George Osborne

Cabinet split over council house ‘rewards’ scheme for workers

Labour councillors warn against 'punishing' unemployed applicants

By:
Published April 3, 2013, in Politics


flatsThe cabinet and Labour group of city councillors are split over whether to give preferential treatment to people on Birmingham’s housing waiting list who are in work or involved in voluntary service.

Steve Bedser, the cabinet member for health and wellbeing, told a scrutiny committee that his colleagues were divided over whether to “reward” applicants for council houses on the basis that they had been able to find work or volunteered unpaid to help others.

The guidelines for Community Contribution are set out in the 2011 Localism Act and form a key plank of the coalition Government’s approach to social policy, namely that councils should recognise and help anyoen who makes an effort to get on in life.

The principle was illustrated vividly by Chancellor George Osborne at the Conservative conference in Birmingham last year when he contrasted people apparently content to stay in bed half the day and live on benefits with those who were prepared to go out and find a job.

Under a proposal being considered by Birmingham City Council, a ‘valuing community contribution’ would be

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GBSLEP hopes there’s a pot of gold at the end of Hezza’s rainbow

City waits to see if Chancellor will hand over spending budgets worth billions

By:
Published March 18, 2013, in Politics


Lord Heseltine (Photo credit: University of Salford)

 

As the last green-hatted remnants of Birmingham’s St Patrick’s Day parade staggered home through the city centre on Sunday, a group of more soberly dressed citizens laid out plans they hope will lead to the city’s very own pot of gold.

The culmination of just ten intense weeks of research and consultation, the drawn up by the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) and Tory grandee Lord Heseltine calls on the government to give the city region

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David Bailey: ‘My message to Sir Albert: Like George, you need a Plan B’

City leader has cut too far, too fast, says economist

By:
Published February 25, 2013, in Opinion


George Osborne’s ‘Plan A’ austerity drive is doing real damage to the UK economy. I have made it clear that Osborne should have had, and should now be implementing, ‘Plan B’.

Osborne’s austerity drive hits home particularly hard at the level of Birmingham City Council (BCC), which will see a like-for-like cash terms funding cut this year of £31.5m. This is on top of the £140m cut over the last two years. With a controllable expenditure of £1.3bn a year out of its £3.5bn turnover, BCC unsurprisingly now finds itself in

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George Osborne: ‘I’m Backing Birmingham’

Chancellor will do 'everything possible' to support 40,000 jobs enterprise zone

By:
Published February 22, 2013, in LEPs, Politics


georgeThe Chancellor of the Exchequer has given his personal backing to an initiative that places Birmingham at the forefront of a Government drive to reignite struggling regional economies.

George Osborne made it clear that he would do everything possible to support the new city centre enterprise zone – a unique investment vehicle that, it is claimed, will deliver 40,000 jobs through regenerating 26 key sites including Paradise Circus and the Children’s Hospital.

Mr Osborne heaped fulsome praise on the city council and the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership, the two bodies responsible for overseeing and running the zone.

Birmingham had “got its act together” in a way that other cities had not, the Chancellor said.

The enterprise zone is the latest example in a long list of efforts over many years to

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Mr Dale’s Diary: Amey sheds light on Birmingham’s heritage

The inside track on Birmingham City Council - Paul Dale's Diary

By:
Published January 15, 2013, in Mr Dale's Diary


lampYou might have thought, what with the end of local government as we know it (copyright A. Bore), that city councillors in Birmingham would be ecstatic at the thought of getting new, energy-saving, street lights on their patch.

But this is not necessarily the case for some who retain an inbuilt suspicion of the £2.5 billion contract granted to construction giants Amey to improve and manage the city’s highway’s network.

The fact that thousands of street lights in Birmingham will be replaced, making the council the envy of many other local authorities who tried but failed to conclude PFI deals before George Osborne’s financial Armageddon struck home, cuts no ice with conservation-minded councillors.

They worry that ‘unsuitable’, modern, lighting columns are being placed in Birmingham’s conservation areas, completely out of keeping with Victorian and Georgian architecture.

The issue was raised at a scrutiny committee where executives from Amey were on hand to gently explain that

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