Presentation to the Bristol Ideas Forum, Bristol Festival of Ideas Watershed, Bristol, 2 December 2011

Place-based leadership in a globalising world

Robin Hambleton
Professor of City Leadership, University of the West of England, Bristol and Director of Urban Answers www.urbananswers.co.uk

Place-based leadership in a globalising world

A presentation in four parts: Orientation our globalising world Reversing the centralisation of power in England International examples of Directly Elected Mayors
Auckland Developing strategic city region leadership Freiburg Green plus growth Chicago Bold vision and service responsiveness International lessons for England

1.

Orientation our globalizing world

Governing cities in a global era

The presentation draws on this book plus more recent research Robin Hambleton and Jill Gross (eds) Governing Cities in a Global Era. Palgrave, 2007 An edited collection covering city governance in all continents

International insights a series for the UK

A collection of short articles commissioned by the UK Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) for local government Provides examples of place-based innovation in: Chicago Malmo Melbourne Milan www.idea.gov.uk/international

Global challenges for locality leaders

Massive economic restructuring of localities in recent decades

Serious economic troubles demand innovation - public spending cutbacks; rethinking the role of the state Unsustainable urban development climate change - inadequate investment in public transport; eco footprints Dynamic, exciting multicultural cities - but concerns about social tensions Local democracy on the ropes? - the erosion of local power with voter turnout in decline - imperative to develop local innovative capacity

Why new place-based leadership?

Political, managerial and community leadership is needed: To combat placeless power - distant decision makers unconcerned about local communities To unite the realms of civic leadership - public, private and civil society working together in new ways - promote public service and civic innovation To strengthen local democracy - revitalise representative and participatory democracy To improve the local quality of life - for all who live in the city

2. Reversing the centralisation of England

Local/central relations in the UK pre 1997

A large amount of scholarship shows that the UK has become the most centralised state in the Western world. Layfield Committee on Local Government Finance 1976 The Rates Act of 1984 a seismic shock central government takes the power to cap the local level of taxation 1996 - JRF report by Sir Charles Carter based on 10 years of research concludes that local authorities need the freedom to do things differently Sir Charles stresses that 60% of LA revenue should be raised locally Labour opposes capping and argues for a massive increase in LA fiscal power

Local/central relations in the UK 1997 to now

1997 Having opposed capping for 13 years Labour in power retains it! 2004 Balance of Funding Review. No progress 2007 Lyons Report. The government rejects the recommendation to remove council tax capping the day the report came out. No progress 2009 House of Commons Balance of power Review recommends strengthening LA fiscal power. No progress 2010 Coalition Government produces a Jekyll and Hyde Localism Bill 2011 Localism Act (November) extends the power of the Secretary of State in numerous ways. Very little progress on decentralisation

The Localism Act and elected mayors

However, the Localism Act 2011 is not all bad news: It provides an opportunity for the twelve largest cities outside London to introduce Directly Elected Mayors (DEMs) Leicester has already done this and the other eleven, including Bristol, are now considering the idea Yes, there is a missed opportunity these are not to be metropolitan mayors on the London model But there is an opportunity to introduce a DEM for Bristol and attract more powers to the city

3. International examples of Directly Elected Mayors

1) Auckland Developing strategic city leadership 2) Freiburg Green plus growth 3) Chicago Civic service and bold vision

Auckland
entirely new governance

Auckland radical reform including a new directly elected mayor

Concern about the fragmented metropolis seven unitary authorities and an Auckland Regional Council Royal Commission on Auckland Governance (2007-09) an outstanding study of metropolitan governance Proposed an entirely new governance structure for the metropolis a two tier model with a directly elected mayor for the entire city The New Zealand Government accepted the directly elected mayor but created a single unitary authority dubbed the super city Auckland Council is now Australasias largest local authority and Mayor Len Brown, elected in November 2010, is strong on multi-cultural themes

Freiburg
how to be green in a recession

Freiburg a radical approach to local leadership

A city with a population of 220,000 and falling car ownership Stunning public transport + very high quality urban design In 1970 = no bike paths; now = over 300 miles Over 1,000 new jobs in solar technology in the last ten years Directly Elected Mayor Green Party Very active citizenry shaping child-friendly neighbourhoods

Chicago
building on the Burnham Plan of 1909

Chicago public service responsiveness

A long established tradition of bold, outgoing leadership going back to the Burnham and Bennett Plan of Chicago in 1909 President Barack Obama developed his leadership skills doing community organising on the South Side (and was a successful Senator in Illinois) The 311 non-emergency telephone service (to complement 911) A level of responsiveness far beyond any private sector company and far beyond anything in European public services Immediate non-emergency information and assistance 24 hours a day Service monitoring to ensure follow up on requests for action

4. International lessons for England

Bristol city region

the inclusive city

Major themes from international experience

Success is found where local authorities are really powerful Very strong local power creates the local political space within which innovation can prosper Directly Elected Mayors (DEMs) can make a major contribution but they need much power if they are to match the best cities in the world Bold, outgoing civic leadership bringing together the state, the private sector and civil society is critical Civic leadership is multi-level place-based leadership is not just for senior figures Community empowerment and service user involvement can spur new thinking

Lessons for English local democracy (1)

Value and support all councillors the roots of representative democracy Average number of citizens per councillor France Germany Italy Sweden UK 116 250 397 667 2,605

The representative ratio in the UK is twice as bad as elsewhere in Europe Do not reduce the number of councillors grant them all significant neighbourhood leadership powers

Lessons for English local democracy (2)

Directly Elected Mayors need strong and capable chief executives Grant mayoral authorities a massive increase in powers eg Whole Place budgetary powers this would be a real incentive Use the mayoral experience at unitary authority level to prepare the ground fro Metropolitan Mayors (along London lines) in three years Create multi-level leadership develop programmes that bring together the political, managerial and community leaders in the city Take advantage of the dire economic outlook to introduce radically new ways of leading and governing the cities of England

Thank you for your attention

More information on UWE research on place-based leadership: http://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/UWENews/news.aspx?id=2149 More on the international examples and further analysis of leadership themes:

www.urbananswers.co.uk