Re-Open for Business?

One can broadly agree with what is being said in the foreword of Rebuilding Momentum, the green paper issued for consultation by Cardiff Council. One can also have reservations regarding the manner in which it is being said. This is a paper which is being written about business for business and perhaps purports to be no more or less than that. As such it signals the priorities in city governance for the future, which are for economic development. The consequent impact on city and regional planning are subordinate to those objectives. The first reservation is that this should, in itself, trigger a wider debate as to what we want this city to be and that this is unlikely to happen.

We may examine this proposition from the first paragraph. “The successes of the past are there for all to see, but it is now over a decade since the last major investment was secured and the city’s performance has dipped as a consequence. The foundations were laid, but not exploited. We need to rebuild momentum.”

Much may be made of this opening statement. We might, for instance, seek clarification of investment and performance which may be assumed to relate solely to commercial investment, employment and the local economy. In that decade we have seen significant investment in the infrastructure of higher education with the opening of new facilities by the University of Glamorgan at the Atrium and the Welsh College of Music and Drama. Cardiff University appears to have lost none of its momentum in the ongoing development of new facilities at Maindy, nor Cardiff Metropolitan at Llandaff. In culture the decade has seen the opening of the Wales Millennium Centre, refurbishment of the Sherman Theatre and Chapter Arts and a new Central Library. As regards more populist entertainment the new Cardiff City Stadium and athletics stadium were opened in that period. A new visitor centre was opened at Cardiff Castle. In terms of commercial business and employment the extension of the St Davids shopping centre and opening of John Lewis have had a significant impact.

What may be read into this opening paragraph is the assertion that few of the foregoing projects were initiated under the city administration between 2004 and 2012 but are a legacy from the previous Labour controlled council. That leadership is now back and Rebuilding Momentum is no more than a clear signal to investors and developers that things will be as they were prior to 2004. Development is the priority and consent and support for such development will be forthcoming from Cardiff Council. Investors and developers like clarity and certainty and the message here is unambiguous. We are people you can do business with. The well- meaning amateurs who were in charge for eight years have gone and we are re-open for business. That this message is directed at the private sector  is underlined in the closing sentence of the following paragraph and re-iterated in following paragraphs. The willingness to accommodate such interests is stated in the third paragraph.

Some thought needs to be given to the comment in the fourth paragraph that; Our universities also have an important role to play. They need to become central to our ambitions in the way that they haven’t been in the past. This may be a positive statement, an acceptance of the position asserted by Sir Brian Smith, the Vice Chancellor of Cardiff University in his dealings with the Labour administration at that time. That was that Cardiff University was by far the biggest game in town and the City Council needed to wake up to that fact. Smith was awarded a knighthood in 1999 in recognition of his efforts in building university links with industry and commerce assisting the Welsh Development Agency in opening up Chinese and Indian commercial markets for Wales. The Universities role would appear to have advanced the aspirations of this document and a robust affirmation of that fact may be forthcoming from that quarter. In that respect the author may need to be careful in what he wishes for in provoking any ‘town and gown’ conflict.

We may then turn to a few telling points in the fundamental principles set out in the foreword.

In the second of these is the need ‘to ensure big city projects’. Some of those are outlined in the main body of the paper and signal a return to the regime that supported the Millennium Stadium and the less successful  strategy of International Sports Villages, Mega casinos and the like. The stadium itself required a massive public subsidy, both overtly and covertly. The latter hardly evidence the success of fully embracing ‘the full potential of public private partnership which has served the city so well in the past’ referred to in the following paragraph. What that paragraph does clearly establish is that, in the view of the author of it,  ‘Cardiff must re-build a reputation as ‘open for business’. Therefore, by implication, it is suggested that an impression has been created among developers and investors that the city has been closed for business for a decade. As to whether this is a fact or merely a party political point needs to be examined.

The fourth point of principle concerns the role of Cardiff as the driver of the city-region and economy and raises a number of important issues. City regions are, in my view, a given - economically, socially and culturally. One key issue that we have consistently failed to address is one of governance. Hopeful someone in the Welsh Government will take issue with the statement in the green paper and open out this debate. It has been the view of the city that its role has not been ‘acknowledged and exploited’ by the regional government and that may very well be the case. Those who drafted the ineffectual Wales Spatial Plan in 2004 found it hard to even use the word ‘Cardiff’ and the recent working party on the city region avoided the issue of governance from the outset.

Such a debate will of course necessitate a frank discussion as to whether we have a surfeit of government and a paucity of sound governance in Wales. The current economic situation may precipitate acceptance of that rather than any political will to face up to the hard fact that we simply cannot afford the number of unitary authorities that we have presently. In the meantime we must, however, remember that there should be equal and balanced regard given to region in a city region. The adjoining counties are not there to simply accommodate low cost dormitory housing, waste disposal facilities or park and ride schemes for the city.

The closing paragraphs merely emphasise that this paper is about doing business. For many it is going to be difficult to separate the policy from the personality in considering the issues arising. The signatory to the foreword, Cllr Russell Goodway was, as leader of Cardiff Council until 2004, well regarded by the property and construction industry and some other business sectors. Rebuilding Momentum will be welcomed warmly as his personal manifesto in those quarters, as will be the return of ‘someone who gets things done’. Others may be more cautious and agree with the conclusions formed by Prof Kevin Morgan in in his paper Governing Cardiff: politics, power and personalities in Capital Cardiff 1975-2020. Among these reference is made to the conclusions of the Lyons Report of 2004 and the suggestion that ‘ Cardiff will have to attach the same political priority to public services as it hitherto bestowed on landmark projects and iconic buildings’. Given that the green paper was preceded by ‘consultation’ on the proposed closure of many public services and possible disposal of ‘unprofitable’ custodial assets of the city many would not be assured that this will be the case.

All the emphasis here is on assuring commercial investors and developers that Cardiff is very much back in business. The initial conclusion in reading the foreword of Rebuilding Momentum is that it may be dangerous to assume that the outcome of this paper will be a purely Platonic relationship between Cardiff Council and private sector business. The wider public may therefore need to pay attention to what may be the thin end of a large wedge for, as Plato himself said; “The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men”