How Plymouth became Britain’s Ocean City
Like every local authority in the country, Plymouth city council has been coping with massive reductions to its budget from this dreadful government. But we took an early decision that we would not let the government’s cruelty define us or confine us in terms of our aspirations.
We set out ambitious growth plans and a radical transformation programme for the council which has helped us to cope with the worst of the cuts while at the same time making sure that it was our business to attract investment and jobs into the city.
First up, we rebranded Plymouth as Britain’s Ocean City, building on our traditional strengths in marine engineering and technology. Our successful negotiation of a city deal will drive this growth.
Second, we made it our business to get as much housebuilding going as we could. Plymouth now has planning permission for over 10,000 homes and the council’s plan has delivered many new homes for purchase or rent. We have just launched our second plan for homes and aim to deliver 5,000 more in the next five years.
Next: jobs. We have brought 5,000 real jobs to Plymouth in the last four years, raised productivity to within sight of the national average and have created an investment pipeline of £41m. The business community say that the council I lead is the most entrepreneurial they have ever known, and we are about to see millions of pounds invested in Plymouth from companies such as British Land, and other institutional investors too.
Our transformation agenda is really making waves nationally. We launched Britain’s first integrated health and social care service a year ago. It has led to real improvements, helping keep older people out of hospital and giving them the support they need in their homes, with proper time to care.
Our new History Centre will tell the story of Plymouth properly for the first time. We are trebling the size of our museum as part of this, creating the largest geographic information system gallery in the south of England, and will tell the story of one hundred journeys that changed the world that all departed from Plymouth.
Last but not least we have done all of this while holding the average council tax to the lowest in the region. We do plenty of spending but Plymouth is a low-wage area and we need to be mindful to keep the burden from the taxpayer.
Since 2012, we have completed 149 out of 150 manifesto pledges.
Even though we are heading towards a difficult election in May, in the last month we have bought a derelict nine-storey hotel on the Hoe, announced plans for a completely redesigned railway station and are making plans to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower from Plymouth, England to Plymouth, Massachusetts. Labour has made a really big difference to Plymouth, and we hope that people have noticed.
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Tudor Evans is leader of Plymouth city council
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