Business rate changes across the central South - essential background to the Budget
A new, interactive, map for the Southern Policy Centre provides crucial background to next week’s Budget when Chancellor Philip Hammond is under pressure to moderate big increases. The map, showing average increases and decreases by authority and by sector, highlights the places where rates will go up most. But it also shows that, even in … Continue reading
Tainting a good idea
Combined authorities in the balance It may be Budget day before we learn whether any part of central southern England will reach agreement with the government on a ‘devolution deal’. But the chaotic process of recent months may have damaged the credibility of what is, at its heart, a very good idea. In the past … Continue reading
Assembly South report
Introduction Assembly South was part of an important new experiment in how to organise democracy effectively. It consisted of a group of 23 citizens and 6 councillors from the Solent and Isle of Wight area who met in Southampton over two weekends in October and November 2015 to discuss the future of local governance. The … Continue reading
Business breakfast: consulting with business on devolution
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Year One at the Southern Policy Centre
Why a southern think tank? We were launched in 2014 by Greg Clark and Lord Adonis to provide public policy focus for central southern England: the area from Dorset to West Sussex, and the Isle of Wight up to Oxfordshire. The region faces challenges distinct from both London and other English regions. Our public spending … Continue reading
The story of using data as a policy maker
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Using data as a policy maker: resource pack
A resource pack for open data/policy, following on from the using data as a policy maker event we recently ran. Agenda The Bendigo Story - links to web sites Mark Braggins - Open Data Aha! Chris Cooper - Flood Event Model Tom Smith - Stories from building and using the Index of Multiple Deprivation Nquiringminds … Continue reading
Perspectives on Devo-South
1. The bids so far and mapping out our challenges Our most recent research report for Business South looked at the challenges and opportunities in central southern England - incorporating some great maps from OS - and analysed the bids so far as well as the government’s own proposals. This assessment was compared to the views … Continue reading
Devo-South: a report on devolution and business
What are the challenges facing southern England, how can devolution empower local leadership to tackle them, and what do business leaders make of the opportunities offered by the government’s decentralisation agenda? Download the full report here BUSINESS is backing the idea of devolution in the South and wants to have a say in what it … Continue reading