Blears announces new regeneration drive for Manchester

Manchester’s regeneration has been given a multi-million pound boost alongside the creation of a new ministerial group to support city leaders in bidding for further projects, Communities Secretary Hazel Blears said.

Hazel Blears announced that English Partnerships have earmarked around £10m to accelerate the delivery of Sportcity, the largest concentration of sporting venues in Europe. The money will be used for site preparation, in order to unlock the huge potential for leisure, commercial and sporting activity and create new jobs.

Ideas that have been put forward for the site include a new BMX centre, and extreme sports centre including a snowboarders half-pipe, scuba pool, abseiling and climbing walls as well as a sky-diving simulator and white-water rafting course.

The development of Sportcity is expected to create 1,600 new jobs and will be a key part of East Manchester’s wider regeneration drive. The Government is extending the New East Manchester Urban Regeneration Company to 2014, who will invite proposals for the new Sportcity site, and spearhead a series of local regeneration projects, creating a total of 4,000 jobs.

The Higher Education Funding Council for England will also conduct a study into the demand for higher and further education in Manchester.

The Government is also working with councils in Greater Manchester on their plans for a Multi-Area Agreement to be signed this summer to boost jobs, transport, investment and housing through greater co-operation.

The ministerial group will be chaired by Ms Blears, and will bring representatives from Manchester City Council together with ministers from the Department of Health, the Department for Transport and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. It will support Manchester city leaders as they progress longer-term projects, including:
* An application for the Transport Innovation Fund, to increase capacity of public transport, and reduce congestion in the city
* A new Transport Hub to provide increased rail links across the North West, subject to a Network Rail study
* Refurbishment of the former Sharp building to house computer gaming company Redvision, and a hub for new games and media businesses
* Three new skills academies: on skills, facilities management and digital media.

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears said:
“This £10m boost for Sportcity will unlock huge sporting potential in East Manchester and attract visitors from across the UK, and beyond. It’s another piece of the jigsaw in Manchester’s regeneration success story, and can help to create new jobs.
“The new ministerial group will also ensure that success continues well into the future by giving the Government’s support to city leaders as they drive forward new jobs, more skills and better transport for our communities.”

Government publishes alternatives to casino-led regeneration

The Government has published a new report, which shows that the benefits of regional casinos can be delivered through alternative, but equally effective, projects.

The Review of Alternatives to Casino-Led Regeneration finds that in isolation it would be challenging for any alternatives to achieve the scale of economic benefits that could be secured through a regional casino, but that there is uncertainty around the extent to which these benefits are truly additional. The report goes on to say that once potential economic and social costs of a regional casino are included, and a package of alternative options considered, the difference can be reduced and even eliminated.

The review was commissioned by the Prime Minister in July 2007 to examine whether deprived areas could be equally well served by other forms of regeneration, and considered a series of alternative ways to deliver the benefits a super-casino would bring, including retail and commercial development, or housing-led regeneration.

The review concludes that measuring the impact of a casino on local job creation is highly problematic - as is measuring the effect on inward investment and any other knock-on benefits.

The relatively high pay of casino jobs, for example, can attract commuters from outside the area, which would mean that local people do not necessarily benefit, but would still bear the brunt of any risks faced.

The review also found that the risks and costs associated with smaller and medium sized casinos are much lower than those faced by larger regional ones, and are also outweighed by the regeneration benefits.

The report, A Review of the Alternative Approaches to Regional Casino-Led Regeneration is published today and can be found here: http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/citiesandregions/casireviewalternatives