Biggart Baillie Solicitors

Glasgow - High Jump

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

by Murray Shaw

Glasgow is (in a number of respects) a thriving city (despite the economic impact of the last couple of years) with much to commend it.  However, while it was once the second city of the empire and in many ways the engineering powerhouse of that empire, the recent past has not been so kind to Glasgow.  Significant decline took place after the Second World War in the heavy industries which traditionally employed thousands of Glaswegians.  As a consequence of that and other social changes, the city remains beset with many economic and social problems. 

Notably for the last 25 years, the City Council has been seeking to tackle these issues in partnership with the private sector where appropriate.  In many ways, the Council here was “New Labour” (at least in its thinking) many years before that phrase was applied to the Blair Government.  A high degree of political pragmatism rather than political dogma has been the approach.  The city has been successfully promoted on the back of a number of events including the Garden Festival in 1988, as  City of Culture in 1991 and recently through the now successful application to host the Commonwealth Games. 

Despite all the work that has been done, it is accepted by the Council that there is still much to do and an action plan was produced in 2006 entitled “A Step Change for Glasgow” which was and is intended to drive the city forward.  This seeks to hold on to what has already been achieved while tackling issues which have not been successfully addressed.  In effect this was a 10 year economic strategy intended to sit alongside other strategies such as that in relation to tourism.

It was a document which identified specific activities that needed to be addressed, the lead agency to take responsibility for those activities, the timescale for them, the status or the importance they have in relation to other activities, the measurable outputs and the extent of public funding required to implement them.  

While the introduction acknowledged that the action plan is a “high level plan”, it is clearly important in the context of an agenda which is intended to develop Glasgow and address many of the problems which still affect the city. 

The plan identifies eight specific themes as follows:-

• Building the metropolitan core
• Education at the heart of the economy
• A culture of entrepreneurialship
• Glasgow-Edinburgh: collaborating to compete
• Leaders in strategic area regeneration
• Work for those without
• International positioning
• Success through specialisation

While all these themes are no doubt important and significant some are particularly interesting. 

Glasgow has three Universities and the second theme clearly identifies the importance of education in developing the economy.  Having good and internationally recognised tertiary educational facilities not only brings investment to the city directly (in terms of those who work at those institutions) it also attracts investment from spin off operations and from students who come to study, many of whom stay on.  However, this theme goes beyond the tertiary education level and is looking at new schools in Glasgow, increasing attainment in Glasgow and creating other facilities to support development.  Specifically, it identified the need for a construction skills academy which will provide 400 apprenticeships a year.  One of the significant issues which the construction sector has to face is a lack of quality craftsmen.  This is an issue only likely to be compounded by the current downturn.  The construction skills academy is intended to try and deal with that gap.

Traditionally, there has been great rivalry between Glasgow and Edinburgh – some would say jealousy.  The theme dealing with collaboration is intended to build upon an initiative which already exists but go well beyond that.  The action plan recognises, correctly, that in the modern global economy neither Glasgow or Edinburgh have the scale to be “truly major international cities”.  It is recognised however that they have assets which are complimentary and, if combined, can be globally significant.  At the conference at which the action plan was issued, the then Secretary of State for Scotland was fully signed up to the theme.  Amongst the specific initiatives to be looked at are the feasibility of a high speed rail link between Glasgow and Edinburgh and collaboration between educational institutes in the two cities to create world class research capabilities. 

Anyone who travels round Glasgow will be aware of the extent of development which is taking place but equally the need for regeneration in a number of areas.  The award of the Commonwealth Games will undoubtedly be a catalyst for further regeneration but the action plan does not shirk from what remains to be done.  The implementation of the various specific initiatives identified are intended to “deliver a step change to the city’s physical form” while bringing about major economic impact.   As a result, the theme of regeneration is addressed in the document.  The decision to cancel the Glasgow Airport Rail Link clearly is not consistent with driving forward this obligation.  Separately the City is keen to build on the legacy of the Games. Click here to view our Commonwealth Games Real Legacy article.

The penultimate theme deals with the international position of Glasgow.  Travelling round the world, Glasgow is a city that is well known and recognised – if only for its football teams!  Events such as the Commonwealth Games can only seek to reinforce the city in the context of a global economy.  The theme entitled “International Positioning” sees the ability to reinforce Glasgow’s reputation as being an important means of achieving the other key objectives.  This theme needs to be read alongside a specific tourism strategy which identifies the opportunities for Glasgow to attract visitors.

The final theme entitled “Success through Specialisation” identifies certain specific areas which need to be developed to give the city the edge which it requires to maintain an effective presence in the global economy in which we now operate.  While the old engineering businesses may no longer exist to any significant extent, new businesses have developed in Glasgow including, in particular, the financial sector.  This theme identifies a number of specific initiatives seeking to carry forward development in those sectors in which Glasgow already has a significant presence.  Again while the downturn may have an impact there remains a solid core to build on.

To those of us who travel away from Glasgow it is very easy to be critical of the city and the issues that need to be addressed.  This document makes interesting reading because it also records what has been done – which in itself is significant.  However, it does not shirk from what needs to be done but the fact that it is specific, costed (to an extent) and with timescales makes it a heartening document to read. 

The document in effect pre-dated the economic downturn.  Despite this the principles in the document still represent the strategy of the City albeit that strategy has of necessity needed to take account of the current economic position. 

Glasgow ran its annual “State of the City Economy Conference” in November and produced a special edition of the “Glasgow Economic Review” for that Conference. 

All the speakers (including those who brought an independent perspective) held the view that Glasgow had probably weathered the current economic downturn better than many cities in the UK. 

In his address to the Conference, Steven Purcell (the Council Leader) summarised the steps that had been taken by the Council and made clear that he remained confident that Glasgow had emerged from the recession strongly placed to continue to develop in accordance with the aims and objectives which the City had set for itself.  As noted, that view appeared to be one that was supported by others. 

2010 is likely to be interesting year for many.  Hopefully the steps which were put in hand to fulfil the strategy prior to the current economic downturn will assist in Glasgow coming out the recession.