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As the local government cuts bite, a roundtable debate by The MJ and York City Council, sponsored by Gatenby Sanderson, discussed how local economies can continue to support economic growth in the current financial climate Wherever you turn in the public sector at the moment, there are just three themes dominating the agenda – cuts, cuts and more cuts. With the internal reorganisations to deal with the front-loaded cash shortfall, there is a temptation to look internally and at the short term, in a bid to balance the books. The Ron Cooke hub at York University was venue for the debate. But budgets are not the only game in town. Economic imperatives are not just an internal issue – and councils must look toward the wider local economy in a bid to protect prosperity for their areas. With this in mind, The MJ and York City Council held a roundtable debate to consider how councils might keep their eye on the economic issues for the whole community. The event, supported by recruitment specialist, Gatenby Sanderson, is aptly held in York University's new Ron Cooke hub, in the heart of the city's science park. Despite the Government's ‘budget for growth', it's clear the guests feel ministers' plans for economic growth in the regions are far from coherent. In York, in particular, there is confusion over how to deal with a prosperous city in the North. York has a good supply of high-end skills and a well-developed knowledge economy. However, 33% of the economy is based in the public sector – a precarious environment to be in, during the current climate. Unlike other areas in the North, York is insulated by the nature of some of those jobs – based in higher and further education rather than local government. One debater points out that York is more like the South East than the North – transport links to London are better and faster than some of those to other northern cities, and the prosperity mirrors the South more than the ‘Whitehall perceptions' of a needy North, of high levels of unemployment and deprivation, and the high dependency culture which comes with that. ‘The Government sees us as in the North – but when its members are looking to invest in the North, they think ,"We don't have to invest in York. It's OK". So, we don't get the South East funding, but we don't get the North's investment either.' ‘We are atypical compared with other parts of the North. Our young people are highly educated, and it's difficult to keep them.' They may be educated, but do they have the right skills to provide local businesses with the workforce they need? The two are not always the same thing. ‘It becomes an issue about whether we can get our education system tailored to the jobs needed.' One guest tells us anecdotally of a local employer in the area which ‘couldn't get the right sort of labour'. As a result, there is also a transport issue local authorities can help with, to import people from one area to another. The scrapping of the regional development agencies in favour of local economic partnerships is also a key part of the prosperity debate. ‘There is an obsessive debate about whether you can be in more than one local economic partnership (LEP),' one of our roundtable guests suggests. And the answer to the debate is simple: ‘We will be in whatever we need to be in.' For the moment, those around the table are still unsure about how useful the LEPs will become. There is a fear there might not be enough action. If they become talking shops, people will switch off.' However, there are some ‘positives'. There are different people around the table, and the focus is on the private sector. ‘Business people don't work in the same way. The best thing business people can do is to do business well.' Local authorities can have a huge amount of impact on the local economy themselves. How they spend procurement budgets can be tailored to help local firms, where appropriate. ‘We have a bias towards local sourcing,' someone claims. ‘And we are now also market making.' But job cuts being made due to reduced funding will also have an impact locally. As the majority of council workers are also residents, when you make them redundant you also have a knock-on impact on local services and businesses, where they would usually spend their wages. ‘There is an obligation of councils to think about the impact of what we are doing.' The impact of the cuts will stretch far wider than the corridors of the council. ‘It's naïve stupidity on the part of the Government,' one debater argues. ‘You can have an impact on the economy of low wages in the public sector.' ‘One of the important things local authorities have to do is look for the future,' one debater claims. Another agrees: ‘It's critical you keep your eye on the long term. Our job now is primarily about securing prosperity for the long-term.' For those around the table, there is one major problem. There is no coherent plan coming from the Government on what it wants from the economy. The budget for growth is all very well, but local government is poised and waiting to deliver an agenda which is yet to be vocalised. ‘We must know where we are going. We need to see a big national plan from the Government. We must know what it is.' Localism can only work so far, without a clear vision for the country from the centre. Until then, councils will continue to work with what they have – not very much to go on at all. As one of our debaters puts it: ‘It's no longer a case of "is the glass half empty or is the glass half full". It's more a case of "what bloody glass".'

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WHITEHALL

Prosperous York weighs up its options

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