A new report calls for a more streamlined and locally responsive approach to economic regeneration. The report is the last from the Lifting the Burdens task force, an independent body of council chief executives and directors tasked with finding ways of reducing burdens imposed on councils by government departments. The review focused on three key themes: barriers to place-shaping; funding and strategic infrastructure; and skills and unemployment.  Based on evidence from councils and other agencies, the report lists 40 recommendations. It is available at www.communities.gov.uk/liftingburdens

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30 October 2008
© LGA

A new website launched today (24th) will help link up the Church of England’s extensive national network of local campaigners on world development issues to help amplify the Church’s voice on crucial global topics. The ‘Partners in World Development’ site, www.wdanetwork.org.uk, provides parishes with up-to-date information on issues such as trade justice, debt relief and climate change. It also provides profiles of many Church of England dioceses, with overviews of the projects they have underway and details of their link dioceses overseas. These profiles also include contact details for each diocese’s World Development Adviser, or similar – usually a volunteer who helps co-ordinate structured work to raise awareness of these subjects locally.

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27 October 2008
© Church of England

IWA have received the following request from the IWA.  The briefing note is atached below as a PDF document. If you wish to contact your MP electronically, you can do it via the WriteToThem.com website http://www.writetothem.com
which will generate your letter as an e-mail or a fax to your MP.
“The IWA is pleased to report that Charlotte Atkins MP has won an adjournment debate for this Tuesday (28thOctober) on ‘Inland Waterways and their Future Restoration’. I am asking for your support , by contacting your Local MP as a matter of urgency to see if they will attend or can contribute in this debate.There is no doubt that the credit crunch will seriously impact on BW’s finances as inner city regeneration schemes, critical to BWs funding, have been among the first to be hit by the present economic difficulties. As you are aware, BW is already moving away from restoration under government pressure to prioritise expenditure, and is being told just to ‘maintain’ the existing system. In the long term the government appears to be drawing back from its previous commitment to expand the inland waterways and is currently reviewing its relationship with BW. This debate is an ideal opportunity for your local waterway restoration issues and concerns to be properly aired.

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23 October 2008
© Inland Waterways Association

The Montgomery Canal Regeneration has taken a significant step forward, with MPs from Wales and England backing an ambitious initiative for the waterway to become a leisure and tourism magnet providing benefits both sides of the border. Montgomery Liberal Democrat Lembit Opik and North Shropshire Conservative Owen Paterson gave their support for the cross border vision when they attended ‘Regeneration of the Montgomery Canal – the Next Steps’.Trust Development Manager Kevin Bell outlined the extensive benefits an imaginative approach to delivering the project could bring. This message was enthusiastically endorsed by both MPs. Lembit Opik was particularly positive about the visitor economy potential of the regenerated canal and the opportunity for canalside economic development initiatives. Similarly, Owen Paterson declared: “I am a very strong supporter of the restoration of the whole length of the Montgomery canal. Linking up Llanymynech would create enormous potential for tourism involving the Roman archaeology and industrial archaeology; with good prospects for the heritage railway, Oswestry could become a major tourist destination.”
 
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21 October 2008
© Waterways Trust

The Diocese of London today launched a new online interactive mapping tool, which provides an overview of the major areas of regeneration across the capital. This new initiative represents a significant step for the Diocese in how best to channel their future planning of resources in local communities across London. The map was showcased at The Future of London Conference, which focuses on sharing best practice from the major regeneration schemes across London. The Diocese has worked in partnership over the past 12 months with Groundwork, the environmental regeneration charity, in assimilating data created by national, regional and local bodies to create a regeneration map covering the whole capital. The Church Urban Fund, Southwark and London Diocesan Housing Associations, the United Reformed Church and the Diocese of Southwark also sponsored the initiative. The map is available online for public use and represents a free resource for local authorities across London. A more detailed version will now be used to inform the strategic development priorities and investments for the Diocese of London going forward.
 
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21 October 2008
© Diocese of London

A charity has launched a website to gather ideas on how people would like the countryside to be in 2020. RuralNet UK, a development charity, is encouraging the public to log on and share their visions for the future. A conference organised by the charity and Action for Market Towns was held in Skipton, Yorkshire, this month where 200 opinions were gathered. Simon Berry, Chief Executive of RuralNet UK, said visions can inspire, motivate, inform policy and influence strategy. “This is an opportunity for people to contribute to a collective vision for rural Britain - something quite unique and special,” he added. People are being asked to give their ideas on what they would like changing and preserving in the countryside in addition to new things they would like to see. RuralNet UK recently launched an initiative to gather ideas for an application to receive £1.5 million of funding to improve rural life in central Warwickshire.

