Out of the lecture theatre and into regional growth
By Alan Qualtrough, Editor, Western Morning News
In my experience as a regional newspaper editor I have witnessed in recent years one of the biggest changes of influence towards creating the conditions for enterprise: the emerging dominance of universities over local authorities.
I say this not supported by research or statistics but from experience; because running a newspaper and gathering stories depends on understanding and using the pressure points of local influencers and plugging in to the lines of power, politics and decisionmaking.
The development of management and research skills appropriate to the business landscape of the regions they serve and the building of the networks necessary to encourage enterprise has increasingly been undertaken in universities. At the same time local councils have struggled with public spending cuts and declining service provision.
The stories in the Western Morning News reflect this: much gloom and doom in town halls; optimism, expansion, enterprise and innovation in higher education. So if story content is a measure, the focus of regional economic development can be said to have moved away from the municipal towards the academic.
My journalistic life began in the committee rooms of Liverpool City Council at a time the leftwing activist Derek Hatton was driving a politically charged economic and social agenda.
As a junior reporter at the Liverpool Echo there was only one place to go for economic or business stories and that was the chair of the economic planning committee or the dedicated team of departmental officials because it was here that all the policy decisions were played out.
Hence reams of copy were produced with political conflict and not consensus at the heart and with little thought on sustainability; a change of administration abruptly ended local plans, and the politicallydriven process then veered to the left or right to start again.
I have witnessed in recent years one of the biggest changes of influence towards creating the conditions for enterprise: the emerging dominance of universities over local authorities.
Many years later when I arrived in Plymouth to edit the evening paper I found a city that was underperforming but full of potential, circumstances also recognised by the University, which set about changing the university’s relationship with its stakeholders.
Professor Wendy Purcell championed an enterprise mission for Plymouth University and is delivering ‘enterprise in action’; taking theory out of the lecture theatre and translating it into activity through partnership working. In other words, the University is standing up and taking a lead on the economic regeneration of the region.
Two examples of this agenda are the Cornwall Enterprise Institute, a joint venture between Plymouth University and Cornwall College that will drive a “new economic dynamism” and Plymouth University’s Growth Acceleration and Investment Network (GAIN), the partnership with Plymouth City Council and Tamar Science Park that brings together the networks required to underpin a healthy business ecosystem. This work has to be put into the context of recent central and local government economic development and policy making in Plymouth. There had been central government intervention in the form of the Plymouth Development Corporation but this folded in 1995 after its performance was described as ‘poor stewardship of public funds’.
The principle was revisited nearly ten years later with the formation of the Plymouth City Development Company which was wound up last year without making an impact on the city.
This is not to say there have not been major economic initiatives in the city. The Devonport district received government New Deals for Communities funding of £48.7 million; and the South West Regional Development Agency and the European Union have made investments. The Plymouth 2020 local strategic partnership has worked steadfastly for improvement.
But despite the best efforts Plymouth’s economic indicators remained average and in general there has not been a joinedup approach to creating an enterprise culture. This is not a criticism of Plymouth city council’s economic regeneration policies or personnel. They are positive and work hard but are faced with reduced budgets and reduced staff numbers and a subsequent decline in influence.
So when I was encouraged to make an application to the Regional Growth Fund for a £1 million grant to create jobs in areas affected most by public spending cuts it was an obvious choice to ask Plymouth University to partner the Western Morning News because the enterprise networks and professionalism were in place.
The idea of the media linking up with higher education was novel and persuasive and was the classic case of partnership working to encourage enterprise that the university had anticipated. And the timing was right. The Coalition had just declared that growth in the SME sector was a key part of UK economic policy combined with devolving power to the regions in the form of Local Enterprise Partnerships. The university had anticipated this and had a regional enterprise policy in place.
And so it proved because when Business Secretary Vince Cable launched our Plymouth University and Western Morning News Growth Fund in July he described it as the ‘first and best’.
The Western Morning News has strong regional business coverage and we see the newspaper as a forum or vehicle to discuss and encourage economic and social change. As part of our routine reporting we have written about the economic impact of the universities in our region – Plymouth, Exeter and the Combined Universities of Cornwall and know their capabilities well. And they each have ambitious and successful growth strategies that influence and shape the regional economy.
Given that we have not yet experienced the full effects of public spending cuts and the relative decline of local authorities, the preeminence of universities in regional economic development is assured for years to come.
Alan Qualtrough is Editor of Western Morning News, who have teamed up with Plymouth University in a project aiming to create jobs, support businesses and drive growth in the heart of the South West and the Cornwall and Scilly Isles local enterprise partnership regions.
