I gave a speech to the Institution of Engineering and Technology last night.
Should you be even remotely interested, here is the text;
Good evening everyone and let me echo the Mayor's welcome to Barnsley on behalf of the council. I understand this is becoming an annual tradition and we are delighted to be able to host your event in Barnsley again this year.
And thank you particularly this year, through Councillor Bill Gaunt, for extending an invitation to me to come along and have this opportunity to say a few words, particularly about Barnsley council's plans, commitment and enthusiasm for the digital future of the borough. I'll be leaving the technical and detailed explanations of what we are doing for our later presentations and to those more gifted in your field than I but I wanted first to give you the overview of the strategic drivers behind our plans here in South Yorkshire.
Now, those of you who have been to Barnsley before will know this, but for those of you visiting us for the first time, we have a slightly annoying tradition. Whenever beginning any discussion about Barnsley's future you first have to have an object lesson in Barnsley's past.
I'll forgive you for groaning at the prospect, I groan at the prospect of saying it most of the time.
But we are obliged to break it down into three distinct periods,
We first talk about the period up to and through the 1970s, when everything was apparently brilliant? I was only little so I just remember it being mostly dark and slightly smelly if I'm honest. There are many of my more 'senior' colleagues who can speak with much more authority on this 'golden age'.
We then have to discuss the 1980s and the apocalypse that befell our coal and steel industries. I do remember this period all too well and it still sets the economic backdrop for South Yorkshire today.
But I'm going to skip on to the period since then because that's the bit that really explains where we are, and why, on the digital agenda.
The story of Barnsley, in the twenty years since the 1980s has been one of 'catching up'.
In areas like the local economy, local income levels, educational attainment, social aspiration, employment rates, etc. and I could go on, we have been relentlessly and doggedly pursuing the national average.
It's not a position we relish, it is not a position we volunteered for but it is one in which were placed through no fault of the people of Barnsley. We found ourselves wounded, forgotten and behind and below other parts of the country.
And though the gaps have narrowed a great deal in the intervening period, we still spend much of our time and effort working hard to catch up, to get Barnsley 'on a par with' those parts of the country who's economies and communities fared better in that period we aren't going to dwell on.
On the face of it, this looks like the desperate pursuit of mediocrity. And for those of us on the council who have a genuine and passionate ambition for our town, it can, all too often, feel dispiritingly like that too.
But in the last few years, things have changed.
Opportunities have presented themselves to take our vision for the town of Barnsley a step further. To more than just 'catching up' and to a place where other people start to look at us with envious eyes.
Not just 'in the game' but among the front runners at last.
Things like our Building schools for the future programme, transforming our fourteen aging secondary schools into nine brand new, state of the art, advanced learning centres. in turn transforming the education and employment prospects of our future generations here.
Like our exciting plans for Europe's first true eco-park, right here in the Dearne Valley, a world leading project and at the very forefront of the climate change agenda.
Like our transformed architectural landscape here in Barnsley, from the newly modernised civic theatre and galleries, our award winning new transport interchange, the wonderful digital media centre; a hub for creative business, the core building, Westgate plaza, the almost completed massive Gateway plaza building and our, thankfully now back on track, college campus developments.
All part of our 'Remaking Barnsley' project. Our vision for casting off the 'former mining town' label that shackles us and creating a '21st century market town'. A place for people, enterprise, entrepreneurship and employment.
And of course, the 21st century market and opportunity will exist largely in the digital world.
So none of these schemes will be able to reach their full potential without, perhaps the most exciting and ambitious of all of them, the South Yorkshire Digital Region.
A joint venture by the four South Yorkshire local authorities, with partners, to build our own broadband network across the region. And only the local authorities would do this, if we were to leave this to the private sector market, then South Yorkshire would not get this advantage first. We would get it in maybe 10-15 years, after everyone else. And the many opportunities it presents for us would be lost.
This is a scheme that is going to deliver, and it is underway today, not just the national lead, but the only place in Europe, possibly the world, to be able to offer a high speed, next generation broadband network of it's kind and capacity.
And it is thanks in large part to the vision and commitment of our chief executive here in Barnsley, Phil Coppard who has lead the charge on it's development.
He has been able to deliver for the region a scheme that many said was too ambitious, many said could not be done and many walked away from thinking it too difficult to do. And has done so by securing hundreds of millions of pounds worth of investment for the area.
Phil's belief in the digital engagement agenda has, as some of you may know, been recognised by his inclusion on the national board charged with delivering the government's 'Digital Britain' Plan.
In common with many government documents, I can't, with a clear conscience, recommend this plan as a riveting read. I have to read these things, it's sort of my job. But for those who do want to read it you will find some truly fascinating and exciting things within.
One of the key debates, for example, is around the real significance of broadband networks. Are they as vital as the transport infrastructure of a place, the roads and rails? Is broadband access even, as many now suggest, as vital as the utilities of gas, water and electricity?
Regardless of where you stand on those questions, the very fact that they are being asked shows the huge importance of the issue.
But this is about more than just the, almost two billion pounds worth of, investment in the area that the various projects I've spoken about so far have brought in.
We are just launching our 'Totally online Barnsley' campaign about which I am especially excited and in which I, personally, place great importance. And this takes us back the economic and social position of Barnsley I spoke about earlier,..
The most important connection for the future of Barnsley will not be the copper wire that connects A to B, or the fibre-optic cable which connects B to C, or even the WiFi network that connects C to D, E and F.
The most important connection,
The reason why we as an authority see the true value in this,
and the part where our focus will be located first and foremost,
Is the connection between the people of Barnsley and the opportunities presented by the new digital world.
I'll leave you with this one story, if I may, about something that happened earlier this year.
I lead a team down to the National Digital Inclusion conference in Westminster, essentially to talk about the plans and schemes we are now making a reality.
After we'd described our plans to the assembled hundreds from all over the country, there was much drooling and a representative of the London Local authorities stood up and with a very real tone of outrage said, 'what are we playing at here in the capital? Barnsley is years ahead of London on this agenda!'
It was then I think I realised that, not only were we doing the right thing but that we were doing it at the right time and in the right way.
The sense of vaguely astonished amusement I felt when that happened may have waned but the huge sense of Pride and Excitement has only grown. And it's that enthusiasm that I really wanted to share with you this evening.
Thank you again for giving me the opportunity to do so.
And thank you for listening.
It's been a while. People often say 'I don't know where you find the time to fit it all in', well, I haven't known either lately.
Today, oddly, I'm all for it.
There was a big terror raid in the North West today. Rushed through because some twit in the force pulled the 'holding the file' blunder while walking into Downing Street. He's an idiot, nuff said. But what about the photographer who took the snap and the editor who decided to publish it? Could it be a more obvious case of photographing a rozzer and providing assistance to potential terrorism? I wonder then, when we can expect to see arrests? I'm not holding my breath.
I’m not advocating this, though I’m not averse to the idea for some journalists and editors either, but there was a time when this would have been a capital crime and for the first time ever I think the government should have stopped any publication. Something they could have done under existing legislation by the way.
Of course, it was also illegal under the same crazed legislation for anyone to film the assault on innocent bystander Ian Tomlinson which almost certainly lead to his death during the G20 protest.
Thank God some people did film it and this ridiculous law didn't put them off doing so.