social enterprise

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A local authority, an urban regeneration company and a football club have formed a joint development board in a bid to deliver lasting economic and community growth in east Manchester.

Manchester Council, New East Manchester (NEM) and Manchester City FC signed the formal agreement to collaborate on a transformation plan for the area around the City of Manchester stadium.

The combined interests of land held by the three parties represents approximately 80ha, including the existing Sportcity campus.

In the short term, the board aims to improve the area around the Sportcity site, including better space for fans during football events and providing year-round activities for residents and visitors on non-match days.

In the medium to long term, the three organisations want to create a ‘nationally significant destination’.

Local employment and suppliers will be involved and all parties have signed up to supporting Manchester’s low carbon city ambitions for any future development plans.

NEM chair Simon Bate described the agreement as ‘truly pivotal’ for the area.

‘It will gives us the chance to restore economic dynamism to east Manchester, enabling businesses, local residents and football supporters alike to benefit from future investment,’ he said.

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An online initiative to help new businesses find affordable premises and reduce the number of vacant units across the capital has been launched.

The London New Enterprise website, backed by London mayor Boris Johnson and the British Property Federation (BPF), is designed to act as a broker, bringing together start-ups looking for office space and landlords with empty property to let.

The site, built free of charge by the Workspace Group, encourages landlords to list available units to new companies at significantly reduced commercial rates and also provides business, legal and financial guidance for new firms.

The number of empty premises in the capital has increased considerably since the recession. A BPF report by the Local Data Company found London had a 13.9% shop vacancy rate compared with the national figure of 12.5%, while more than a quarter of new business ventures supported by the Prince’s Trust fail as a result of a lack of affordable property in the right locations.

The new online portal aims to highlight short-term lets and flexible work environments for new businesses. It also includes specific sections for those in the social enterprise and charitable sectors as well as organisations looking to set up ‘pop up shops’.

BPF chief executive Liz Peace described the website as ‘the perfect way for us to convey that landlords are committed to the long-term prosperity of communities’, adding: ‘By overcoming the financial burdens of getting into property and offering the right advice, the industry can also help itself at a time when vacancies are still rising.’

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There is no obvious link between billions of pounds of NHS funding spent in England and improvement in tackling health inequalities, according to the Audit Commission.

Its review of public health performance and spending says it is also hard to get ‘any clear view of value for money’.

The Healthy balance briefing estimates that more than £20bn was allocated in 2009/10 on the basis of health inequalities.

But despite the health of the nation improving overall over the last decade, the commission concludes that, ‘if the big picture is positive, stark problems remain’.

Inequalities in the health of people from certain areas and social background has ‘stubbornly resisted improvement’, and has, in some cases, even increased.

The gap in death rates between the England average and the 20% of areas with the worst rates of deprivation and early death rose between 1998 and 2007 for both men and women. The gap in infant mortality at first narrowed and had been on course to meet the government’s target of a 10% reduction by 2010, but the figures show ‘little improvement’ during the past four years.

Despite the sums of money allocated, said the commission, ‘it is not always clear how much has been spent on improving health inequalities and what the impact has been’.

It also called for ‘more ruthless targeting of money and services and close attention to outcomes’.

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Plans to deliver a high-speed rail network will not cut the use of cars and planes, according to the leading UK authority on sustainable transport.

Transport secretary Andrew Adonis today announced proposals for an initial core high-speed rail network linking London to Birmingham, Manchester, the east midlands, Sheffield and Leeds, with train speeds of up to 250mph.

The development of a 335-mile 'Y'-shaped network would ‘revolutionise Britain's rail network’, according to the government.

But the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) said the government had ‘failed to prove its high-speed rail plan would be green’.

CBT executive director Stephen Joseph said: ‘The danger is that a high-speed line will suck money out of the current transport network.

‘The last thing people want is service cuts, higher fares and more potholes, while the executive classes are treated to gleaming new high-speed trains.

‘Even with extra money on the table, there must be a strategy to get people onto rail. The government’s plan is high-speed rail plus business as usual. It will make no difference to carbon emissions, and could even make things worse. Fares must be cheaper than flying and driving and high speed rail must be an alternative to new motorways and airports.’

Ralph Smyth, senior transport campaigner for the Campaign to Protect Rural England commented: ‘By using existing and disused transport corridors as well as tunnelling, the impact on the Chilterns is less than feared. But the impact on the Warwickshire, where the line is proposed to run through open countryside, is a major concern.

‘There is a strong need for more than just fine-tuning. The firm commitment to community consultation made by Lord Adonis must be backed up by real engagement and flexibility. As with the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, local people’s contribution can help turn a contentious route into something that works both national and locally.’

Neil Darwin, Regional Cities East director, described the decision to ‘completely bypass the east of England’ as ‘a big disappointment’, adding: ‘There’s also a danger that the huge costs of high-speed rail will drain investment from other parts of the rail network. Routes like the Great Eastern Mainline, which connects Norwich, Ipswich and Colchester to London, are in desperate need of upgrades.

‘Important though high-speed rail is, we can’t afford to leave other areas lagging behind.’

The announcement was welcomed more positively by the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA). Interim chief executive, Kate Henderson said high-speed rail had a ‘big part to play in delivering a sustainable future for the nation’.

‘Large infrastructure projects such as this, which will span over several electoral cycles, are vital to Britain’s economic viability and competitiveness, as well as being part of the route to a low carbon economy with less dependency on short haul flights and car travel.’

‘High-speed rail must also fit in with a larger integrated transport investment strategy in which each piece of the system makes its own optimal contribution, linking together into a seamless web of efficient and sustainable connections.’

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) also declared support for the rail proposals. David Frost, director general, said: ‘Continued investment in Britain's transport infrastructure will underpin economic growth, support business in driving recovery and create jobs.

‘That is why the BCC supports a comprehensive high-speed rail network that provides vital extra capacity and helps British companies compete on a global scale.

‘With the public finances in such a poor state, the budget for this important project needs to be carefully considered. High-speed rail is a long-term investment but it cannot be built at the expense of the current rail network.

‘There must now be a binding, cross-party political consensus to ensure that both HSR and upgrades to the existing rail system proceed over the next two decades.’