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Birmingham's last hurrah for local pride before civic Britain is culled Birmingham's last hurrah for local pride before civic Britain is culled
(17 days later)
The TaxPayers' Alliance will be fulminating. On Tuesday, Birmingham's new library – a £189m tribute to modernity and already receiving great reviews – will open. The largest public building of its type in Europe, it is part of a daring plan to reinvent the centre of the city. But in the world inhabited by the TaxPayers' Alliance, where all public initiative is futile, this must a priori be a useless waste of money.The TaxPayers' Alliance will be fulminating. On Tuesday, Birmingham's new library – a £189m tribute to modernity and already receiving great reviews – will open. The largest public building of its type in Europe, it is part of a daring plan to reinvent the centre of the city. But in the world inhabited by the TaxPayers' Alliance, where all public initiative is futile, this must a priori be a useless waste of money.
The Library of Birmingham is a fabulous public space, less a library, more an attempt to create an open information hub for the city – surely the only future for libraries as they shudder before the twin impact of the digital revolution and the cruellest, fastest withdrawal of local public spending from any major industrialised country since 1945.The Library of Birmingham is a fabulous public space, less a library, more an attempt to create an open information hub for the city – surely the only future for libraries as they shudder before the twin impact of the digital revolution and the cruellest, fastest withdrawal of local public spending from any major industrialised country since 1945.
There are 10 floors, where every vantage point offers a view of the city, along with a music library and amphitheatre; 3.5 million people a year are expected to visit. It is becoming ever more obvious that intellectual, entrepreneurial and business advance in the 21st century is going to be grounded in the open sharing of knowledge and ideas. Here is a public institution consecrated and designed to deliver just that, enfranchising an entire local citizenry and business community.There are 10 floors, where every vantage point offers a view of the city, along with a music library and amphitheatre; 3.5 million people a year are expected to visit. It is becoming ever more obvious that intellectual, entrepreneurial and business advance in the 21st century is going to be grounded in the open sharing of knowledge and ideas. Here is a public institution consecrated and designed to deliver just that, enfranchising an entire local citizenry and business community.
But enthusiasm has to be qualified by a sense of loss and regret. The Library of Birmingham is a last hurrah for the ambitions of civic Britain. The TaxPayers' Alliance can relax. No city in England or Wales would, or could, now consider spending £189m on such a project.But enthusiasm has to be qualified by a sense of loss and regret. The Library of Birmingham is a last hurrah for the ambitions of civic Britain. The TaxPayers' Alliance can relax. No city in England or Wales would, or could, now consider spending £189m on such a project.
The library got the go-ahead in 2007, a year before the financial crisis, and just managed to be completed before Birmingham – like every other local authority in Britain – contemplates the proposed financial carnage of the next four years. Brian Gamble, the library's chief executive, acknowledges that it would never get off the ground today.The library got the go-ahead in 2007, a year before the financial crisis, and just managed to be completed before Birmingham – like every other local authority in Britain – contemplates the proposed financial carnage of the next four years. Brian Gamble, the library's chief executive, acknowledges that it would never get off the ground today.
Local government is not sexy. Voter turnout at local elections runs at about 40%, well below national elections. The TaxPayers' Alliance speaks for a culture in which the only admissible objectives for local government are refuse collection, street lighting, traffic management and rat catching. Local government should not concern itself with housing and educating its inhabitants, or sponsoring local economic vitality or trying to alleviate local social conditions.Local government is not sexy. Voter turnout at local elections runs at about 40%, well below national elections. The TaxPayers' Alliance speaks for a culture in which the only admissible objectives for local government are refuse collection, street lighting, traffic management and rat catching. Local government should not concern itself with housing and educating its inhabitants, or sponsoring local economic vitality or trying to alleviate local social conditions.
Local government's role instead is to administer whatever is decided upon by Westminster and Whitehall, who obviously know best, and are to be trusted with precious taxpayers' money in a way not allowed to cavalier local councillors and hoi polloi.Local government's role instead is to administer whatever is decided upon by Westminster and Whitehall, who obviously know best, and are to be trusted with precious taxpayers' money in a way not allowed to cavalier local councillors and hoi polloi.
Local government should certainly not try to be proud of its city, building museums or new libraries. And anybody working in local government should expect hairshirt pay and conditions: after all, they are burdens on the taxpayer, lucky to have a job, let alone expect to be paid appropriately.Local government should certainly not try to be proud of its city, building museums or new libraries. And anybody working in local government should expect hairshirt pay and conditions: after all, they are burdens on the taxpayer, lucky to have a job, let alone expect to be paid appropriately.
Thus local government minister Eric Pickles has colluded cheerfully with George Osborne to knock local government back to being no more than rat catchers and managers of street lighting. Indeed, they scarcely give them the funds to carry out these activities.Thus local government minister Eric Pickles has colluded cheerfully with George Osborne to knock local government back to being no more than rat catchers and managers of street lighting. Indeed, they scarcely give them the funds to carry out these activities.
