Planning for growth: The role of Local Enterprise Partnerships in England

Posted on: 12 March 2014
By: mackene
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Following the abolition of regional plans, a major question is how to effectively undertake strategic planning to support economic growth objectives as well as sustainable development principles. The Royal Town Planning Institute is undertaking a project in order to examine the potential of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), from a limited start, to become part of a strategic mechanism to plan for growth. It will produce clear policy recommendations regarding alternative strategic mechanisms for combining economic growth and sustainable development. The report reviews the development of LEPs so far and analyses their role in relation to the statutory planning system. It also considers the potential of alternative strategic planning mechanisms.

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Birmingham Curzon HS2 Draft Masterplan

Posted on: 5 March 2014
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The Birmingham Curzon HS2 Draft Masterplan presents the proposed HS2 railway as a once in a century opportunity to radically enhance the City’s national rail connectivity and accelerate its economic growth potential. The new line and terminus will provide a catalyst to transform areas of the City Centre and unlock major regeneration sites. The Draft Masterplan covers over 140ha of the Eastside and Digbeth quarters and the eastern fringe of the City Centre Core, providing a detailed framework and principles to guide development, regeneration and connectivity to ensure that the City can capitalise upon the arrival of the HS2 railway. It also builds on the policies originally proposed in the Eastside Masterplan. Comments are requested by 24 April 2014.

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The effectiveness of port-city policies: A comparative approach

Posted on: 17 January 2014
By: mackene
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The relation between ports and their cities have evolved: it is no longer evident that well-functioning ports have automatically a net positive impact on the port-city. There are various trajectories and many ports and port-cities attempt to stimulate port-city development by a range of public policies. Yet, little is known about effectiveness of policies to promote performance of ports and port-cities. This paper aims at filling this gap, by assessing the effectiveness of port-city policies, within various policy areas including port development, port-city economic development, transportation, environment, research and development, spatial development and communication. This is done via a principal component analysis (PCA), based on a database constructed for the purpose of this paper with outcome variables and scores of policies for a set of 27 large world port-cities, that makes it possible to identify policies that are associated with effective policy outcomes and show patterns of related policy outcomes and policies.

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Advancing the UDC model: Lessons learned from West Northamptonshire Development Corporation

Posted on: 16 January 2014
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This report tells the story of the last of the current generation of so called benign Urban Development Corporations (UDCs). Its sister organisations Thurrock and London Thames Gateway have now been wound up because of the coalition government’s shift away from quangos and adoption of ‘localism’. However, West Northamptonshire has been given its full 10 year lifespan to see the job through. It will wind up operations in March 2014. As well as assessing how well West Northamptonshire Development Corporation has done, this report also discusses the wider policy lessons and considers whether Urban Development Corporations still have a role to play in future regeneration policy.

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European Capitals of Culture: Success strategies and long-term effects

Posted on: 3 January 2014
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A new study carried out for the European Parliament assesses the long-term effects of hosting the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) Programme. Since 1985 the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) title has been awarded to nearly 60 cities in 30 countries. Over time, the programme has become an important tool for city positioning and a catalyst for economic and cultural regeneration. There are often immediate cultural, social and economic returns and, although harder to evidence, the ECoC’s potential for securing long-term benefits, such as changing the image of a city or developing tourism, has grown. The study highlights common approaches and success strategies adopted by cities. It also documents the strongest claims that the ECoC has had long-term effects and analyses recurrent challenges for the programme to reach its full potential. This report contains a very long bibliography.

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Funding and structures for local economic growth

Posted on: 6 December 2013
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The National Audit has published a report which argues that it has not yet been demonstrated that funding mechanisms introduced by the government for supporting local economic growth are capable of delivering value for money.

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Driving urban regeneration, sustainable living, employment and entrepreneurship

Posted on: 19 November 2013
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The objective of the URBACT Markets project led by the Spanish city of Barcelona is to understand and explore the role of urban markets as key drivers of change in terms of local economic development, regeneration and sustainable living.. The project is structured in three main themes: town centre regeneration; low carbon economy; and  employment and entrepreneurship. A set of three thematic Guidelines written up by Barcelona, London and Torino have been developed to support this process and are now available.

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Leipzig and urban development funds

Posted on: 7 November 2013
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The City of Leipzig is project partner in the URBACT network “CSI Europe” which is led by the City of Manchester and which focusses on urban development funds. The focus of each city is to implement new financial instruments on a local level. This article features an interview with Karsten Gerkens, Head of the Office for Urban Re-generation and Residential Development of the City of Leipzig.

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Globalised urban regeneration: Opportunities for aspirational regeneration

Posted on: 7 November 2013
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Urban regeneration has been transformed in recent years from being a concern primarily of the Global North, to a world-wide phenomenon. Governments of all political shades pursue regeneration strategies and projects that impact on investment decisions and the lives of millions of people world-wide. This conference and book launch, in association with Routledge, to be held at London South Bank University on 6 February 2014, provides a timely forum for the elaboration and discussion of the latest research, debates and controversies in urban regeneration. Visit the event to hear from eminent experts in the field and join in with the panel discussion.

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Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership: Spatial Plan for Recovery and Growth

Posted on: 16 October 2013
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The Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP has published a draft spatial plan, the first draft city-region spatial plan drawn up by a local enterprise partnership. Subject to an annual review and update, the plan is intended to outline the “broad scale and distribution of growth for housing and employment sites” in the city region as well as transport infrastructure and environmental initiatives.

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