City Finance Commission Report

May 23, 2011

The City Finance Commission, established jointly by Central London, Birmingham and Manchester, has now launched its final report. The report was launched at the House of Commons on the 23rd May and was responded to by the Minister for Decentralisation the Right Honourable Greg Clark MP. A final copy of the report can be found here.

The recommendations of the commission hope to set cities free financially, economically and socially. The Commission recommend allowing cities to become more financially independent, to strengthen their ability to drive both local and national economic growth, deliver localism and to increase care for their communities.

The propositions:

•Powerful incentives, freedoms and flexibilities for cities to “go for growth” in the national interest

•Devolving all centralised services into a single pot with significant savings in management and administration costs and enhanced quality

•Better connections between businesses and local government and real influence for business over local priority-setting.

•Long-term, ambitious investment in the infrastructure needed to drive growth

•The opportunity for Government to trial radical, innovative approaches in a small number of high performing cities – minimising the risks associated with major change on a national scale