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16 October 2008
© Charities Aid Foundation - CAF

Scottish Enterprise (SE) in partnership with Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) are launching the successful Rural Leadership Programme (RLP) for the third consecutive year. Recruitment is taking place immediately, with the programme running throughout the winter/spring of 2008/09 and a follow up conference completing the programme to take place in early summer 2009. The RLP aims to equip future rural leaders with a set of leadership tools designed to help their businesses lead the way to success and enable them to carry on contributing to the Scottish rural economy. Those encouraged to apply are farm and rural business managers and key personnel from across Scotland who are enthusiastic about improving their leadership skills. Sixty delegates took park in the RLP in 2007/08, in four regional groups. This was after a successful pilot programme in 2006. The programme was considered by all those involved to be such a success that SE, this year in partnership with HIE, are running another four groups. One group will be held in the HIE area and three across the SE area. For Michael Shannon, of Lanarkshire, taking part in the RLP last year completely changed his business. He began RLP as a full time employee and by the end of the course he had set up his own internet beef, lamb and pork sales business. Michael said “Meeting the wide range of interesting people, delegates, facilitators and speakers alike, who were willing to challenge the norm, ask questions and ruffle a few feathers, was the most stimulating experience. The whole programme was absolutely worth every penny and every minute spent on it.” When Christo Shepherd, in Aberdeenshire, received the information on RLP he was taken with the opportunity to find out about the political scene. Christo said “Learning how to access both information and people of influence in different spheres and the visits to Holyrood, Brussels and Westminster to see how they all operate, the demarcation between different parliaments and how they work together were real highlights!” Hugh Broad of East Lothian said “The one and two day chunks which RLP was delivered in worked well for me. It meant I was never away from the business for too long and the broken up nature of the course also meant I had time to digest one set of information and its implications before the next was introduced.”

 
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15 October 2008
© Highlands and Islands Enterprise

Recent evidence suggests that there are significant links between a creative cluster in a geographical region and its innovative performance. Several mechanisms for this relationship have been presented. They include spatial externalities, economies of diversity, knowledge spill-overs and ‘creative buzz’. We are interested in the following two questions: What is the importance of the different mechanisms, through which creative clusters impact a region’s innovativeness? What is the relationship between specific characteristics of a creative cluster and the dynamics of innovation in the regional economy? NESTA aims to inform policymaking and development in the UK, so they’d like your proposals to focus on UK clusters and regions, and the implications for policy. They are especially interested in research proposals that use economics, quantitative methods, spatial modelling and network analysis techniques. They welcome case study-based and ethnographic approaches as long as they can generate wider, transferable implications and policy recommendations. Applications close on Tuesday, 28 October 2008.

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13 October 2008
© NESTA

A £2m programme to share knowledge and good practice in revitalising market towns has been launched by Action for Market Towns (AMT). The Towns Alive initiative will run over five years, supported by £1m from the Big Lottery Fund. Aimed primarily at AMT’s 400 members, it will help build skills within market town partnerships to help them tackle key pressures affecting their futures. A market towns academy will develop and run training programmes to boost the business skills of market town partnerships. One of the first pilot courses planned will focus on leadership skills. ‘Those partnerships which have been successful have been those with good heads,’ said Chris Wade, chief executive of AMT. It’s about developing their business skills so they can get on and secure their future.’ A market towns ‘knowledge hub’ will collate and coordinate research and policy studies affecting market towns to bring greater weight and influence to national and regional policy. One of the first campaigns will be on the issue of community-led planning. A ‘towns-for-towns’ programme will use peer-to-peer learning to help towns share knowledge and good practice.

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8 October 2008
© NewStart

CPRE has real concerns about the Government’s eco-town proposals. We strongly support the principles of ‘eco-development’, but we are concerned that too many of the proposed eco-towns will fall short of the high standards required. We are calling on the Government to focus on one or two truly exemplary schemes, scrap sub-standard proposals and rethink its eco-town programme. We want Hazel Blears to take on board local communities’ concerns about the eco-towns proposals and press for a Government rethink. We have prepared a letter for you to send, which you are welcome to amend. All you need to do is fill in your name and address, then press submit and your letter will be emailed to Hazel Blears.

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6 October 2008
© CPRE