While the focus this week has been on the politics of the Labour conference, another vision was also apparent, namely, the physical regeneration of the centres of England’s core cities.
The week saw some great PR for Manchester. The balmy September weather was in its favour and the city was bathed in sunshine. Among the swish new city centre developments, the conference hotels bore such upmarket names as Radisson, Jury, Malmaison and the Midland, instead of the usual seaside collection of Palace, Seaview and Royal. One TV commentator even managed to point out that the Radisson was based in the old Free Trade Hall, itself erected on the site of the Peterloo Massacre, thereby establishing a seamless line between the city’s industrial past and its post-industrial present.
This symbolism of regeneration in Labour’s heartlands was somewhat lost in the charged atmosphere of the conference, but it was real enough. Eleven years ago, when Labour took power, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle and the other core cities were still at the start of their regeneration programmes. Now, boosted by exhibition and conference venues, they are beacons of economic success.
But, the job is, of course, unfinished. Manchester’s gain as a conference venue has been Blackpool’s loss, cruelly highlighted by the debacle over casinos. Many of England’s secondary towns and cities continue to struggle economically as ministers, such as John Healey, recognise in their call for a new duty for local authorities to promote local economies.
The August report by the right-of-centre think-tank Policy Exchange, saying northern towns were failures and economic development should be focused on the south, brought a storm of criticism. Nonetheless, outside the core cities, regional regeneration is patchy. And the credit crunch threatens to call a halt to further major regeneration. The National Housing Federation last week at its conference in another regeneration success, Birmingham, predicted a nine-year delay in meeting the three million new homes target by 2020.
This week’s conference was able to show how far England’s cities have progressed in the past decade – and how much more still needs to be done in the regions they dominate.
Michael Burton, Editor, The MJ
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