Regeneration - Communities and Local Government Committee Contents


Written evidence submitted by the City of Bradford

—  Successful regeneration can only be delivered through local partnerships.

—  There remain significant structural issues with some economies in the North that require support.

—  Local Authorities and their partners have experience and track records in delivery.

—  Incentives need to be flexible and locally relevant.

Bradford is a great example of how regeneration can, and is, making a difference to people and places. A large part of this success is down to our strong local partnerships, although innovative approaches to how resources are used and a targeted approach on how funds have been deployed have also greatly contributed.

Given the recent extraordinary changes to the landscape for regeneration and economic development we welcome the Government's stance on reviewing the general approach taken and the recognition that successful regeneration requires a significant amount of effort and input from local partners, stakeholders and communities.

We have always taken this approach in Bradford, putting residents, local businesses, civil society organisations and civic leaders in the driving seat. We take a partnership approach to regeneration which creates a shared focus and a clear set of priorities for intervention.

But, while significant progress has been made in some areas, we continue to have some significant structural issues which act as a brake on local economic growth and regeneration. Work to develop the Local Economic Assessment and Economic Strategy shows that high levels of long-term unemployment, low skills levels and low levels of private sector investment and job growth continue to impact on the nature of regeneration and economic development in the district.

Given the challenges to economic development and regeneration that we, along with other areas in the North of England face, we strongly suggest the Government retains a focus on areas which may have not fully benefited from the last 10 years of economic growth.

The Local Authority and our partners have a track record of delivering successful outcomes for the district in terms of physical and social regeneration and we would expect this to continue in this new approach to regeneration.

For example the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative has been recognised as a major success in supporting local people to move into self-employment, supporting 1,219 business start-ups, safeguarded 2,781 jobs and created 3,949 new jobs. Indirect benefits include increasing enterprise in higher education, tackling barriers to employment, embedding enterprise in local communities, supporting business survival and growth through investment, access to finance and providing locally relevant business support.

It is important we are able to continue to deliver interventions that are locally relevant, Any national delivery identified within the Localism Bill must be sufficiently flexible to allow us to complement it with local perspectives and priorities.

We welcome the new incentives for growth highlighted as part of the new approach. Particularly the proposals for new methods of raising finance through Tax Increment Finance. We are keen to explore how a TIF could help secure the delivery of local schemes that have stalled as a result of the recession. We are already working with local partners and investors to explore how the TIE model could support the regeneration of Bradford city centre. We urge the Government to ensure the Localism Bill fast-tracks the implementation of TIE the model to ensure we can maintain momentum.

We are also keen to explore how the proposed Enterprise Renewal zones could work for Bradford. As a district Bradford is heavily dependent on public sector employment. If we are to meet forecast demand for 25,000 new jobs by 2020 then we have to significantly increase private sector growth. Offering incentives through Enterprise Zones could provide an opportunity to do this.

Incentives provide a short term win that can help kick start local economies. A longer term strategy to deploying resources will contribute enormously to economic growth and regeneration.

In order to secure this we believe that capital assets from the Regional Development Agencies should be disposed of in a manner which provides the most opportunity for local areas. Our perspective is that these should be transferred to the Local Authority for appropriate action. Having ownership of these assets could provide a significant opportunity for local authorities to lever in additional investment or to unlock further development potential.

In conclusion we would like to see the Government lead by example with this new approach and ensure that, when decisions on investment or the deployment of public resources are being taken, they take into account local perspectives and input partners and take into account the need to create and maintain momentum and support growth in deprived areas.

We encourage the Government to deliver this new approach in partnership with LEPs and Local Authorities who are best placed to support implementation on the ground.

March 2011



 
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