The report
from Lord Heseltine released this week - No stone
unturned in pursuit of growth - contains some interesting proposals. I'm
writing these words within hours of publication so I won't pretend for a minute
to have read and digested all 89 recommendations but I have scanned the chapter
focusing on localism, and building on our strengths.
The report
says we must 'reverse the long trend to centralism' and goes on to propose we
should 'empower local places by letting them take the initiative to generate
local growth, in partnership with central government', and 'we must ensure that
the incentives and structures of local places are organised in such a way as to
secure the greatest possible economic contribution, with each area able to play
to its natural strengths.’
It's
difficult to argue with this - local people should be more aware of the needs
and opportunities in their area - and this should therefore be more effective
than funding being handled, and activity controlled, from the centre. However,
if the 29 current Local Enterprise Partnerships, and their predecessor Regional
Development Agencies have demonstrated one thing, it is that some local
organisations are better than others.
Lord
Heseltine says ‘...growth is everyone's business. Government can set national
policies and create an environment where business can flourish, but success
depends on businesses and individuals working together. As we prepare for
growth we must - each and every one of us - do all in our power to advance it.
It is not someone else's problem.’
Good true
words but if a local infrastructure is going to work as we all want, then it
needs to deliver consistently well and effectively across all regions. If it
doesn't, we're in danger of just rearranging the deck chairs under a new name.
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