Two-day Core Cities Summit in Liverpool
3 November 2009 10:27
Comments (0)
The two-day Core Cities Summit has got underway today at Liverpool's BT Convention Centre, aiming to bring political and business leaders together to debate on cities, transport and the economy.
The Summit will focus on three main themes:
- Beyond Recession, A New Vision for City Economies Chief executive of The Work Foundation, Will Hutton, will showcase interim findings from new research by the company and Oxford Economics, and set out a new economic landscape post-recession. He also will ask: What sectors will experience growth? What skills and assets will they need and how can cities and their partners act to put these in place, ensuring future economic sustainability?
- Safeguarding Employment This session will launch new research from the Core Cities Group and the Improvement and Development Agency, plus a set of recommendations from Core Cities for radically transforming the way in which skills and employment is delivered in England.
- Increasing Investment Core Cities have proposals in front of Government for increasing investment, through Accelerated Development Zones, a form of Tax Increment Financing. This session will reflect on recent progress and future needs, including the potential for other kinds of innovative financing, for example for climate change retrofitting cities and their buildings
One of the key note speakers today (3 November) at 11.20am is Sadiq Khan, Minister of State for Transport, who is expected to be challenged on Liverpool's stalled Merseytram scheme. Other key note speakers across the two days include:
- Nick Clegg – Leader of the Liberal Democrats
- Jon Sopel – Broadcaster and Political Journalist
- Stephen Uden – Head of Skills & Economic Affairs, Microsoft
- Cllr Warren Bradley – Leader, Liverpool City Council
- Richard Leese – Leader, Manchester City Council
- John Shipley – Leader, Newcastle City Council
- Hugh Morgan Williams – Chair, Northern Way
- Howard Newby – Vice Chancellor, University of Liverpool
- Chris Murray – Director, Core Cities Group
- Dermot Finch – Chief Executive, Centre for Cities
- Neil Scales – Chief Executive, Merseytravel
- Kate Priestly – Chair, Leadership Centre
- Kjell Nordström – Management Guru and Cities Futurist
An evening gala dinner will be held for delegates tonight from 7pm at the Liverpool Cathedral featuring political satirist and impressionist Rory Bremner.
