Key Cities - annual report to LGA Board 2024

• Lead Member: Cllr John Merry 
• Lead Officer: Jon Stancombe
• Email: [email protected]
• Address: Civic Centre, Chorley Road, Swinton, Salford, M27 5FJ
• Telephone: 07967424591
• Website: Key Cities

The Key Cities Group is a diverse, cross-party network of councils for urban cities and places, acting as a united voice for urban Britain.

Our membership consists of 26 local authorities. These are: 

• Bath & NES
• Bournemouth
• Christchurch and Poole
• Bradford
• Cumberland
• Colchester
• Coventry
• Exeter
• Gloucester
• Hull
• Kirklees
• Lancaster
• Lincoln
• Medway
• Newport
• Norwich
• Plymouth
• Portsmouth
• Preston
• Reading
• Salford
• Southampton
• Southend on Sea
• Stoke-on-Trent
• Sunderland
• Wolverhampton
• Wrexham.

Eligibility to Key Cities is primarily extended to mid-sized cities and places included in the Centre for Cities ‘Cities Index’ as well as other areas which do not fit into this population band but are significant to the wider area in their local economy and to the UK as a whole and have similar challenges and ambitions to the group.

The Key Cities Group aims to provide a unified voice to ensure that those cities and places within the group are more visible and are consistently represented in policy-making at a national level. We share best practice and look for innovative solutions to issues faced by our cities and urban places.

We are working to lobby Government and engage with critical Government Ministers based on a clear and consistent set of key asks and messages which are of particular importance to our group of cities – in order to exert sufficient influence over the national agenda.

The work of the Key Cities network contributes to the following LGA priorities and themes set out in the business plan, in particular:

Providing one voice on behalf of local government and underpinning priorities

Key Cities is a non-partisan cross party network of 26 local authorities working to provide a united voice for urban Britain. We produce ideas, research and engagement, both with experts and with ordinary people across our places. Our 26 members work together to provide a unified voice to ensure that those cities and places within the group are more visible and are consistently represented in policy-making at a national level.

Promote, improve, support – influencing government policy and shaping how it is delivered through partnership at local level

Our membership produces high-quality research and bold thinking to find innovative solutions for today’s urban challenges, for example on Net Zero, skills and culture. Drawing on the experience and direction of our member cities, our research arm provides a thorough evidence base to help unlock successful devolution and drive place-based innovation.

The work of the Key Cities has the answer to some of the challenges facing local authorities, as well as the challenges facing Government. For this reason, Key Cities promotes its work among government circles – the network has strong engagement with Government Ministers and Departments, and runs a successful All-Party Parliamentary Group. The Key Cities APPG, briefings, events and research initiatives help drive the national policy agenda on cities.

Ensuring the government recognises the value of empowered local democracy

Empowered local democracy is one of the Key Cities Network’s core asks – as a network we campaign for more devolved powers and funding to enable cities to thrive in the long-term. 

Key Cities is a champion for municipal government and calls for increased financial capacity to be granted to local authorities, as well as devolution of power to allocate resources in the most beneficial way for people. The Key Cities hold the position that as the long-term stewards of our local places, councils should be valued, properly funded and effectively resourced to not only fulfil statutory duties but be the actors for positive change in their communities. 

This position is at the heart of our Manifesto, which includes a call to recast the current relationship between national and municipal government in order to unlock funding opportunities. 

LGA business plan themes

(1) A sustainable financial future

The Key Cities network shares the view of the LGA that fair and sustainable funding for Councils would enable them to deliver resilient public services.

In the Manifesto, Key Cities calls for a fair funding review and for Council tax reform. It is our ask that on day one of the next administration, Government should commit to a new fair funding outcome and within 50 days distribute the immediate, unconditional £4bn as called for by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee. 

The Key Cities network also calls for change to the way Government dispenses funds for local authority services and allocates grants based on a local authority’s current tax base and reflective of local needs. 

(2) Stronger local economies, thriving local democracy

Key Cities is aligned with the LGA position that strong local economies can help to build a resilient national economy:

The Key Cities network is of the view that that local government are leaders of place and should have autonomy to drive positive change in their communities. That is why Key Cities has consistently called for greater devolution of powers and greater investment. Together, the network develops policy to strengthen resilience and improve economic performance in our places, and shares new ideas and ‘test beds’ for innovative government policies. 

The network is of the position that Key Cities can help the government deliver on its policy aims – thriving democracy and greater investment in our cities can support the Government’s Levelling Up agenda and be the solution to the UK’s sluggish economic growth. 

(3) Putting people first

Like the LGA, the Key Cities network also makes the case for stronger Council services that support children and young people in care, children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), those in receipt of adult social care, prevention and early intervention support. 

The members of the Key Cities are significant urban entities in close touch with the lived experience of their populations. The network’s policy objectives have been informed by each of our members diversity of experience. In our Manifesto we make specific asks for:

• reform to the way adult social care is funded 
• an additional £1.5bn funding for SEND support
• a renewed focus on prevention and early intervention for children and adults.

(4) Championing climate change and local environments

The Key Cities network acknowledges that local leaders have great potential in helping the country to meet its targets on the climate and Net Zero. The network is of the policy position that the role of local government in meeting Net Zero targets should be redefined and that we need new regulations that gives local authorities the power to create investment ecosystems based on local needs. 

Additionally, the Key Cities Innovation Network brings together local leaders, universities and other stakeholders to develop evidence based policies, most recently on innovative approaches to meet net zero 

Key projects/workstreams during the year

• Skills for Cities, Skills for Life report – In October 2023, we launched our report which looked at lifelong learning and green skills across all sectors, with an in-depth analysis of skills provision in Key Cities compared with the national picture. It called for greater devolution of skills powers and funding as a pivotal long-term measure to support local economies, which in turn will boost national productivity.
• Key Cities Manifesto – In March 2024, Key Cities launched its Manifesto which, representing city leaders from all political parties and from all regions of the country, makes a series of policy recommendations that look to address the most pressing issues our cities face across the country.
• Civic Partners in Net Zero – In April 2024, the Key Cities Innovation Network published ‘Civic Partners in Net Zero’, a collection of peer-reviewed papers reporting on innovative approaches to universities working with their places to achieve Net Zero targets. The report builds on the Key Cities previous report, ‘Levelling Up, Emissions Down’. For each of the six featured innovations, there is scope for replicating ideas and practices elsewhere and add value to the collective efforts to reduce carbon emissions and meet Net Zero.

Conferences and events

• Conservative Party Conference – in September 2023, Key Cities held a joint fringe event on ‘Impactful Investing’  that explored some of the ways our cities can overcome the biggest societal challenges of our time and to prosper in the future. Speakers included West Midlands Mayor Andy Street, John Stevenson MP and Cllr Bev Craig, Leader of Manchester City Council. 
• Labour Party Conference – a week later, Key Cities hosted ‘Cities and Net Zero – Levelling Up, emissions down’ which delved into the findings of our research which found that our urban centres are driving positive climate action, despite a disconnect between local action and national policy. Speakers included Kerry McCarthy MP, Rebecca Long-Bailey MP, Leader of Bradford City Council Cllr Susan Hinchliffe and Cllr John Merry, Chair of Key Cities. 
• UKREiiF – In May 2024, we held a networking event aimed at bringing together city leaders from across the UK with a diverse list of private sector investors and property developers alongside civil servants. Key Cities worked with the Scottish Cities Alliance and UK Infrastructure Bank worked together to hold an event that would enable productive discussions on how local authorities, the government and the private sector can work together to deliver the connectivity and social infrastructure cities need to drive growth, improve productivity and reduce inequalities. 

Collaborative partnerships

• Department of Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities – Key Cities collaborates closely with Civil Servants and Ministers across DLUHC, including attendance to the bi-monthly local government stakeholder group, and regular invitations to special Ministerial roundtables to advise on funding streams such as UKSPF and the Levelling Up fund.
• 3Ci – Key Cities is an official partner of 3Ci, a collaborative effort between local authorities, the Connected Places Catapult, and the private sector, seeks to facilitate financial partnerships between major investors and local leaders. 
• Arts Council England – Following the launch of our Culture and Place in Britain report, Key Cities has been collaborating with ACE in efforts to build up a picture of cultural strategy and priorities across the Key Cities network with the aim of supporting member cities with targeted intelligence and support