Doncaster and Wrexham granted city status
The competition to receive civic honours was last run ten years ago to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, and this year for the first time ever the competition for city status was open to applications from the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories, with the Falklands’ Stanley and Douglas of the Isle of Man among the […]
Bradford is UK City of Culture 2025
Congratulations are due to Bradford for a very exciting winning bid, and commiserations to Key Cities Southampton and Wrexham, and also County Durham, the other shortlisted contenders, who for the first time also receive some funding to take forward elements of their proposals. The winner was approved by Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries based on independent […]
Future Skills for Cities: Conference report
Chairing the first session on green skills, Rebecca Long-Bailey, MP for Salford and Eccles and co-chair of the Key Cities APPG, said there was a need for the Government to tie industrial strategy much better into the needs of the economy to ensure the skills we need will be available, adding that the move towards […]
Cities propose renewal of urban centres to level up UK
Key Cities and Core Cities UK – two networks representing 36 urban centres accounting for nearly a third of the UK’s people and jobs – have today published a new ‘inclusive renewal deal’ to level up the country and help cities recover from ‘Zoomshock’. The framework has been outlined in a new report, The Future […]
Key Cities Innovation Network launched
The network responds to a growing trend by Government and funding agencies to focus on investing in place-based innovation to address disparities and deliver on the Government’s levelling up agenda. The universities – Bath, Bradford, Coventry, East Anglia, Gloucestershire, Lancaster, Salford, South Wales, Sunderland and Wrexham Glyndwr – are all located within the Key Cities […]
Warm, yes, but not hot: the Skills White Paper
A renewed focus on skills training – a topic of crucial importance to inclusive growth in Key Cities, and to the Government’s levelling up agenda – was promised in the Skills for Jobs White Paper which was published last week and discussed yesterday at a meeting of the APPG for Skills and Employment, organised by […]
APPG discusses Culture Policy
Following the retirement of Julie Elliott and Tracy Brabin, Rebecca Long-Bailey MP was elected Co-Chair and Baroness Wilcox of Newport Vice Chair. The Annual Report, Minutes and Financial Statement are available here. The cultural policy discussion was introduced by Key Cities Deputy Chair and Culture Lead Cllr. Alan Waters, the Leader of Norwich City Council. […]
Put health first in planning, cities say
The report, The Healthy City, sets out a new vision for cities in 2050 to be based on the ‘health first principle’, which makes the case for cities to increase their support and promotion of mental, physical and social health through a number of policies and reform at both the local and national level. The […]
Grasp green growth, cities urge ahead of COP26
The cities, represented by London Councils, Core Cities UK, and Key Cities, deliver more than 60% of the UK economy, but also generate a significant proportion of the UK’s carbon emissions. Cllr Nick Forbes, Chair Core Cities UK, Leader of Newcastle City Council said: “The key to tackling climate change – as we have seen […]
Housing for Key Cities – where to start?
Providing good quality, affordable homes at the scale required is a perennial problem for our member cities, so it was no wonder that over 40 councillors and officers from across the network came together for the latest in our workshop series. Industry experts were invited to share their insights and advice, before the roles were […]
