Public opinion: Your blogs

Interviews with CLT experts filmed by New Start

Interviews of leading figures in community land trusts (CLTs) were filmed at a New Start conference in London this week.

The clips are available on YouTube at http://tiny.cc/pF2ND.

In one of the videos Bob Paterson, co-founder and project director at Community Finance Solutions, a think tank at Salford University, says CLTs are important because we are entering an era where there is not going to be large-scale government money available to address social problems.

But through CLTs, communities can gain access to affordable housing, workspace and retail units along with high quality parks and other facilities.

According to Mr Paterson, CLTs can unleash the potential of individuals to contribute to the wellbeing of their own communities.

There are also clips featuring Richard Blakeway, London mayor Boris Johnson’s housing adviser, and Grant Shapps, the Conservative shadow housing minister.

Construction apprentices need public sector help

As the economic climate has worsened, it has become more challenging for businesses in the UK to retain their apprentices and continue to invest in qualifying the workforce.

But particularly for the construction sector, which has been beset by skills shortages since the 1990s recession when many employers slashed their training budgets, there is now a very real need to retain and recruit trainees so that the next generation of workers is not lost.

To achieve this aim, construction employers will need the active support from public sector organisations, which form the industry's largest client base and provide a vital revenue stream this year, due to the £7 billion of infrastructure building work which is planned to revitalise the nation's public services.

The 1990s economic slump had a profound impact on the level of skilled workers within the UK's construction industry.

In fact, between the years of 1990 and 1993, the total number of trainees in the sector fell from around 41,500 to 29,300: a drop of nearly 30%.

There was also a huge decrease in workers aged under 20: the young apprentices.

Between 1990 and 1993, numbers of employees in this category dropped from just under 170,000 to just over 86,000, a fall of almost half and by far the biggest percentage decline of any age group.

Worryingly for the future, the number of young people in training that have been laid off during this downturn has risen sharply since the start of 2009.

For this reason, and to help ensure that the industry has the requisite skills to cope with the expected upturn in demand for construction services from 2011, ConstructionSkills has launched a host of new initiatives that provide opportunities to public sector organisations to help us retain existing apprentices, and to attract new ones.

The UK's construction industry is the country's largest and contributes around 8% of the nation's GDP. To keep it competitive, and to avoid future skills shortages, we need the public sector to help us retain and recruit apprentices any way it can.

For more information visit: http://www.cskills.org

That’s when ‘Good Neighbours’ become good friends

The term "community cohesion" doesn't mean much to most people. But if you suggest it can be about having a chat and a cuppa with a neighbour, it starts to make sense.

At Knowsley Council, our ‘Good Neighbours' communications campaign is breaking down a phrase only used in local government circles into an idea that people can relate to.

The message is simple: get together with your neighbours, share a cup of tea, get to know each other and help create a friendlier community.

Our campaign - tied in with the national Big Lunch initiative - has a lighthearted feel.

It is being promoted across both traditional print channels as well as online using social media to reach residents of all ages. A mock news broadcast about a shock tea shortage threatening community spirit across the borough has been produced and posted on YouTube, with hundreds of hits in just a few days.

It has been backed up by an advertising campaign with a local newspaper wrap-around bearing the headline: "THE GREAT KNOWSLEY TEA SCANDAL".

The jokey campaign ends by directing people to the council's website or telephone number for help setting up their own Big Lunch with neighbours.

Events have been arranged around Knowsley where free goodie-bags of mugs, tea bags and tea towels are being handed out to rescue ‘parched' friends and neighbours and kick-start their tea party preparations.

Knowsley's Good Neighbours campaign is being further cemented with the establishment of our first ever Good Neighbours in Knowsley Awards.

Nominations were invited for people who do "that little extra thing that makes their neighbourhood a better place". The Awards will be presented to members of the community at a special ceremony on Thursday 24th September.

The initiative is innovative, quirky and witty, but more importantly, is transforming a key objective into something personal that people can understand, and even enjoy.

You can have a look at the mock news broadcast on Knowsley Council's YouTube channel www.youtube.com/knowsleycouncil, or click here and, of course, feel free to comment.

How BIDs deliver safer trading environments

I am delighted to announce that we are now working in partnership with the Scottish Business Crime Centre (SBCC) on projects and services to make towns and business parks safer places for business.

The SBCC provides practical advice for the business and commercial sectors on how to develop business crime reduction and prevention strategies and demonstrates a unique partnership approach, with the police, business community and government all collaborating to further develop the aims of the SBCC – an approach that is shared by the BID model.

As a proven, business-led initiative, a BID allows businesses to work together and invest collectively in local improvements to their business environments with tackling safety and security often being of paramount importance. A BID can also act as the vehicle to bring together different partner groups and develop a strong locally based private – public partnership.

BIDs projects can include expanding CCTV systems, introducing crime radio systems, employing ambassadors and taxi marshals to work with the local police and providing crime prevention advice.

We at BIDS intend to work very closely with the SBCC to develop packages of measures which can be adopted by all towns and business parks across Scotland who are operating a BID.

A number of towns currently working with us are not aware of the SBCC and through this new partnership we can assist them in delivering safety and security projects.

Poor safety and security can act as real barriers to business development and to an area’s economic growth. Therefore it is vital that these are tackled in a robust and effective way.

Children’s minister - wrong shoes but right attitude

It was fun to choreograph a dance routine for 50 young people.

They came from different parts of London so I had to go and visit them at their projects and then bring them together for the first time on the day of the show.

But we were united by being part of Positive Futures. And we were joining in a national celebration of young people turning our back on drugs.

Despite being different ages, different abilities and having different dance styles, I was amazed at just how well the dance went. I think we performed better in front of the crowd in Leicester Square Gardens.

It got everyone’s adrenalin going, that’s for sure. At one point the children’s minister Baroness Morgan asked me to show her some of the dance moves.

She didn’t have the right shoes, but she definitely had the right attitude when I tried to teach her a bit of our street dance routine.

She spoke to lots of the young people about drugs and about Positive Futures.

And so did I. I was shocked by how much the young ones knew about drugs. One 12 year old said he had taken cannabis and wanted to know more about the dangers of drugs.

I think it’s good to educate younger children about drugs so that they will cope better with the peer pressure which they will inevitably find when they get older.

All the young people I spoke to said they thought drugs were bad, and loved the way Positive Futures tried to tackle drug misuse through the projects and their activities.

The event was really successful because it was driven by young people. So often these events are for young people but organised and run by adults.

This one felt different and I think it was more effective because, for example, I was involved. I’m only just 20, but still a young person myself and I sorted out the dance routine for us all.

I hope Positive Futures does more things like this – bringing young people and projects together to celebrate the work we do.