{"id":352,"date":"2010-10-01T06:43:22","date_gmt":"2010-10-01T06:43:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leedscd.wordpress.com\/?p=352"},"modified":"2010-10-01T06:43:22","modified_gmt":"2010-10-01T06:43:22","slug":"of-sheds-and-shedmen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2010\/10\/01\/of-sheds-and-shedmen\/","title":{"rendered":"Of Sheds and Shedmen…"},"content":{"rendered":"
My pal Iain Scott<\/a> has just written a swingeing piece on the problems of the ‘inward investment, picking winners and cosying up to large companies’ approach that has underwritten governmental approaches to economic development not just here in the UK, but across most of the west, at national, regional and local levels. \u00a0An approach that he characterises as being about ‘sheds and shedmen’.<\/div>\n
So how have the ‘sheds and shedmen’ got such a tight grip on our economic policy and associated investments?<\/div>\n
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  1. Large well organised bodies of professionals make a lot of money from it – architects, planners, developers – they spend fortunes on organised lobbying – just look at the sponsorship of most of the big regeneration conferences – nearly all ‘sheds and shedmen’. \u00a0Look at MIPIM. \u00a0They will not easily give up their market share.<\/li>\n
  2. Politicians like ‘sheds and shedmen’ because they give them something to open and point at. \u00a0‘Look at the lovely building we have delivered, see how it shines, my lovely….’<\/li>\n
  3. Politicians also like ‘sheds and shedmen’\u00a0because\u00a0they provide interventions that can fit within an\u00a0electoral\u00a0cycle…“when you elected me this was \u00a0a wasteland…now it has a ‘shed'”<\/em>. \u00a0More person centred approaches to tackling, often generational, problems in the local economy and community are\u00a0likely\u00a0to take longer and may not provide the short term ‘electoral’ benefits that our democratic leaders require<\/li>\n
  4. Much of the electorate fall for the seductive line of ‘attracting employers who will bring us jobs and a bright and shiny future’. We have failed to provide them with a different, more compelling and honest narrative. \u00a0We have also failed to expose the nature of the ‘deals’ that are often required to attract such investment.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n
    I am sure there are other reasons, but these strike me as the big ones!<\/div>\n
    So I propose a mission: to influence investment away from steel, concrete & glass and into people, their aspirations and progress.<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n

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    Who is up for that?<\/div>\n
    Get in touch and we will organise….<\/div>\n