Communities and Local Government

• Cities and regions
• Implementing the SNR
• Key urban policy achievements since 2000

Cities and regions

Key urban policy achievements since 2000

1. From 2000 to 2006, the urban renaissance in England has gathered pace and momentum.The centre of major cities like Manchester, Birmingham and Newcastle have been transformed with iconic buildings, new retail and leisure facilities, and public open space and are now home to new populations of city-dwellers and workers.
2. The Government published an Urban White Paper, 'Our Towns and Cities: The Future' in 2000, which identified a range of measures (policies, programmes and tax incentives) to foster and support an urban renaissance. The emphasis was on making all urban areas places in which people want to live, work and invest, and which offer a high quality of life for all not just the few. This introduced Urban Regeneration Companies and Business Improvement Districts, amongst other initiatives. It also began the work of enhancing the role of English Partnerships and took forwards work on the Coalfield Communities. The Urban White Paper built on the recommendations of the Urban Task Force led by Lord Rogers. It also recommended a specific regeneration role for Regional Development Agencies.
3. In 2000, the Government established a new Metropolitan Authority for London, The Greater London Authority, comprising a directly elected Mayor, an Assembly and four functional bodies to work across the whole of Greater London, in collaboration with the 33 London Local Councils, to foster a strategic leadership for London.
4. The Urban Summit was held in Birmingham in 2002, bringing together, for the first time in one meeting, 1,200 urban regeneration professionals and leaders.
5. In 2002, the Government supported the re-orientation of English Partnerships (the National Urban Regeneration Agency) towards a more direct role in fostering urban renaissance and supporting the housing market.  In partnership with Regional Development Agencies (the strategic leaders of regeneration in the regions) and City Councils, EP has helped to set up 21 Urban Regeneration Companies to drive forwards regeneration in cities and sub-regions.
6. In 2003, Sustainable Communities: Building a Better Future (the Communities Plan) was published. This complemented the Urban White Paper by providing a wider framework in which urban policy now sits.  It sets out a comprehensive programme to deliver more affordable housing and improve peoples' homes, neighbourhoods and quality of life.
7. Since then the Government has put in place nine Housing Market Renewal Pathfinders to support the renewal of housing markets in low demand areas and also 15 Growth Area Management vehicles to accelerate the growth of housing supply and the delivery of sustainable communities. The Growth Area Management Vehicles include three Urban Development Corporations.
8. The Government created the Regional Economic Performance Public Service Agreement  in 2002 with the intention of reducing the speed of growth in the gap between average economic growth rates across the English regions.  Since January 2004 the Government has supported the development of three inter-regional growth strategies (The Northern Way, Smart Growth: The Midlands Way, and The South West Way) led by the Regional Development Agencies as a means to draw together the agendas for regional economic growth and sustainable communities on an integrated basis across the key territories of England.  In the North of England this produced eight city-regional (Economic) Development Plans in May 2005.
9. The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 [External website] created a more flexible planning system at regional and local levels. Regional Spatial Strategies bring together spatial aspects of a wider range of programmes, and can include sub-regional strategies, for example related to a city-region. At local level the new system will enable plans to be produced more quickly where they are needed (e.g. in a regeneration area) and a new range of tools are available to aid delivery (e.g. new Compulsory Purchase Act (CPO powers).
10. In December 2005, during the UK Presidency of the European Union, an EU Ministerial Informal on the subject of Cities, City-Regions, and Sustainable Communities was held in Bristol. This led to the 'Bristol Accord' [External website] an historic agreement to unite Europe behind a common goal of creating sustainable communities. This new framework will inform future European urban and regional policy to deliver better towns, cities and other communities and build European co-operation on the skills and knowledge needed to achieve them.
11. The Government has supported an extensive programme of assessment and evaluation of the changing performance of cities and city-regions, including their contribution to national success and key public policies (economic growth, social cohesion, environmental enhancement).  A major milestone was the production of The State of the English Cities report in March 2006 which provides data on the changing performance of 56 primary urban areas within England.
12. Devolving decision making: 3 - Meeting the regional economic challenge: The importance of cities to regional growth, was also published in March 2006 alongside the Budget by HMT, Communities and Local Government and DTI jointly.  It also explores the economic opportunities and challenges facing English cities, building on evidence from the State of the English Cities report and beyond.
13. The Local Government White Paper published in October 2006 proposed:

The paper also includes a chapter on cities and regions, outlining our commitments to maximise economic benefits for cities and regions, looking at options for governance together with our partners, and establishing a framework, through the Comprehensive Spending Review, which ensures that Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) and local authorities work more closely together.

14. Commissioned in 2004, the Lyons Review considers the future role and function of local government in this country, as well as its funding.  In December 2006, the remit was broadened to consider the implications of the Barker, Eddington and Leitch reports.

Recommendations seek to address a balance between immediate improvements to public services and longer-term investments in infrastructure, skills and research.  Recommendations include that Multi Area Agreements are used as a way of engaging with local authorities to develop locally determined sub-regional arrangements to address issues related to economic prosperity and that issues such as transport, skills and economic development to be devolved to sub-regional arrangements - reflecting actual patterns of economic activity without undermining the place-shaping role of local authorities. 

15. The Review of Sub-National Economic Development and Regeneration was announced at Budget 06 and considers the measures which Government has put in place since 1997 to improve sub-national economic development and tackle pockets of deprivation.  It also considers the evidence of progress to date as well as the impacts of globalisation and technological change. 

This cross-cutting review was launched on 17 July 2007.  It was lead by Treasury with Communities and Local Government and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (formerly the DTI) and extensive input from other Government Departments.  The Review will give councils and regions new powers and incentives to drive local prosperity, economic growth and regeneration and makes recommendations as to how Government can best build on steps already taken to devolve powers and resources to the most appropriate levels.  Its recommendations feed into the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007.