Comments for Developing NewcastleGateshead

Comment on CSR cuts: numbers emerge by davidslater

davidslater — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 16:16:53 +0000

Our intellectual energy is already embedded in TIF. We have done the hard work to convince CLG and Treasury. We are more than ready to continue that engagement.

Also, regarding the criticism, an investment produces return. More than 30 years ago the city invested in Eldon Square. Today, that investment supports a good share of the city’s budget. We are making this investment on the same basis – it will produce a return. Of course, it will also produce wider regneration benefits as well.

Comment on CSR cuts: numbers emerge by Adam Serfontein

Adam Serfontein — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 09:17:35 +0000

This is good news. A proactive approach is exactly what is required, and I applaud it. There will be a lot of gossip about what should and should not be supported, and a huge dollop of self interest, all of which musst be ignored. It’s good to have a Council which is growing broad shoulders.

Comment on CSR cuts: numbers emerge by Renaissance Magazine

Renaissance Magazine — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 15:54:00 +0000

Thanks David. There’s some interesting work on Tax Increment Finance going on here: http://tinyurl.com/387m3zc.

We (the publisher of Renaissance) are organising a masterclass in association with the law firm Squire, Sanders and Dempsey, so I’ll declare self-interest, but it does look like TIF can provide some compensation for spending cuts. Not enough though to fully make up the difference, particularly as it could be a while before TIF becomes a reality – there’s a lot of work to do lobbying the government. There is some debate starting here http://tinyurl.com/327×7zw.

One question came out of a recent meeting in London, that council “headspace” will be so taken up with managing a response to the cuts that TIF will take three to four years to shape up. The example was in London Borough of Croydon where a waste disposal PFI process that had taken many months to put in place, but which must now be “re-booted” with the disappearance of PFI, is going to take a lot of reorganising, leaving little brainpower at the council free to look at TIF. What are your thoughts on that?

Secondly, the criticism has begun – I guess inevitably. How do you respond to the acusation that “the council is thinking of spending millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on property deals at the same time as saying there’s no money for affordable homes or for the youth service and when thousands of people are facing losing their jobs”?

That quote is taken from the Journal here: http://tinyurl.com/323j5do.

Comment on CSR cuts: numbers emerge by davidslater

davidslater — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 15:36:46 +0000

Thanks for the comment. You will have seen the announcements yesterday that the city is both investing in the delivery of Stephenson Quarter on a commercial basis (see http://tinyurl.com/372dqxz), and committing to providing mortgages for the private Riverside Dene Block.

We can help sustain and speed up development in the city through our investment and from the use of new funding mechanisms like Tax Incremental Financing, which we have been one of the leading advocates for.

Of course, reduced public spending will have an impact on the economy, but that will be less if we take active steps to rebalance towards a confident, well supported and engaged private sector. We have again, I hope, shown what we can do in practical terms.

Comment on Has the planning process improved in NewcastleGateshead? by Simon Dunstan

Simon Dunstan — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:41:19 +0000

Great that this long overdue debate has started; albeit it has taken a major recession to start the process! As a profession who are often caught between the conflicting aspirations of developer clients and the local authority the missing ingredient in this heady cocktail has been any sense of vision from either party. We have a magnificent, compact city which could have improved imeasurably over the last decade but instead has (comparatively) stagnated whilst other UK cities have prospered and evolved. The reasons for this are complex but what is clear is that the absence of a clear vision and leadership from any sector has held the city back. One only needs to look at what Manchester has achieved under Howard Bernsteins inspired leadership or how the City of London has developed under the considered and watchful eye of Peter Rees to see what vision, ambition and courage can deliver. We missed the boat last time; let’s make sure we don’t miss it next time. It’s time for our leaders to stand up and be counted. Over to you Adam!

Comment on Has the planning process improved in NewcastleGateshead? by davidslater

davidslater — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:30:20 +0000

It is good to get the debate started. We must always remember that developers are an important group with a view but others – residents in particular – have their own views. Also we are getting pretty frequent requests for the public sector – and the city – to support private sector schemes right now, so we have even more reason to work together, whether public or private.

We have tightened staffing, costs and procedures as part of the Council’s Transformation. We are working closely with members. We want developers to get a good quality service, from pre-application to post-development, adoption and maintenance where this is appropriate. We believe we are further on with this than Adam suggests, but let’s see what others have to say…