Recent discussions in Aotearoa on City Deals have brought into sharp focus a debate had in many countries previously - how do we localise policy decision-making processes, particularly those concerning transport infrastructure and spatial planning, to promote economic growth.
What is a City Deal?
City Deals give local governing bodies greater powers to direct or control the outcome of infrastructure and spatial planning decisions to support economic growth. Agreements set up by Central Governments are based on a set of commitments to give local authorities greater responsibilities and funding control to attain a specific set of objectives. Many are related to infrastructure – such as road improvement schemes, Metro Rapid Transit projects (MRT) and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) networks.
City Deals promote a more collaborative approach to governance. They’re based on a fundamental premise that local authorities can better understand the barriers to infrastructure improvement in their own locations and are, therefore, in a better position to develop plans for their own community.
What types of deals have been agreed previously in the UK?
‘Wave 1’ of City Deals in the UK was initiated in 2011 and focused on the eight larger cities and city regions outside of the capital, such as The West Midlands and Greater Manchester. This allowed these cities more powers to improve public transport networks, such as the Bee Network in Greater Manchester and tackle more place-specific transport improvements such as the tram extension between Birmingham and Wolverhampton in the West Midlands.
A second tranche of deals began in 2014 and were aimed at the smaller cities in England, such as Leicester, Brighton and Preston. More recently, devolution agreements have been considered for some of the more rural regions of the UK, such as the County of Lincolnshire.
What are the main lessons that have been learnt in the UK that Aotearoa can use to its advantage?
In the early 2010’s the UK coalition Government used the political support for more devolved powers in the country to replace the large number of single-purpose joint boards aimed at cities with formal City Deals.
The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act helped to simplify the legislative process and devolved powers, while stipulating the need for the authority in question to strengthen their democratic arrangements with the local populous.
Aotearoa’s governing bodies are in a prime position to learn from the agreements set up in other countries, such as the UK, to decide whether City Deals would be effective here and, if so, what type could be considered by the Government.
There are many encouraging examples, including Greater Manchester where a City Deal was set up in 2011 which devolved powers to a new Combined Authority. The deal provided Greater Manchester Combined Authority with guaranteed long-term funding stream, a £30 million per annum rolling infrastructure fund, from Central Government. It also allowed the creation of the successful Greater Manchester Housing Investment Board and The Greater Manchester Investment Framework, which resulted in a more cohesive approach to infrastructure and spatial planning decision making.
These examples demonstrate that City Deals have the potential to keep the decision-making process to a more manageable size than those controlled by Central Governments, both in terms of the administration required and the number of decision-makers involved. The more successful deals have maximised these benefits and, consequently, produced more cost-effective results with more efficient monitoring systems, leading to quicker outcomes.
What made all the difference in the more successful agreements in the UK?
City Deals in places such as Greater Manchester and The West Midlands benefited from two factors that had a significant influence on their success:
Leadership: One characteristic that is critical success factor is the type and style of leadership each city-region established from the outset. Those that have a well-defined, visible, leadership group, with the comfort of strong, local political support, gained more success in the long term.
The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) in the UK is a good example of an authority that, under the leadership of Andy Street, has formed an effective leadership group with the members representing the other seven West Midlands County local authorities.
The quality of leadership was paramount when negotiating deals with the UK Government, arranging borrowing processes, setting out strategies that integrated well with national policy, and promoting their City Deal to unlock potential funding opportunities with the private sector.
Strong leadership groups like these are also able to focus attention on the clear objectives they initially set out, such as their Clean Growth objectives. They needed to demonstrate that they had the personnel, drive, and organisation capability to get results, especially when some commentators argued these cities were comparatively fortunate to be given such an opportunity.
Area of consideration: When initially set up, all the successful agreements we have seen in the UK were formed taking particular care to agree the area to be covered. Importantly, the agreements considered the relationship between spatial planning and transport policy and how the cities were connected to their surrounding suburban and rural areas. They were formed as city-regions to strengthen these links and to take into consideration the economic influence of their respective cities to these surroundings.
This made it easier to make integrated transport and planning decisions in parallel - including fundamental efficiencies when improving transport links. Better informed decisions could then be made when considering projects such as major highway improvements and Bus Rapid Transit schemes.
Can City Deals improve integrated transport and spatial planning decision-making in NZ?
From evidence we have seen in the UK, we see an opportunity to use City Deals in Aotearoa, but it will be important to aim for a consistent framework approach that works for the whole country.
Deals are now in place in the UK that cover city-regions, towns and rural areas. After 12 years of introducing City Deals, they have learnt that different deals are needed for different areas, not just cities and city-regions.
One size does not fit all. We have an opportunity to aim for this approach from the outset in Aotearoa and tailor deals for places of differing sizes and composition throughout the country.
As a born Kiwi and a Mancunian now residing in Auckland, we both feel there is an opportunity for Aotearoa to learn lessons from the UK, especially when developing their City Deals approach. What do you think? Can City Deals improve integrated transport and planning decision-making in Aotearoa? Contact us and let us know!