Plainly they should be contracted out to Serco or G4S, notwithstanding the mounting evidence that these new mercenaries, preying on national and local government, cut corners and even cheat in the best mercenary traditions. So reading the City of Birmingham's budget for 2013/4 and the projections to 2016/17 is beyond sobering. It is civic vandalism.Plainly they should be contracted out to Serco or G4S, notwithstanding the mounting evidence that these new mercenaries, preying on national and local government, cut corners and even cheat in the best mercenary traditions. So reading the City of Birmingham's budget for 2013/4 and the projections to 2016/17 is beyond sobering. It is civic vandalism.
Cumulatively, £300m of grants a year – 30% of Birmingham's total budget – will have been withdrawn by 2016/17. On top of that, the city has to find an estimated £315m to allow for inflation and rising demand for its services from an ageing population, along with assuming responsibilities for the provision of public health, spun out of the NHS. In the popular parlance, local government is bloated and fat, so this is a long overdue slimming down. Doubtless, as in every organisation, including those in the private sector, there was waste, misconceived and mismanaged projects. But the scale of downsizing that is being demanded of Birmingham – and all our major cities and towns – is incredible.Cumulatively, £300m of grants a year – 30% of Birmingham's total budget – will have been withdrawn by 2016/17. On top of that, the city has to find an estimated £315m to allow for inflation and rising demand for its services from an ageing population, along with assuming responsibilities for the provision of public health, spun out of the NHS. In the popular parlance, local government is bloated and fat, so this is a long overdue slimming down. Doubtless, as in every organisation, including those in the private sector, there was waste, misconceived and mismanaged projects. But the scale of downsizing that is being demanded of Birmingham – and all our major cities and towns – is incredible.
Yet it was only six years ago that the city had the confidence and resources to commission its remarkable library. The coalition government has constructed a financial framework in which this could never happen again. First, it insists that there is no higher national priority than capping the stock of public debt (even though it has been proportionally higher for most of the past 250 years). Second, despite the lip service to "localism", it also insists that the capabilities and capacity of local government must be emasculated.Yet it was only six years ago that the city had the confidence and resources to commission its remarkable library. The coalition government has constructed a financial framework in which this could never happen again. First, it insists that there is no higher national priority than capping the stock of public debt (even though it has been proportionally higher for most of the past 250 years). Second, despite the lip service to "localism", it also insists that the capabilities and capacity of local government must be emasculated.
It could be different. Amazingly, only 10% of Birmingham's revenue comes from council tax on property values, values that have not been revised since 1991 – with the government increasing local government's dependence on central grants by freezing council tax for another year. It is finance from the madhouse. There should be an immediate revaluation of property, and councils should be given the autonomy to set the local council tax as they think fit, given local priorities and demands – and pay the electoral consequence if they can't justify what they are charging.It could be different. Amazingly, only 10% of Birmingham's revenue comes from council tax on property values, values that have not been revised since 1991 – with the government increasing local government's dependence on central grants by freezing council tax for another year. It is finance from the madhouse. There should be an immediate revaluation of property, and councils should be given the autonomy to set the local council tax as they think fit, given local priorities and demands – and pay the electoral consequence if they can't justify what they are charging.
It is called local democracy. It is the handmaiden of civic engagement and creation of great cities, which are in turn the locus of entrepreneurialism and innovation. All are interconnected. Birmingham has a better chance of generating a dynamic local economy with its ambitious library than without. Great public institutions and private wellbeing are interdependent. Forget the cramped, mean world view of the highly partisan but self-advertised "non-partisan" TaxPayers' Alliance and its outriders on the political right, who claim that all that matters is private.It is called local democracy. It is the handmaiden of civic engagement and creation of great cities, which are in turn the locus of entrepreneurialism and innovation. All are interconnected. Birmingham has a better chance of generating a dynamic local economy with its ambitious library than without. Great public institutions and private wellbeing are interdependent. Forget the cramped, mean world view of the highly partisan but self-advertised "non-partisan" TaxPayers' Alliance and its outriders on the political right, who claim that all that matters is private.
The chancellor has said that Britain – following the vote in the House of Commons against military intervention in Syria – must start soul-searching about its place in the world. Any great-power pretensions to uphold the rule of law and international order depends upon our capacity to project military and diplomatic strength, and what underpins that is economic vitality. Britain needs to soul-search about how it conceives the wellsprings of growth, investment and innovation, and how its system of governance can work to support them. Part of that will be a framework that allows our great cities to build great public institutions – a far cry from where we are today.The chancellor has said that Britain – following the vote in the House of Commons against military intervention in Syria – must start soul-searching about its place in the world. Any great-power pretensions to uphold the rule of law and international order depends upon our capacity to project military and diplomatic strength, and what underpins that is economic vitality. Britain needs to soul-search about how it conceives the wellsprings of growth, investment and innovation, and how its system of governance can work to support them. Part of that will be a framework that allows our great cities to build great public institutions – a far cry from where we are today.
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