{"id":550,"date":"2011-04-08T10:55:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-08T10:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leedscd.wordpress.com\/?p=550"},"modified":"2011-04-08T10:55:00","modified_gmt":"2011-04-08T10:55:00","slug":"what-now-leeds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2011\/04\/08\/what-now-leeds\/","title":{"rendered":"What Now Leeds&#8230;?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I spent a bit of time yesterday looking at the latest DRAFT &#8216;Vision for Leeds&#8217;, developed by the Leeds Initiative. \u00a0It has been under development for months now, and many of us will have contributed ideas through the &#8216;What If Leeds&#8217; workshops or through the online forum that was set up for the job. \u00a0Depending on your point of view this\u00a0document\u00a0is either of central\u00a0importance\u00a0in influencing the development of the City, or just meaningless verbiage. \u00a0The amount of time I have put into this over the last year or so I really hope it is the former.<\/p>\n<p>The new Vision for 2030 has been drafted, including City Priority Plans covering the work of 5 sub-boards:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Children and Families<\/li>\n<li>Safer and Stronger Communities<\/li>\n<li>Sustainable Economy and Culture<\/li>\n<li>Regeneration<\/li>\n<li>Health and Wellbeing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Clearly\u00a0there are overlaps between these boards with much of what needs to be done needing co-ordination across several of them.<\/p>\n<p>It is\u00a0important\u00a0to recognise that none of these sub boards have any powers. These remain with the partnership member organisations, including The Council, NHS, Police and Fire Authorities, Education, the private and third sectors. The boards simply provide a mechanism through which each organisation&#8217;s work can be co-ordinated and perhaps influenced to fit in with the over-arching development of the City.<\/p>\n<p>But back to the draft Vision.<\/p>\n<p>The Vision itself is incredibly bold and ambitious. \u00a0As the Vision says, the people of Leeds have spoken &#8211; and this is our Vision!<\/p>\n<div id=\"_mcePaste\" style=\"padding-left:30px;\"><strong><em>By 2030, Leeds will be locally and internationally recognised as the best city in\u00a0the UK<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n<p style=\"padding-left:60px;\"><strong><em>By 2030, Leeds will be fair, open and welcoming.<\/em><\/strong> Leeds will be a place where\u00a0everyone has an equal chance to live their life successfully and realise their potential. Leeds will embrace new ideas, involve local people, and welcome visitors and those\u00a0who come here to live, work and learn.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left:60px;\"><strong><em>By 2030, Leeds\u2019 economy will be prosperous and sustainable.<\/em><\/strong> We will create a\u00a0prosperous and sustainable economy, using our resources effectively. Leeds will be\u00a0successful and well-connected offering a good standard of living.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left:60px;\"><strong><em>By 2030, All Leeds\u2019 communities will be successful. <\/em><\/strong>Leeds\u2019 communities will\u00a0thrive and people will be confident, skilled, enterprising, active and involved.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing if not ambitious.<\/p>\n<p>Each of these\u00a0headline\u00a0aims are expanded into a number of bullet points, such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><em>people are treated with dignity and respect at all stages of their lives<\/em><\/strong> &#8211; (which I love because of the sheer scale of its ambition)<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>we all behave responsibly<\/em><\/strong> (which I love\u00a0because\u00a0of its sheer idiocy and unwillingness to accept human nature for what it is! Imagine the focus groups defining &#8216;responsible\u00a0behaviour&#8217;, and the fun that might be had with enforcement! \u00a0And we all behave\u00a0responsibly\u00a0when? \u00a0All of the time? \u00a0Some of the time? \u00a0Once in a while? \u00a0In public places? We might need some kind of &#8216;responsibility\u00a0licence&#8217; where we get &#8216;points&#8217; for irresponsible behaviour. \u00a0Too many points and your banned. \u00a0Perhaps each community can shape its own definitions of &#8216;responsible&#8217; allowing us to develop communities with\u00a0distinct\u00a0cultures.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>local people have the power to make decisions that affect us<\/em><\/strong> &#8211; (I am guessing that in this case the &#8216;Us&#8217; is the council and its partners &#8211; just imagine that, a city where citizens had the power to make\u00a0decisions\u00a0that affect the state! \u00a0We could call it &#8230;.democracy&#8230;.)<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>a strong local economy driving sustainable economic growth<\/em><\/strong> (a\u00a0local\u00a0economy! Not a regional, national or global one. \u00a0Just imagine that.)<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>work for everyone with secure, flexible employment and good wages<\/em><\/strong> &#8211; a city of full employment and good (above average?) wages<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>high-quality, accessible, affordable and reliable public transport<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><em> <\/em><\/strong><strong><em>successfully achieved a 40% reduction in carbon emissions (by 2020)<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><em>people have the opportunity to get out of poverty<\/em><\/strong><em> <\/em>(now I would like to\u00a0think\u00a0that we could strengthen this to say everyone that\u00a0wants\u00a0support to get out of poverty is able to access it and use it to make progress, or some such)<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>community-led businesses meet local needs<\/em><\/strong><em> <\/em>(look out private ownership &#8211; the Peoples Republic of Leeds is after you. \u00a0You can go and meet the needs of non locals &#8211; but here, we look after our own. \u00a0Community led banks, utilities&#8230;everything! By 2030.