Creativity within a place can’t be defined or nurtured by physical boundaries. We need to redefine what we mean by ‘creative quarter’, says Ivan Tennant
Local Government Archives - Page 140 of 151 - NewStart
There are many people who have a traditional view of Salford. They remember it as a slum city with Lowry’s matchstick inhabitants... They often seem a little disappointed there are no children with rickets or outside public toilets anymore.
The white paper contains a number of good ideas on how to bring innovative and quality services to the market place. The devil is in the detail – and the detail must inform a positive and active debate, one that ensures we do not slide into a de facto privatisation of public services.
With such examples of clear methods of how plurality of public service can lead to better delivery it’s curious that the words collaboration and co-production are absent from the government’s vision. Instead there is a sense of outsourcing as casting off, of government opening up markets and then disengaging.
Within the context of greater decentralisation, the core cities (and others) now have the opportunity to grasp new economic techniques and to play a lead role in ensuring the resilience and effectiveness of their local economy.
Let’s not forget the real problem here, it’s not the north – it’s UK’s economic centralism. Thus, this shouldn't be about just flying the flag for England's north but about standing up against economic centralism and bringing about fundamental economic change and a new economic localism.
There is a clear commitment from the coalition to localism and decentralisation, and along with upcoming proposals to reform local government finance, community budgeting is arguably one of the most powerful mechanisms of doing so.
From crumbling wreck to a thriving community hub – Matthew Harrison tells the story of Levenshulme United Reformed Church
What’s difficult to appreciate is quite how the programme sketched out in the white paper will ensure, in the coalition’s words, that ‘our reforms will mean that the poorest will be at the front of the queue’.
Maurice Glasman wants to make Labour the party that puts 'real people' at the heart politics and isn't afraid to ruffle a few feathers in the process. Clare Goff meets him