A forum for open discussion on communities and local government policy.

Core Cities, Smaller Cities and Larger Towns

Cities and towns are crucial to the future of England. They are hubs of economic growth, but also represent some of the major challenges of social deprivation and inequalities.

The cities and towns of England are performing better than 20 years ago, but there is still room for improvement: most still lag behind their counterparts in Europe and North America on a range of indicators.

The Government is working to improve the economic performance and social cohesion of cities and towns. In 2005, the Government held a range of Summits with the eight Core Cities (Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield); and is now working with each Core City to develop an individual Business Case.

This spring and summer, the Government is holding a series of summits with Smaller Cities and Larger Towns, mainly of populations between 500 000 and 125 000; which will lead to a Menu of Enabling Measures from which local authorities will be able to choose measures suited to their own cities and towns.

The Government is currently working with both the eight English Core Cities and smaller cities and larger towns to discuss how they can achieve their visions.

  • Major themes already identified include economic development, transport and connectivity, skills and employment, regeneration (including housing and planning), sport and culture, and the environment. Do you think these are the most important themes?
  • What do you see as the main barriers and enablers to help cities and towns achieve stronger economic performance and social cohesion? And what can Government do to help?

previous discussion

Closing Comments

Posted by Kenneth Cameron on 27/09/2006 - 16:04

Thank you for these contributions on the subject of Core Cities, Smaller Cities and Larger Towns. It is helpful to hear your views, and we will take account of them.

This webforum discussion forms part of DCLG’s Cities and Towns programme, in which we are speaking with cities and towns across England, in particular key stakeholders, about their vision, what will enable and hinder achieving that vision, and how the Government can help.

Ministers have undertaken a number of Summits in 2005 and 2006, with Core Cities, Small and Medium Cities and Larger Towns; as well as two webchats in May 2006; and we have heard a wide range of comments and suggestions from cities and towns.

We are continuing to work with Core Cities, Smaller Cities and Larger Towns in helping them to achieve their vision, and will be responding to their business cases and working with them on their Local Area Agreements over the next few months.

Thank you again for your contributions. You have raised a number of interesting points, and we would like to respond briefly to three of them.

more

Topic space closed

Posted by Ross on 07/08/2006 - 13:59

Hello.

This topic space has now closed.

Follow-up comments from the relevant policy team will appear shortly.

The forum will reopen in September. You will be updated by email.

The Hansard Society is currently compiling its evaluation of these exercises and will publish the data also in September.

Best wishes,

Ross Ferguson
Hansard Society eDemocracy Programme

Cities and towns

Posted by D.J.Waring on 07/06/2006 - 19:43

It would seem somewhat futile to debate the issue without considering the impact of London on the economy of the country.
The ODPM has encouraged extensive development in the SE to feed the demands for a workforce in that region.
If towns and cities elsewhere are to benefit there is a need to discourage further development in the SE and encourage development in the regions.
This should initially focus on reconstituting a viable transport infrastructure. Specifically investment in small railheads so freight can be shipped by Rail to communities.
Perhaps we should also consider the need for industrial start up units at a peppercorn rent. To encourage the development of small local firms.
Social cohesion will be a significant problem, this has been and will be further aggravated over the coming decades as a result of ill considered policies at the National level.
There is increasing frustration in the regions with Central Government and its reactive policy making.
We will experience significant environmental problems over the next century and we need to think strategically to try to ensure we can cope with the projected changes.
Lets have a properly thought out roadmap of National and regional development which will give us a low emission prosperous future.
The road map needs to address industrial financing, agriculture, transport, housing, utilities and public services such as education, health and local and regional government. These latter need to be streamlined and focussed on enabling local economies not replacing them.
Social cohesion problems will spread as a result of years of ill considered policiies and poor departmental governance.
There is little that can now be done to mitigate against this and we can but hope that peoples worst fears will not be realised.

cities

Posted by vbjeeby on 24/05/2006 - 21:08

It would be foolhardy to believe that city and rural perspectives on life are similar and that the city region model could be practical. Small cities will always struggle in terms of infrastucture as economies of scale make major investments, for instance in rapid transit systems, impractical other than in big cities (subject of course to sufficient long term vision and commitment from central goverment) Much of the growth in the M11 corridor will be dotted about in penny packets of a few thousand dwellings here and a few thousand there. None of this development is capable of being truly sustainable. What is needed is a significant relocation of greenbelts to allow our smaller cities to expand to a minimum population of 500k and a halt to development in villages and market towns other than for affordable housing for local families.

City-Regions

Posted by Acorn on 23/05/2006 - 12:06

For the last couple of decades, market forces have been quietly answering the five questions you have posed in this forum. There is an excellent report on this website which is a summary of what has been happening naturally “A Framework for City-Regions”. It will be a very bold Minister that turns this into an Act of Parliament, particularly as government departments are all carving up the nation to fit their own remits. Health Authorities are currently re-arranging the deck chairs into patterns that will have little meaning to the people that use their services. There will be no recognisable geographic, demographic or topographic structure to any of them; they may be shaped on some “business model”, but certainly not on a recognisable natural “community model”.

It is time to press the pause button on these departments while the new ODPM decides what the structure will be - in England at least – below Whitehall. The City-Region model seems the natural – and probably natures - way to go and it needs to be done quickly or as the King would say “…a little less conversation a little more action please…”

more

Welcome

Posted by Ross on 18/05/2006 - 13:50

We hope that you will find this forum a useful way to contribute to the consultation on the future of local government.

Contributors should feel free to add their name, position and organisation to posts if they wish. It could help contextualise some people's comments, but of course some people might prefer the anonymity.

Regards,

Moderation Team