPs, particuarly around the need to avoid mission creep and to ensure the private sector’s pre-eminence in the partnerships is maintained.

But in the stats to support the report, there’s a stark fact that should give the Black Country LEP pause for thought.

During last summer’s chaotic formation of the LEPs () , the burning question in the West Midlands was whether  Birmingham and the Black Country could work in unison. After weeks of wrangling and dispute, the parochialism of the region won out, and the two went their separate ways.

Birmingham, however, has since welcomed into the camp , neatly illustrating the need for LEPs to cover ‘natural economic areas’.

Continues…

Leicester’s new elected mayor flexes his political muscle

By:
Published May 21, 2011, in Elected mayors


Image via Wikipedia

Sir Peter Soulsby, Leicester’s new elected mayor, to turn the authority’s news sheet into a pro-Labour organ.

Hardly the biggest issue for the new mayor to get his teeth into, but interesting to see him taking a position to ensure party political neutrality.

Independence from their party’s central leadership, of course, is a hallmark of the mayoralties of both Boris and Ken in London, and as the first elected mayor of an English core city, Soulsby’s position relative to Miliband et al will be closely watched.

Full article .

Related articles
  • (news.google.com)
  • (news.google.com)
  • (news.google.com)
  • (news.google.com)

Home of Fiat inspires Simon’s mayoral bid for Brum

By:
Published May 18, 2011, in Elected mayors, Politics


Prospective Birmingham mayoral candidate Sion Simon

Birmingham’s only serious mayoral candidate so far, Sion Simon, has used an interview with a marketing writer to unveil what seem to be some of his key campaigning messages.

Talking to Tom Holmes of , Simon rehearses some familiar observations of Brum punching beneath its weight, its natives’ self-deprecation etc etc.

What may be of more interest to the city’s growing band of mayor-watchers, however, is the revelation of where he gets his inspiration.

His enthusiasm for , and its similarity to Birmingham as a former auto-city with considerable industrial and social challenges comes through, as well as his belief that the latter can learn some serious lessons from the former. He says:

I’ve been learning about , the mayor of Torino. The home of FIAT, Turin has a similar automotive and industrial heritage to Birmingham, and also found itself facing a lot of similar problems when Chiamparino came to office over a decade ago.

Two years before he did, though, his predecessor, , set up what they called the “Torino Internazionale”. It brought together the 120 major stakeholder institutions in a single organisation which spent two years drawing up a “piano strategico”.

Continues…

Could your local council run prisons and cop shops?

By:
Published May 17, 2011, in Politics


The wants MPs to think radically as the Localism Bill enters its report stage this week, urging them to push the principles of Localism to the limit.

Director Simon Parker says:

“Measures such as the proposed community ‘right to bid’ have the potential to turn government upside down – giving communities radical new powers over their councils. Now we need to see the relationship between central and local government similarly upended, with councils given the right to bid for central government services – making a case to take over aspects of service areas such as welfare, criminal justice and policing”

Related articles
  • (libdemvoice.org)
  • (train4tradeskills.wordpress.com)
  • (femaleimagination.wordpress.com)

Labour’s Flint hedges on elected mayors

By:
Published May 17, 2011, in Elected mayors, Politics


Caroline Flint

Caroline Flint, shadow communities minister, wants to block the imposition of shadow mayors later this year almost two years ahead of potential ‘real’ elections to the posts, reports the It says:

‘Actual elections for the directly elected mayors would only be held in 2013. Ms Flint said: ‘The Tory led government is imposing shadow mayors on cities regardless of whether they want one or not. That’s both unfair and undemocratic.

“Elected mayors can offer effective leadership. But it must be up to local people to decide, not the Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles, sitting in his office in Whitehall.” ‘

She’s not alone in pointing out the absurdity of the leaders of defeated political parties continuing to hold the reins of power until the new system comes in – the scenario in Birmingham is getting many hot under the collar, as the

Flint’s solution, however, is not entirely clear. Labour has tabled an in the relevant part of the , striking out the offending sections, but suggesting nothing in their place. This would result in the retention of the petition trigger threshold for a mayoral referenda that Labour put in place more than ten years ago – with notably lacklustre results in the major cities outside of London.

Flint can probably expect to garner widespread support across the party divide for this particular intervention, but councillors of all hues - to pretty much all of the Localism Bill – will be wishing she’d gone further and put the mayoral issue to bed once and for all.

Related articles
  • (guardian.co.uk)
  • (drunsfleet.wordpress.com)
  • (blogs.birminghampost.net)
« Older Entries

  • Chamber Tweets

  • Published by

    .

  • Subscribe


  • Weekly bulletins

 
%d bloggers like this: