Where are we after a year of planning reforms?🎙️ @mauricelange.bsky.social explores how the government has been doing over the last year as they implement planning reforms to try and meet the housebuilding target. Listen now 🎧👇 buff.ly/hw2kJRF

📅 Join Centre for Cities at our annual reception to welcome the Conservative Party Conference to Manchester. Register your place 👇 buff.ly/bdKDdvy

There has been a lot of discussion about declining pupil numbers in London recently 🚸 Understandably so – some boroughs have seen multiple primary schools close in recent years. Read our blog on why this isn't exclusively a London issue 👇 buff.ly/LmP9B8P

🔎Let's take a closer look at Derby 📍In 2022, Derby was the 38th largest city by population out of 62 and its city centre had the 20th largest catchment area See how your place compares with our new data tool📊 👇 buff.ly/sq9a2KS

🚨The New Towns Taskforce report is finally out. It understands what new towns are for, but now it’s up to Government to deliver. This blog by @mauricelange.bsky.social reviews the report's recommendations and the Government’s response👇 buff.ly/eZwN2iJ

Pupil numbers in London are declining 🚸 ⚠️But Centre for Cities analysis suggests that the prevailing framing risks being too London-centric. Read more in our latest blog from @mauricelange.bsky.social 👇 buff.ly/LmP9B8P

What factors dictate the sizes of these city centre catchments? To what extent can policy be used to change them? Read the blog 👇 buff.ly/JuBfFcr

🎙️How has the government has been doing over the last year as they implement planning reforms to try and meet the housebuilding target? And what might need to happen if we get a second planning bill? Listen to our latest podcast🎧👇 buff.ly/9FtSQP5

A third of UK cities have no universities registered locally🎓 But many universities are opening ‘branch’ campuses in current university ‘cold spots’. Branch campuses can provide the benefits of universities – on a smaller scale. Read more👇 buff.ly/EpK0IPM

♦️Centre for Cities is off to Liverpool this weekend for Labour Party Conference! We're hosting a full programme of events including a panel event with @utg-uk.bsky.social on transport devolution powering growth 🚌 See the full programme here 👇 buff.ly/fQzKdrf

🔎Let's take a closer look at Sheffield 📍In 2022, Sheffield was the 6th largest city by population out of 62 and its city centre had the 17th largest catchment area See how your place compares with our new data tool📊 👇 buff.ly/jSZUnn7

📆👀What's coming up? Centre for Cities is headed to Labour and Conservative Party Conferences with a packed programme of events. Here's what to look out for this year 👇 buff.ly/JVx4wtz

Branch campuses are popping up in university 'coldspots'. Would attracting one in be a good way to achieve local growth? Possibly. Though often these outposts only pop up in places already with an offer - specific strengths in their local economy. Worth investing in these first. 👇

NEW PODCAST | A year of planning reforms🎙️ @andrewcities.bsky.social, @mauricelange.bsky.social and @antbreach.bsky.social discuss how the government has been doing over the last year as they implement planning reforms to try and meet the housebuilding target. Listen now🎧👇 buff.ly/9FtSQP5

If cities cannot get their own university, how much effort should they put into getting a local branch campus? 🎓 @rjson.bsky.social explores in his latest blog👇 buff.ly/EpK0IPM

📍Liberal Democrat Party Conference, Bournemouth

🔶 Today we are in Bouremouth for the Liberal Democrat Party Conference where our panel event 'What can our cities do for the national economy?' is underway 👇

📍Cardiff's catchment size is larger than its population size 📊 Our new data tool explores the performance of high streets across the UK’s 62 largest cities and towns How does your place compare? 👇 buff.ly/jSZUnn7

Cities are nurseries for innovation – but can they keep their spin-outs? Some of our most innovative firms face barriers to scaling in the very cities that nurtured them. Unlocking more space is key for local jobs and national growth👇 buff.ly/0RhafQR

📅 Join Centre for Cities at our annual reception to welcome the Conservative Party Conference to Manchester. Register your place 👇 buff.ly/bdKDdvy

🆕High streets catchment data tool 📊 A resource for anyone seeking to understand the pressures on their city centre, how it compares to others, and where opportunities may lie to strengthen its role in the local economy. How does your place perform?👇 buff.ly/jSZUnn7

📅 Join Centre for Cities at our annual reception to welcome the Labour Party Conference to Liverpool, in partnership with @lpoolcityregion.bsky.social. Register your place 👇 buff.ly/dDvFUSB

✍️DSIT’s funding pledge to universities will have little impact on their home cities A £10 million pledge to help universities’ innovative activity will have minimal economic effects on the cities they are based. Read more 👇 buff.ly/WnNBu86

#ICYMI | Town and gown: The role of universities in city economies 🎓 How do local universities contribute to cities’ economic development as high-skilled employers and international exporters? Read the briefing 🔎👇 buff.ly/qhkNzSi

📰The Clyde Tunnel is hitting the headlines for several reasons. This blog takes a closer look at the future funding options for the tunnel and what a Glasgow City Region Combined Authority could do differently. Read more👇

