Minister for cities Greg Clark asks eight core cities to make a bid for new powers as part of devolution project
English cities are to be given new freedoms, including control over transport investment, under plans designed to spark economic growth.
Greg Clark, the minister for cities, intends to change the law so that he can strike deals between Whitehall and eight core cities that would allow them to set their own policies.
Leaders from Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield have been asked to make a bid for new powers and to treat London's independence under its mayor, Boris Johnson, as a role model for the future. It is understood that a number of the cities want to take over skills training from national programmes so that they can cater to local employers' demands.
The devolution of power over transport could also see cities arranging joint public-private deals to connect each other through high-speed rail lines.
The devolution project would be further enhanced, the government believes, when 12 cities hold referendums next year on whether to elect mayors.
Clark told the Observer that cities could be the engines of growth necessary to revitalise the economy. "I think there are deals to be done which will allow policies to be different in one city than another," he said. "It is part of my conversations with the cities to encourage them to make proposals about how they want things done differently in their areas."
The move to devolve powers will be the first major act by Clark in his new ministerial role, in which he works both with Vince Cable's Department for Business and Eric Pickles's Department for Communities and Local Government.
Appointed in July as part of the government's growth strategy, Clark has seen his role take on fresh importance since the riots in English cities earlier this month. However, in an apparent departure from David Cameron's position that the riots were evidence of a general moral collapse in the country, Clark told the Observer it would be wrong to offer "pat solutions" or to generalise about society in every part of Britain.
"I think the causes of this require mature reflection. I don't think it is possible, I don't think it is right, to say: 'Well, it was A and B and the causes are obvious.' I think it does require everyone in the government, but also all parties, to think carefully about it. I think it would be wrong to present a list of my pat causes and solutions. We need to consider why it happened in some places and not in others."
Clark, who was a member of the SDP, a forerunner of the Liberal Democrats, before he joined the Conservatives in the early 1990s, added: "I think it is still the case that we are a broadly law-abiding country. It is worth pointing out that it was by no means every place in the country that was affected. On the night of riots, in Newcastle there was open-air cinema ? very well attended, people having a very nice time. Not everywhere in Britain was subjected to this."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/aug/27/transport-policy-independence-cities-growth
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