Cardiff School of City and Regional Planning

Memberships / External Activities

My external activities in recent years have largely revolved around my main research interests. The following activities range from the local to the international scale, beginning with the local:

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
Adviser to the ODPM Select Committee inquiry into Reducing Regional Disparities in Prosperity, which examined the nature, causes and solution to the North-South divide in England. The final report (HC492-1) was published on 4 July 2003.

RTP Steering Committee
A founding member of the Regional Technology Plan Steering Committee in Wales. The RTP is part of a new generation of regional innovation policies in the EU and its basic aim is to raise innovative capacity in less favoured regions, including the institutional capacity of the public, private and third sectors of the economy. The responsibility for project management of the RTP in Wales lies with the Welsh Development Agency and an independent audit of progress and problems to date was recently produced by PACEC, a Cambridge-based economic consultancy, and this can be accessed through the Welsh Assembly Government, which abolished the WDA and absorbed its functions into the civil service.

Penrhys Forum
From September 2003, I took over the chairmanship of Penrhys Partnership from Dr John Morgans. The Forum was created in the wake of the 1997 crisis (when residents learnt from press reports that the council unilaterally planned to demolish the estate) to foster a dialogue between the residents of Penrhys in the Rhondda and the council officers of Rhondda Cynon Taff, the second largest local authority in Wales. One of the most brutally stereotyped estates in Wales, Penrhys has shown exemplary resilience and community spirit in the face of adversity and neglect. It is now considering whether to assume responsibility for managing its own affairs through the mechanism of an estate management board, a form of civic devolution.

Regeneration Institute
I am one of the co-directors of Cardiff University's Regeneration Institute, a joint venture between the School of City and Regional Planning, the School of Social Sciences and the Vice Chancellor's office. The Institute aims to be a 'first stop shop' for anyone wishing to access university expertise in a wide array of fields, including planning, housing, economic development, regional innovation strategies, agri-food chains, education and training, sustainable health strategies, environment, community development and waste management. The Institute conducts research and consultancy projects and it is able to offer customised continuing professional development courses to organisations in the public, private or third sectors. It also convenes an informal Regeneration Network through which public, private and third sector bodies meet to discuss joint solutions to common problems.

Advisory and Consultancy Activities
Involved in small advisory and consultancy projects for public, private and third sector organisations. For many years actively involved in the work of the Regional Policy Directorate of the European Commission, most recently as a member of the 'expert panel' which examined the reform of Article 10 of the European Regional Development Fund. This work informed the Guidelines for Innovative Measures Under the ERDF in the Period 2000-2006 (see the European Commission Communication called The Regions in the New Economy). In addition to this work I have acted as an adviser to a number of other organisations, including the OECD, the Danish Technology Institute, the UK Department of Trade and Industry, Scottish Enterprise, Education and Learning Wales (ELWa), SPRI (the regional development agency of the Basque Country), the National Assembly for Wales, Turin Chamber of Commerce, the Welsh Development Agency and the US Office of Technology Assessment.

Media
Acted as an adviser and a commentator to a wide array of print and broadcast media organisations, including BBC TV, ITV, Channel 4, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Scotland, BBC North East, Red Dragon Radio, Swansea Sound, Sky News, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation among others.