July 2013

How plain talking Bob faced down extremists

Waseem Zaffar salutes Bob Jones' efforts to smooth tensions

By:
Published July 26, 2013, in Opinion, Police Commissioners


Bob Jones

In recent weeks, when tensions have been running high in Birmingham and the West Midlands with three mosques attacked and an 82 year old pensioner brutally murdered outside a mosque, many in senior positions from all parties have remained silent. Bob Jones, by contrast, has been steadfast and vocal. His solidarity with all communities hasn’t gone unnoticed.

At times, some have challenged his proactive approach and his frankness, but Bob is an honest man with real integrity. Fairness and equality underpin all his work.

His statement prior to the visit of the EDL to Birmingham was the strongest stance taken by an official during the four years that the EDL have been holding ‘static’ demonstrations in Birmingham:

“With the significant challenges that the West Midlands Police and the  community of Birmingham face, the disruption and potential disorder  seen at previous events in Walsall and Dudley is totally unwanted by the vast majority of the population.

The demonstration will cause anxiety and is an attempt to exploit recent incidents. This protest is a distraction from ensuring that  victims of those incidents and their families get the justice they  deserve.  Police time is better spent in neighbourhoods tackling the crimes which matter most to local people.”

Furthermore, Bob has been hugely approachable and accessible to all communities. I and many others have arranged meetings between Bob and various groups in the past few weeks, including Muslim community activists, Imams and scholars, Mosque trustees, young Muslims and groups of non-Muslims concerned at the rise of Islamophbia and other hate crime.

There has been a clear expectation of Bob to take leadership on behalf of his electorate and seek a solution to the important issue of far-right extremism. He has not let us down.

This weekend’s EDL demonstration in Birmingham sought to spread hatred and divide a super-diverse city which is home to people from all over the world. Since 2007, people from 187 different countries have made Birmingham their home. Our cohesive Birmingham stood tall in unity while a couple of thousand unpleasant and unwanted one-day-immigrants wrestled with the Police on our streets.

Fresh hope for a Greater Birmingham authority – but only if council leaders can agree

Manchester, Yorkshire, Newcastle and Liverpool in radical push to regional governance

By:
Published July 26, 2013, in LEPs, WM2015


A little over two years ago the metropolitan councils of Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Manchester, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, and Wigan formed the Greater Manchester combined local authority with powers to oversee transport, economic development and regeneration.

This was the first small but significant step towards regional governance since John Prescott’s ill-judged 2001 plan for regional assemblies, and there were many pundits ready to suggest that other conurbations across England and Wales would quickly follow Manchester’s example.

Certainly, the Greater Manchester authorities had already been working together for several years in a more informal organisation and were  in well equipped to formalise the arrangements.  It is true, however, that the case for combined authorities has been given a boost by the emergence of Local Enterprise Partnerships, which have been handed responsibility for delivering economic development across council borders through the Regional Growth Fund.

Guidance issued by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills refers specifically to the type of collective governance arrangements that LEP councils may wish to consider, including combined authorities, a joint leaders’ board or economic prosperity board.

As ever, the Government is making it clear that any move towards a combined authority must be locally driven. “We are not prescribing any fixed way of working”, the guidance notes.

This reluctance to require councils to form regional bodies means that it is

Continues…

Seconds out for the great Local Growth Fund fight

LEPs to fight each other for share of £1 billion: further devolution of budgets 'exception rather than norm', Government warns

By:
Published July 25, 2013, in WM2015


Half of the £2 billion a year Local Growth Fund earmarked for Local Enterprise Partnerships will be subject to a competitive bidding process, the Government has confirmed.

The country’s 39 LEPs are being invited to fight each other for a share of £1 billion and decisions on awarding cash will be based on the robustness of local strategic economic plans.

A further £1 billion a year is to be allocated by Whitehall for major transportation schemes, housing and the development of workforce skills.

Initial guidance for LEPs on growth deals released by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) makes it clear there will be winners and losers: “Competition is an important means of driving better investment, collaboration, commitment, ambition and innovation.