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>Now I love a <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Big_Hairy_Audacious_Goal\">big hairy audacious goal<\/a> as much as anyone. \u00a0They require great leadership, tremendous commitment, phenomenal communication, a willingness to fail in their pursuit and, usually a lot of time and money. \u00a0And if you are going to engage me in the pursuit of a BHAG, you had better be serious about it. \u00a0Any hint that this is hot air or political posturing without the commitment and resources to have a real crack&#8230;..<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The draft vision then starts to move towards\u00a0implementation\u00a0in the form of a series of City Priority Plans, one for each of the 5 sub boards. \u00a0And here I have some real concerns &#8211; because some of our BHAGs get diluted, \u00a0BIG TIME.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/leedscd.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/04\/citypriorityplans.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-551\" title=\"CityPriorityPlans\" src=\"http:\/\/leedscd.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/04\/citypriorityplans.png\" alt=\"City Priority Plans\" width=\"497\" height=\"259\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>So the Vision (or BHAG) of Leeds being a &#8216;healthy and caring city&#8217;, becomes a <strong>4 Year Priority<\/strong> to ensure that &#8216;More People Make Healthy Lifestyle Choices&#8217; which gets translated into a Headline Indicator that tracks the number of adults smoking. \u00a0A vision that could be something to rally people around becomes a simple quantitative goal that the NHS and Government taxation will ensure happens anyway.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>And this is not a one off.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The City Priority Plan for regeneration has a <strong>Four Year Priority<\/strong> to &#8216;Support the recovery of the Leeds Economy&#8217;. \u00a0And the Headline Indicator for this? \u00a0Development of an as yet unspecified number of hectares of\u00a0brownfield\u00a0land!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>If we are not\u00a0careful\u00a0we\u00a0will\u00a0end up with a\u00a0bureaucratic\u00a0response\u00a0to the &#8216;Vision for Leeds&#8217; that will enable the various strategic partners to get on with what they were doing anyway.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>At least some of the people of Leeds spoke their minds when it comes to setting the vision for the City. \u00a0I think that we now need to speak our minds again when it comes to developing the City Priority Plans.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>You can download the full\u00a0document\u00a0in pdf format <a href=\"http:\/\/www.leedsinitiative.org\/page.aspx?id=8882\">here<\/a>. \u00a0Just click the link for &#8216;Tuesday 15 March 2011&#8217;. \u00a0The Vision for Leeds starts on page 37.<\/div>\n<div class=\"SPOSTARBUST-Related-Posts\"><ul class=\"entry-meta\"><li class=\"SPOSTARBUST-Related-Post\"><a title=\"City of Dreams\" href=\"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2013\/01\/26\/city-of-dreams\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">City of Dreams<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"SPOSTARBUST-Related-Post\"><a title=\"An imaginary open letter: To those who would &#8216;engage&#8217; us&#8230;\" href=\"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2012\/08\/09\/an-imaginary-open-letter-to-those-who-would-engage-us\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">An imaginary open letter: To those who would &#8216;engage&#8217; us&#8230;<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"SPOSTARBUST-Related-Post\"><a title=\"Patient Opinions on NHS Services in Leeds\" href=\"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2012\/07\/07\/patient-opinions-on-nhs-services-in-leeds\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Patient Opinions on NHS Services in Leeds<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"SPOSTARBUST-Related-Post\"><a title=\"Some thoughts on Best City outcomes\" href=\"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2012\/07\/05\/some-thoughts-on-best-city-outcomes\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Some thoughts on Best City outcomes<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"SPOSTARBUST-Related-Post\"><a title=\"Some Barriers to Engagement\" href=\"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2012\/06\/13\/some-barriers-to-engagement\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Some Barriers to Engagement<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I spent a bit of time yesterday looking at the latest DRAFT &#8216;Vision for Leeds&#8217;, developed by the Leeds Initiative. \u00a0It has been under development for months now, and many of us will have contributed ideas through the &#8216;What If Leeds&#8217; workshops or through the online forum that was set up for the job. \u00a0Depending [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[19,36,38,63,91,94,109,115,118,175,174,220],"class_list":["post-550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-leadership","tag-aspirations","tag-community","tag-community-development","tag-engagement","tag-government","tag-health","tag-innovation","tag-leadership","tag-leeds","tag-regeneration-2","tag-regeneration","tag-values","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}