The resignation of Hazel Blears from the government, and the subsequest appointment of John Denham at Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has prompted much discussion in the Renaisi offices.
Read the reactions of three Renaisi consultants here:
Denham to patch up DCLG
No sooner has Hazel Blears cleared her desk than John Denham has taken over the mantle of Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.
It will obviously take time for his presence to be felt. He takes charge at a time when many regeneration projects are being shelved and planners are being made redundant. Coming from the Department of Innovation, Skills and University he does at least know (or rather should know) the vital importance of connecting people with sustainable jobs and ensuring they have the right qualifications to take advantage of them. This is something that is vital in regenerating deprived places and central to Renaisi’s work.
It will be interesting how Mr Denham uses his experience in dealing with skills issues and applies them at the DCLG, starting with the £1bn Future Jobs Fund announced as part of the last budget, aimed at supporting the creation of jobs for long term unemployed young people and others who face significant disadvantage in the labour market. Its target is to create 150,000 jobs, although only 50,000 of these will be targeted at unemployment ‘hotspots’ and only 10,000 are expected to be ‘green jobs’.
Amongst his other challenges Mr Denham needs to use his new position to ensure the most in need neighbourhoods benefit the most from such schemes, and that the jobs are genuinely sustainable in the longterm. If not, there is a danger that the chance of a stronger link between the skills agenda and the placemaking and regeneration sector will be lost.
Written by Russell Spencer, Renaisi Consultant
At what cost an expense claim?
Was it the capital gains? Was it further retaliation to Brown after the ‘youtube if you want to’ comment? Was it ‘family issues’?
Whatever the real reason for her resignation, the fallout from Hazel Blears’ resignation from government is going to take a few days (and perhaps weeks) to become clear. There are stories swirling around planet Westminster that this is going to be the final straw for Gordon Brown and that his government won’t be able to take it. That back benchers are plotting a quick replacement (in the shape of Alan Johnson?) to give the new leader three weeks to get settled in before recess.
Whatever happens, once thing is for sure: there is going to be another few days of news that is not about issues, but about the MPs themselves. First we had day after day of expenses, and now we have senior members of the Labour party tearing themselves to shreds in public.
But Hazel going leaves some questions about the policies that were very much hers. What happens to the empowerment agenda? What happens to community ownership of assets? What happens to all the things that have been driving the community side of regeneration?
Whatever your political views of Hazel Blears, she was a strong voice and campaigner for change on these fronts. With her gone, will the next minister at CLG take on the baton with the same determination? Or will it be all change, just as it felt like the battle was starting to be won in terms of devolving power closer to communities.
In terms of communities up and down the country, the cost of an expense claim might be much greater than we first thought.
Written by, John Hitchin, Research & Evaluation Manager, EC1 New Deal for Communities
Blaring resignation
Hazel Blears has not tiptoed around very long… she was on her way out but decided to make the first move (or the second after Jacqui Smith’s) in resigning. She could not obviously have done this in a more cacophonic and damaging manner: just after Ms Smith’s resignation, a couple of hours before Prime Minister Questions, the day before European elections. Her departure has intensified dissensions and backstabbed a weakened Gordon Brown on the eve of a national election.
The champion of community cohesion leaves behind her a load of neighbourhood regeneration and empowerment initiatives. But she also leaves a great deal of uncertainty about the future of regeneration and communities. We know that times are challenging and that the actors of sustainable communities have to think about new ways of doing things, whatever the results of the next elections will be. But an abrupt call for election is more likely to jeopardize the promises and slow down the discussions on current important matters: eco towns, accelerated development zones, regional planning reforms, etc.
Blears surely did not resign in the correct manner, and she is obviously worsening the mess. However, it is the time for the government to appoint a new expert team, able to take up the challenges and complexities faced in the regeneration agenda. It could also be the opportunity for the Labour party to start thinking about the dangers of division and working on the vision it wants to spread and share.
Written by Claire Cunin, Renaisi Graduate Consultant
These are the views of these Renaisi Consultants and not of the company as a whole.
