economic viability

'Get town centres running like businesses': 12 'Portas Pilots' will share £1million to turn around their high streets

February 7, 2012 - Mary Portas and the Local Government Minister, Grant Shapps, have launched a competition to choose 12 towns to become 'Portas Pilots', with the winners benefiting from a share of £1million to help turn around their 'unloved and unused' high streets. For details on exactly how your town can bid, please visit DCLG... more >

Communities with 'ambitions for economic growth' share cash from Growing Places Fund and New Homes Bonus

February 2, 2012 - Communities with ambitions for economic growth may share a cash boost of nearly £1billion to get their projects off the ground and improve their local areas. The announcement forms part of a wider package of measures announced by Housing Minister Grant Shapps, highlighting the vital and central role that housing is playing in getting the country's economy on the road to recovery. more >

Why do we live to park: and why free parking may damage, rather than benefit, our high streets

The idea that free parking is a ‘basic’ for the future success of high streets is like insisting that: 'The more you park, the more you spend'. Which, of course, is not just mostly tosh, but entirely tosh. The longer I live, the truer the following statement by the New Urbanist, John Norquist, seems to become: 'It often seems as though the chief end of human endeavour is to park'. By John Dales

Elected city mayors will have their own bespoke powers tailored to local needs, says Clark

January 18, 2012 - Elected city mayors will have their own bespoke powers tailored to local needs, Minister for Cities Greg Clark has announced. Rather than seeking to impose a 'one size fits all' approach, the Government will take advantage of the new power in the Localism Act to devolve power to mayors through negotiating a bespoke city deal with each city. more >

UK urban centres that 'go green' will see a return on investment in between four and eight years, says report

January 16, 2012 - A new study into the economics of decarbonising cities has found that UK urban centres that 'go green' will see a return on investment in between four and eight years, while cutting their energy bills by billions and creating thousands of new jobs, reports GreenWise.

 The research, The Economics of Low Carbon Cities, believed to be the first of its kind in the world, was conducted by the Cent... more >

Build Now, Pay Later in Basingstoke: new model for delivering new housing more quickly on publicly owned land?

January 9, 2012 - Proposals to develop the final phase of new homes on the former Park Prewett Hospital site near Basingstoke have received a boost after partners reached a deal to progress the project. more >

Local Government Finance Bill paves way for TIF and new funding mechanisms

January 4, 2012 - The government has published its Local Government Finance Bill. The bill will introduce the Tax Increment Financing mechanism, which allows public bodies to borrow money to fund the infrastructure required to get a project off the ground against the anticipated uplift in business rates expected from that development. ... more >

Town teams and better management will boost high streets: review supports suggestions from the Better Streets high street debate

December 13, 2011 - As is being widely reported in the media, a third of high streets are 'degenerating or failing'; according to new research published by the Government, outlined in the Portas High Street review. Many of the solutions designed to aid suffering high streets were put forward at the RUDI/LTT Better Streets event at the end of November, which featured a debate on the future of the high street. more >

LEPs should have 'key role' in the Growing Places fund and housing development, says the HCA

December 12, 2011 - The HCA has urged community business leaders to prevent housing from being excluded from multi-million pound plans for economic growth. more >

New deals for cities: LEPs may get planning powers, and be involved in local housing

December 12, 2011 - Local enterprise partnerships covering the UK's eight core cities outside London could become statutory consultees on planning applications under a menu of options revealed by deputy prime minister Nick Clegg. Clegg outlined a list of measures which cities could be granted in an attempt to devolve powers away from Whitehall, says the Centre for Cities. more >
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