Policy in Practice

The Aston Arena has been given its eviction notice; a    large charity, two schools and two private clubs have  been given 20 days to vacate with no measures put in   place to rehouse them. While the closure has caused community anger the impact of not rehousing these organisations will have a negative community impact. The Charity, Gilbert Deya Ministries, works with the most deprived in the area and acts as a referral service as well as community centre; while the two schools, Aspire Learning Academy and Omar Partners, have very strong links with the Pakistani and Somali community, two community groups with very low   educational attainment and are seen as difficult to reach. Despite both Birmingham City Council and the HCA having strong property portfolios they have not worked  together in any way to accommodate these imperative community groups, or search for storage until decisions are made. Birm...

  An important part of sustaining an Olympic legacy is the role a facility plays; a strategy must have strong participants as well as a clear vision of engagement. In Birmingham we have suffered by ignoring our potential and being guilty of mismanaging our assets. Part of this problem has been a lack of encompassing strategy and natural resource use, this is something the city consistently misses and when one part of a community is supported another is encouraged to stutter.   Whether business, public or third sector, area regeneration and sustainability must co-exist in a wider policy context as well as in the immediate locality. These are some lessons learnt in Birmingham that could assist any future plans for our Olympic venues.  Ø   Minimize future losses by having Council employees encourage and monitor strategies/successes. On the other side don’t assume your Council can create and sustain a strategy; or even be supportive. Be communicative and inn...

Struck am I at the lack of direction the Home and Communities Agency (HCA) places on communities; it seems best economic value is the direction of play and community cohesion is very much off the agenda. It exists, but only when it’s needed to exemplify a responsibility to communities in a context that already exists, such as the 92 hectares transferred to the Parks Trust in Milton Keynes. But what about cities that are already squashed and face issues of social exclusion such as Bradford or Birmingham; how do the HCA deal with their needs? Best economic use is very much at play here; it is the deciding factor in establishing ‘site value’ and plays a huge part in the redevelopment of the local climate. In Bradford the question of demolishing the landmark Odeon cinema has been raging for a while, Yorkshire Forward (a government QUANGO) purchased the site to redevelop/demolish in 2003 and in 2012 nothing has changed with the HCA now responbile. Campaigns and local efforts hav...