{"id":351,"date":"2010-02-05T08:01:46","date_gmt":"2010-02-05T08:01:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leedscd.wordpress.com\/?p=26"},"modified":"2010-02-05T08:01:46","modified_gmt":"2010-02-05T08:01:46","slug":"what-would-i-do-with-13-6m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2010\/02\/05\/what-would-i-do-with-13-6m\/","title":{"rendered":"What would I do with \u00a313.6m?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a313.6 million is (I\u00a0believe) the project costs to build a new southern entrance to Leeds station<\/a>. \u00a0It will\u00a0mean\u00a0that residents in the Granary wharf developments \u00a0and visitors to the Mint Hotel will have several hundred metres shaved off their walk to the station – and they will be able to avoid the recently refurbished (\u00a34.6m) Neville St – which is already leaking again! \u00a0It is yet another investment to attract the creative classes to Leeds so that the rest of us can benefit from the\u00a0trickle\u00a0down effect of their fabulous wealth creation. \u00a0Sounds like a plan?<\/p>\n

I would invest in\u00a0informal education and development by providing 20 street based, person centred coaches, supported by area panels acting as a ‘social brain’ to help coaches when they find clients who are really stuck in their pursuit of progress.<\/p>\n

20 coaches would enable us to say that the City of Leeds provides, to anyone who\u00a0wants\u00a0it, access to a free, person centred coach to help them make progress on their agenda. \u00a0We would develop a culture of active citizenship rather than passive acceptance and blame.<\/p>\n

Social\u00a0panels would be made up of\u00a0local\u00a0volunteers, service providers and others with an interest in the area. \u00a0Panels would meet monthly to review the coach’s progress and provide support on some of their most intractable cases.<\/p>\n

Costs to start and run such a service in the first three years would be in the region of \u00a34m. \u00a0Running costs for each subsequent year would be in the region of \u00a31.2m.<\/p>\n

I would expect such a service to provide meaningful support to well over 4000 Leeds people per year, providing\u00a0significant\u00a0gains in economic and social wellbeing for the majority of them.<\/p>\n

It would also enable Leeds to promote itself as something truly unique – the person centred city.<\/p>\n

We would gather incredible intelligence from across the city on the real barriers that hold people back, and service provider agencies might learn to\u00a0respond\u00a0to these rather than the dictats of the\u00a0bureaucrats\u00a0and their targets.<\/p>\n

This IS doable. \u00a0Very doable.<\/p>\n

And after running the service for 5 years I would still have \u00a37 million in the bank!<\/p>\n

What would you do with \u00a313.6m to make Leeds a city to be proud of?<\/p>\n