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I can tell you today that one step we will be taking is to encourage and support those cities and local authorities who wish to establish City Development Companies (or CDCs) to help attract additional private investment and drive economic development in their area.
The inspiration behind CDCs - as with all good ideas - is a simple one. By using a special purpose vehicle, responsibility for economic development in a place can be more clearly defined, longer-term objectives more easily pursued, and the energies and resources of a wide range of public and private sector partners better levered in and brought together. Together these factors tend to increase business confidence and speed up decision making, leading to better and higher levels of investment overall.
Such a company approach to economic development - taking a broader approach than solely physical regeneration - is a long established tradition in countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and North America - and I am convinced that we need to build on their success here in the UK.
For example, a CDC is at the heart of Turin city-region's impressive drive to reposition itself as an international centre of advanced manufacturing, research and modern technology. And Toronto's Economic Development Corporation has the authority to explore, pilot, and implement incentives and redevelopment tools.
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