County’s towns missing out on cash to city zones
Working inside a Council you get the benefit of policy information coming across your desk all the time. Outside of that world it is easy to miss things. It was only in a recent discussion with John Courouble of the County Council Network that I latched onto the latest in a long line, across all Government’s of every political hue, of a one eyed “core city”, urban approach to innovation and experimentation – City Deals.
Good luck to Bristol, Nottingham, Manchester et al with their City Deals announced last week, but as this article from the North West reminds us this approach of investing in cities leaves unfinished business across huge swathes of rural England.
Economic regeneration initiatives like the government’s city regions do not make sense for areas like Barrow and West Cumbria, according to Lib Dem Lord Greaves.
Speaking during a debate in the House of Lords, Lord Greaves said the concept of city regions – the economic areas where leaders work together across city council boundaries – is flawed as a universal model.
He said while cross-working benefits larger areas, smaller areas including parts of Cumbria miss out.
He said: “There are also areas which, with the best will in the world, do not fit into city regions. Which city region do West Cumbria, Whitehaven, Workington and Barrow belong in? City regions do not make sense when you are considering the future of those areas.
“There are two problems with regarding the city region concept as applicable to everywhere else in the country. There are areas where it does not sensibly work. Areas need to be looked at in a different way.”