BLOG | Spinning out: Are university spin-outs leaving cities for the countryside? Cities are ‘nurseries’ for the creation of innovative firms that often end up elsewhere rather than ‘gardens’ where they take root🌱 Read our latest blog from @xuanrulin.bsky.social 👇 buff.ly/0RhafQR

Could a new top economic team in Government strengthen the cities agenda? Key advocates for the role of cities in tackling national economic challenges are now at the heart of government policymaking🔍👇

📅 Centre for Cities is hosting events across this year's Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat Party Conferences including welcome receptions, in conversation sessions and panel discussions. See our full agenda 🔍👇

Hot on the heels of the first, the Government is said to be contemplating a second planning bill. This is positive news. But what should they put in it?👇 buff.ly/pxUo7mh

Free museums are a national government policy 🏛️🎟️ So mayors should not pay for this with local tourist taxes – it would swallow up the proceeds and blunt incentives for growth. Read more⬇️

How do you fix a problem like council tax?🪙 Reports in the Guardian last week indicate the Treasury is in search of revenues ahead of the Budget. It’s welcome that reform is on the agenda, but reform will only succeed if it advances fiscal devolution👇

🚗 Residents across the Glasgow city-region rely on the Clyde Tunnel, but its future funding is in doubt. Today on the blog, Caitlin Rollison says a Glasgow City Region Combined Authority could unlock new funding options to help secure the tunnel's future ✍️ Read 👇 buff.ly/EUcx8oB

In this blog @antbreach.bsky.social and I set out the rationale for legislating for a zoning system A key weakness in the English system is that it doesn't establish clear rules in local plans, and there are limits to how effectively policy-making from the centre (i.e. NDMPs) can override this

Universities provide almost one in three ‘knowledge’ jobs in Plymouth 🎓 This is an example of universities’ local importance in places rarely thought of for these institutions.  Read the blog👇 buff.ly/qbbK0Ek

BLOG | What should the Government put in the second planning bill? 🏗️ England's planning system needs more certainty at the plan-making stage. @antbreach.bsky.social & @mauricelange.bsky.social set out how new legislation could help to establish a zoning system. Read 👇 buff.ly/pxUo7mh

There is plenty to like about this pledge to help universities diversify income. But it really doesn't tackle the wider issues they face, or recognise their primary local roles in their home cities. My blog on last week's announcement 👇

📅 Join Centre for Cities at our annual reception to welcome the Conservative Party Conference to Manchester. Register your place 👇 buff.ly/bdKDdvy

🔬 Last week Government announced almost £10 million to help universities commercialise innovations. What impact could it have? In this blog post, @rjson.bsky.social draws on new data on the innovative start-ups that spin out of university research. buff.ly/WFyDXUa

The New Towns Taskforce is expected to publish their findings in the next few weeks 📅 This blog reviews what we can expect and what Centre for Cities is hoping they decide 👇

🎓In ‘university towns’ students make up more than 10 per cent of the local population In this context, our latest briefing sets out the role universities play in the local economies of different cities across the UK. Read more 👇 buff.ly/qhkNzSi

Our new briefing is about the role of universities in their local economies. The short version is - places don't need a university to be prosperous, but where cities have them they are sizable chunk of the local knowledge economy.

📺 LIVE | The Welsh Affairs Committee is taking evidence for its inquiry into promoting Wales for inward investment. Centre for Cities' Chief Executive @andrewcities.bsky.social is giving evidence. Stream the hearing from the House of Commons www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/...

UK universities are feeling the financial squeeze, and their future is uncertain. So why does it matter? Our latest briefing breaks down the four big ways universities boost local economies - take a look⬇️

Proposed international student levy would be felt “unevenly” across the UK and hit regional economies hardest, warns @centreforcities.bsky.social www.timeshighereducation.com/news/regiona... via @patrickjack.bsky.social

BLOG | A tale of four cities: what local economic role do their universities play? 🎓 🔍@__robjohnson__ takes a look at Plymouth, Exeter, Coventry and Cambridge as examples for what different university roles mean for pursuing local growth. Read now👇 buff.ly/qbbK0Ek

PODCAST | The role of universities in city economies 🎙️ @andrewcities.bsky.social chats with the authors of our latest briefing 'Town and Gown' @rjson.bsky.social and @xuanrulin.bsky.social about the key ways in which universities contribute to city economies 🎓 Listen now 🎧👇 buff.ly/mBozliW

NEW BRIEFING | Town and gown 🏙️🎓 How do local universities contribute to cities’ economic development as high-skilled employers, international exporters, catalysts for city-centre regeneration and innovators? Read the briefing 🔎👇 buff.ly/qhkNzSi

📅 Join Centre for Cities at our annual reception to welcome the Labour Party Conference to Liverpool, in partnership with @lpoolcityregion.bsky.social. Register your place 👇 buff.ly/dDvFUSB

The West Midlands is the latest combined authority to publish a local growth plan. Because it is a collection of many urban centres rather than it having one clear city centre they suggest the theory of agglomeration doesn’t apply. But is this true?👇 buff.ly/kmg2DMi

Join us for a deep dive into a new briefing on the role of universities in their local economies 🎓 🕐11:00 - 11:45 📅10 September 2025 💻Online Book your place 👇 buff.ly/QpVVyMh