George Osborne announces city devolution plan for England
Published on 14th May 2015
Today’s announcement could herald an exciting opportunity for elected mayors and those standing for election to drive forward the implementation of smart cities in England. Enabling an integrated approach could see cities developing local governance arrangements, stakeholder engagement and new collaborative ways of working and raising fund to promote not just a smart city but with it a step change in the productivity and experience of living in their local community. We will closely monitor the Queen’s Speech and the Bill’s subsequent progress through Parliament to see if this announcement delivers on its potential.”
Today’s announcement may not quite herald revolution in terms of activity, it certainly does bring about a new context for the debate around how to build smarter English cities. Frankly, it’s an exciting time at which to be involved in smart cities.”
Today, George Osborne has announced that a Cities Devolution Bill, to be included in the Queen’s Speech on 27 May, will give greater devolved powers to cities. In particular, cities with elected mayors will have power over housing, transport, planning and policing – this could facilitate the removal of barriers to the development of smart cities, which we highlighted in our smart cities report earlier this year.
At Osborne Clarke, we are closely following and contributing to the debate around building smart cities.
We are bringing together the parties who, collectively, will build smarter cities including technology companies, local government, real estate, utility and infrastructure players. One event at which we’re doing that in Bristol is happening in a couple of weeks’ time.
Simon Hobday, an energy and smart cities Partner at Osborne Clarke says:
