Learning to Share
Author: Dermot FinchDate: 17/07/2008
Publication: Local Government Chronicle
American and British cities are different, but they face many of the same issues - like how to survive the current downturn, grow a successful business base and develop a better-skilled workforce. We should be doing more to swap ideas with the US, and with our European neighbours.
I was in Washington last month, just as Hillary bowed out of the Presidential race and all eyes turned to Obama and McCain. The Centre for Cities was there to present a joint paper with the Brookings Institution, setting out some specific UK urban policy lessons for the next US Administration.
For years, we have looked to the United States for policy ideas - on things like welfare reform and promoting enterprise. Many of this government's policies were borrowed and adapted from the US - including the Working Tax Credit, Small Business Service, and Community Investment Tax Relief. The list goes on.
During my time at the British Embassy in Washington, I saw a lot of one-way traffic. A constant stream of UK Ministers flew over to the States every week, in search of the latest new initiative - but very few members of the US Administration reciprocated. The policy exchange has mainly been one-way.
It's time for us to return the favour. We're very good at rubbishing our own policies and track record. But in fact we're getting better than the Americans at things like evidence-based policy making and managing congestion. Our cities are now in a position to offer some important lessons for the US - on things like how to avoid sprawl and support low-income families.
In this Presidential election year, the US and UK should start engaging in more of a two-way policy dialogue on how to improve the economic performance of American and UK cities - drawing on the best of both. To be specific, we can learn from their tax increment financing, and they can learn from London's congestion charge. Here are our five main lessons for the US:
1. Evidence base: The United States has become a "fact-free zone", according to Brookings. Transport funding decisions are based on backroom deals rather than a robust evidence base. Our series of independent policy reviews - including Eddington, Barker and Lyons - have given us a sound basis for important policy decisions on transport, planning and local government reform. The next US Administration should take a leaf out of our book, and trigger a series of similar reviews.
2. Tackling urban sprawl: US cities like Atlanta are adverts for excessive sprawl. The United States has more land than we do, and has been able to get away with a very lax planning regime. But environmental pressures now demand a different approach. Our brownfield and density targets for new housing could offer the Americans a useful way forward. So could our "town centre first" planning rules, which have helped to reduce the number of car-dependent, out-of-town shopping centres and office parks.
3. Traffic management: US cities like Miami and Seattle are now looking to introduce some form of road pricing scheme, to tackle congestion. London has done this already, of course, and now others like Greater Manchester are considering whether to follow suit. Whether you like it or not, London's scheme has reduced the volume of traffic entering the central zone by over a fifth - and bus use has increased by 15 per cent. Miami and Seattle could learn from London's experience.
4. Supporting low-income families: Our Working and Child Tax Credit system is based on the US Earned Income Tax Credit, but is more generous and more responsive to the changing circumstances of families. The US Congress is now considering whether to expand the EITC, and could usefully learn some lessons from us - including how to avoid the administrative problems we have had with overpayments.
5. National leadership: Our national leaders - from Heseltine to Brown - have championed the urban agenda for years. John Prescott helped to put cities on the policy map. By contrast, national leaders in the US have largely neglected urban policy - and presided over the steady erosion of their CLG equivalent, the Department for Housing and Urban Development. The next US Administration should take a stronger leadership role in support of US cities.
There is now a growing appetite in the US to learn from countries like the UK and Germany. Policymakers and city leaders here should grab this opportunity, and engage in a more two-way policy exchange with the US.
A version of this opinion piece appeared in Local Government Chronicle Magazine
