Devolution does not carry the promised economic return and further devolved powers will not necessarily bring more development, according to a leading academic. Kevin Morgan, professor of European regional development at Cardiff University, believes the evidence of an economic dividend from devolution is ‘at best ambiguous and at worst absent’. Speaking at the Institution of Economic Development annual conference in Liverpool, he questioned the current political enthusiasm for further devolution in the UK. ‘Devolution’s dirty little secret is that is doesn’t carry an early economic dividend,’ he said. ‘All economic indicators in Wales are going south. The question now is are we devolving our way to economic decline?’ While political leaders of all stripes are pushing the cause of devolution, the evidence from the OECD, the World Bank and others is that its effects are contingent rather than necessary and are ‘just one ingredient’ in economic development. Professor Morgan said that political leaders have cast his findings as ‘unhelpful’ as the devolution agenda is promoted across England. Last year’s sub-national review (SNR) of economic development and regeneration is predicated on an assumption that more devolution means more development, he said, but ‘as we move into uncharted territory of SNR we should remember devolution’s dirty little secret.’
One of the key benefits of devolution in Wales so far is that government departments have devolved from Cardiff to the regions, taking well-paid jobs to poorer parts of Wales, he said.
His comments came as new rail services connecting north and south Wales were announced.
A return service between Holyhead and Cardiff is expected to be in operation by December, cutting travel time by at least 30 minutes. From May 2009 a new half-hourly service will link Merthyr Tydfil and Cardiff. Economy and transport minister, Wyn Jones, said: ‘Devolution has meant that Merthyr is already the site of one of the Welsh Assembly government’s key offices. The new rail service means more sustainable travel options for the people of Wales and will support our move to make Valley communities a still more attractive location for people to live, work and play.’

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21 October 2008
© NewStart

Volunteering will play an “enormous part” in the country’s future, new shadow minister for charities Nick Hurd has pledged.  Hurd restated the Conservative view that volunteering should be a “social norm” to a group of Volunteering England members this week.

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17 October 2008
© Gemma McKenna, Third Sector Online

Last night, Gordon Brown set out proposals to fix the broken global economy, including fundamental reform of the IMF and World Bank. Analysis of the operations of the World Bank and the IMF leaves the World Development Movement sceptical that reform of these powerful institutions is possible. Benedict Southworth, director of the World Development Movement said:
“Gordon Brown is absolutely right, the IMF and World Bank do need fundamental reform. If they resist, they should be scrapped.  These institutions are undemocratic, unaccountable and are getting it wrong for developing countries. If Brown’s plan is to succeed he must challenge the fundamental economic ideology and build the system again from the basis of pro poor, pro environment and not pro bank approaches. Brown has got it wrong when he says that we need to resurrect the Doha round at the World Trade Organisation from the dead. When the round stalled earlier this year, the deal on the table was bad for the world’s poor. We shouldn’t resurrect a proposal that is steeped in the ideology that has caused the current crisis.”

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16 October 2008
© World Development News

Reacting to today’s speech by Eric Pickles MP, the Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, CPRE’s Senior Planning Campaigner Paul Miner said: ‘We are glad to see the Conservatives state their support for the Green Belt as a green lung. This is particularly pleasing as recent pronouncements of a think-tank close to the party have given us cause for concern. We also welcome the clear statement that a Conservative Government would abolish the proposed Infrastructure Planning Commission, which will be unelected, expensive, ineffective and unnecessary.’

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2 October 2008
© CRDP

Bill Bryson, author and President of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), will today (Wednesday) address delegates at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham on the value of Our Local Environment. He will then participate in a Q&A from the conference floor with Peter Ainsworth MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Eric Pickles MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. It will be Bryson’s first visit to a Conservative conference and his first invitation to set out the views of CPRE at a political party conference. He will be taking the opportunity to launch a new CPRE pamphlet on Communities and the countryside. This contains a speech by Conservative leader David Cameron which is being published as part of CPRE’s work to develop an attractive and influential vision for the countryside in 2026 – CPRE’s centenary year. Commenting on the occasion, Bryson said: ‘CPRE has been a leading voice in the countryside debate for 80 years. We’re non-party political but I’m honoured to represent CPRE, and share this platform on a critical debate. It goes to the heart of our work – how people should be able to influence the local environmental decisions that affect their lives. Of course global environmental issues – especially climate change – matter hugely. But people’s concern about the environment usually starts at a local level. It starts with the decisions affecting their street, their village, their local piece of countryside or Green Belt. If we want people to care about the global, we need to start local.’

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1 October 2008
© CPRE

Ensuring community cohesion is as vital in rural as urban areas, writes Cllr Tim Carroll (Lib Dem), leader of South Somerset district council. Community cohesion – meaning a community that is not only at peace with itself but also knows itself – is a necessity and an imperative for any rural council. It is an issue that South Somerset is paying particular attention to. There are the two sets of fundamental changes that have affected our villages and towns over the last 100 years. There are the organic changes seen in all rural areas: smaller nuclear families with fewer ties to support networks, fewer people actually living and working within any village or town, and the attrition of groups that historically formed the ‘glue’ that kept a community together – such as women’s institutes, parish and church groups, and farming networks. More recent changes affect the dynamics of an area: the introduction of technologies that change the traditional ways of doing things, an influx of people from other countries, and the migration of younger people due to higher education and employment opportunities outside the local area.

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24 September 2008
© LGA

Fifteen small charities will be attending this month’s political party conferences under the NCVO’s bursary scheme. The umbrella body established the scheme to enable small charities with low incomes to attend the conferences. The initiative covers the cost of travel and hotel accommodation. Charities must have incomes of less than £100,000 in order to qualify for a bursary.

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11 September 2008
© Ben Cook, Third Sector Online

The Labour Party has refunded a £7,500 donation from a children’s charity after an MP complained to the Charity Commission. The commission investigated the complaint about Catz Club - which uses the working name of Schoolfriendetc - when it was made by the unnamed MP at the end of last month. Andrew Hind, chief executive of the commission, said: “Donations to political parties are absolutely prohibited for charities..”

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5 September 2008
© Paul Jump, Third Sector Online

Building on a recent report on achieving world class public services, the government’s Cabinet Office and HM Treasury are surveying third sector providers on their innovation in public service delivery. They want to reach organisations that are currently delivering public services or have been involved in their delivery in the last 12 months, with responses due by 8th September.

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© VoluntaryNews

26 August 2008

Nic Best, Executive Member for Improvement at Castle Morpeth Borough Council challenges the notion that more cost-effective services make unitary status worthwhile. He looks at the process leading up to unitary status and outlines how Castle Morpeth is managing the transition. Read his thoughts and post your comments at the end of the article. It isn’t good for politicians to be paranoid. Though I think a more common trait among councillors is ‘eunioa’ – the unsubstantiated belief that everyone loves them. But it’s very hard not to take local government reform generally, and the creation of a unitary council in Northumberland in particular, personally. The basic argument was that more cost-effective service delivery outweighs local democratic accountability. We were offered a saving of £17 million a year against the loss of well over 300 councillors. And no, the saving isn’t all in councillor expenses. There was no formal public consultation, perhaps because the region gave the government the answer they didn’t want in the regional government referendum in 2004. The overall timescale for the reform is just 30 months – from November 2006 when the first bids were made to April 2009 when the unitary authority comes into being.

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© IDeA 2001-2008

26 August 2008