Continues…

Everything you need to know about LEPs, regional government and grand devolution promises

The eternal struggle between Whitehall control and local government shows no sign of ending any time soon

By:
Published July 25, 2013, in WM2015


It is almost 30 years since the West Midlands County Council disappeared along with the other English metropolitan counties and the Greater London Council, sacrificed on the altar of Thatcherite mistrust of local government.

Since then Governments of various political shades – Labour, Conservative and today’s Tory-Lib Dem coalition – have wrestled, most unconvincingly at times, with the pressing matter of what to do about regional administration.

Who in the West Midlands should take responsibility at a strategic level for planning, housing, economic development, transport and skills. And just as importantly, how much of the funding to deliver agreed priorities should be handed down by national government and what proportion should be generated locally? These are the issues that grind round and round in a never ending circle of indecision and unmet promises.

The matter of funding leads naturally to fundamental questions about democracy and accountability. If Whitehall sets the budgets and approves or disapproves of major capital projects, as has so often been the case since the 1980s, is there really any such thing as local decision making?

Who now remembers the early days of Tony Blair’s 1997-2001 government and the Your Region Your Choice debacle? This was John Prescott’s attempt to persuade the English regions that they really should have their own assemblies, just like Wales and Scotland.

Prescott and Blair chose the three regions where support for a directly elected assembly was thought to be the greatest – the North-east, North-west and Yorkshire and Humberside.

Tony Blair put it like this in an introduction to the regional government white paper: “This gives people

Continues…

WM2015

RJF is launching a special series to explore the progress of localism and what stakeholders in our area want for 2015 and beyond.

By:
Published July 25, 2013, in WM2015


An Introduction to WM2015

Kevin Johnson – Partner, RJF

Local institutions paint a complicated picture.

The Coalition Government began its administration signalling that ‘localism’ and locally driven economic growth would be among its principal priorities. Prime Minister David Cameron has even mentioned localism in the same breath as deficit reduction and national health.

Three years in and we have just one directly elected mayor resulting from the May 2012 referendum and 39 under resourced LEPs. Lord Heseltine’s attempt to shift the tectonic plates in Whitehall has left quite a few big stones unturned. In adjoining policy areas, Police and Crime Commissioners are proving controversial – some are (shock) exercising their power to sack Chief Constables and at least one never fails to remind us he doesn’t really want the job. Transport – below the strata of blue ribband airport and high speed rail megaprojects – remains as complicated as ever with a myriad of agencies all battling to run the signal boxes.

The Comprehensive Spending Review last month effectively signalled the start of the run in to the 2015 General Election campaign. As the parties begin gearing up their manifestos and the think tanks go into overdrive to pump out new ideas, RJF is launching a special series to explore the progress of localism and what stakeholders in our area want beyond 2015 when it comes to civic leadership and local democracy, economic development, skills and employability, housing and planning, transport and police and crime.

We will be taking a neutral and independent approach to WM2015, looking to engage  MPs and ministers, councillor and activists, advisers and think tanks with key players in our region to make sure the next Parliament makes more progress in delivering powers and budgets to locally accountable and fit for purpose bodies.

RJF’s political blog, the Chamberlain News, will have a dedicated section featuring all the articles as part of WM2015. RJF will publish a set of briefing papers and policy backgrounders as well as running a series of workshops and seminars from the Autumn. We want to hear from you, with comments, blog posts and as panellists. If you are interested in shaping and taking part in WM2015, please drop .

The articles, papers and events will consider a number of key themes, including:

  • Moving Bolders: What Next for LEPs after Heseltine?
  • The end of local government as we know it – how are local authorities coping?
  • The M Word – should Metro Mayors be on the Manifesto wish lists?
  • Democratic Deficit – how do we make local bodies accountable and engaged?
  • Police and Crime Commissioners – still on policy probation?
  • Off the rails – the future of locally driven public transport.

We start the WM2015 series today with a special feature from Chamberlain News lead blogger Paul Dale charting the course from the abolition of the old West Midlands County Council to today and in particular the story of LEPs. Today also sees the publication of the Government’s response to the BIS Select Committee report on LEPs which we will be analysing.

Follow @ChamberlainFiles and @RJFPA or the #WM2015 hashtag for updates and don’t forget to drop us a line if you want to shape ideas ready for the next election.

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