Sean Canty
@seancanty.bsky.social
Media contact for Centre for Cities. Posts about UK urban policy, what the media are saying about it and what the Government is doing about it.
📌 London
🙋♂️ He/him
📌 London
🙋♂️ He/him
Reposted by Sean Canty
Local government reform is tricky but incredibly important for the economy and public service reform.
Our new briefing sets out how to do it in the key areas facing a decision next year - by matching political geography to economic geography and allowing cities to grow.
Our new briefing sets out how to do it in the key areas facing a decision next year - by matching political geography to economic geography and allowing cities to grow.
December 15, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Local government reform is tricky but incredibly important for the economy and public service reform.
Our new briefing sets out how to do it in the key areas facing a decision next year - by matching political geography to economic geography and allowing cities to grow.
Our new briefing sets out how to do it in the key areas facing a decision next year - by matching political geography to economic geography and allowing cities to grow.
Reposted by Sean Canty
oh my GOD
One way of stoking NIMBY views is to... run a consultation that only allows objections to be made (!).
This is what I'm presented with when wanting to respond to a consultation to put in a bay for dockless bikes near where I live.
I've not (yet!) dug into whether there's some legal reason why...
This is what I'm presented with when wanting to respond to a consultation to put in a bay for dockless bikes near where I live.
I've not (yet!) dug into whether there's some legal reason why...
December 3, 2025 at 2:40 PM
oh my GOD
England is still the most centralised G7 country and it's holding back regional growth. This is why the levy on overnight stays feels so pivotal, Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram writes.
www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/ec...
www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/ec...
The levy on overnight stays is a transformational moment for UK cities
This pro-growth, pro-business policy proves what can be achieved when a Labour government and Labour mayors work together.
www.newstatesman.com
November 28, 2025 at 10:48 AM
England is still the most centralised G7 country and it's holding back regional growth. This is why the levy on overnight stays feels so pivotal, Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram writes.
www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/ec...
www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/ec...
The Chancellor reiterated SR commitments to connecting cities and towns by investing in city-region transport. Here's why that matters 👇
A better commute means a stronger economy | LBC share.google/l5v6b2c6MYso...
A better commute means a stronger economy | LBC share.google/l5v6b2c6MYso...
Rachel Reeves is right: A better commute means a stronger economy | LBC
A big package of spending on local public transport services in the big cities is a hugely welcome sign Government has opted for a city region-led approach to growing the economy.
share.google
November 26, 2025 at 12:50 PM
The Chancellor reiterated SR commitments to connecting cities and towns by investing in city-region transport. Here's why that matters 👇
A better commute means a stronger economy | LBC share.google/l5v6b2c6MYso...
A better commute means a stronger economy | LBC share.google/l5v6b2c6MYso...
Condé Nast Traveller has followed BBC News and LDRS reporting on the prospect of a tourist tax for London.
www.cntraveller.com/article/lond...
www.cntraveller.com/article/lond...
London tourist tax set to be introduced, here's everything you need to know
The tax mimics schemes already in place in other major cities
www.cntraveller.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Condé Nast Traveller has followed BBC News and LDRS reporting on the prospect of a tourist tax for London.
www.cntraveller.com/article/lond...
www.cntraveller.com/article/lond...
Reposted by Sean Canty
As rumours swirl that a 'tourist tax' might be included in this budget it's worth revisiting this piece from @centreforcities.bsky.social Director Andrew Carter on how this could and should work. labourlist.org/2025/11/tour...
‘A small tax with big potential – let the mayors tax tourists’ – LabourList
The Chancellor needs more growth (as does everyone else), and the metro mayors need more money. There is a simple, small, well-used idea that brings…
labourlist.org
November 17, 2025 at 11:33 AM
As rumours swirl that a 'tourist tax' might be included in this budget it's worth revisiting this piece from @centreforcities.bsky.social Director Andrew Carter on how this could and should work. labourlist.org/2025/11/tour...
Reposted by Sean Canty
Britain is missing 2.3m urban homes.
Our new report shows cities like Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds are far less dense than peers in France and Japan — holding back growth 👇
buff.ly/fkqDTjU
Our new report shows cities like Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds are far less dense than peers in France and Japan — holding back growth 👇
buff.ly/fkqDTjU
November 20, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Britain is missing 2.3m urban homes.
Our new report shows cities like Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds are far less dense than peers in France and Japan — holding back growth 👇
buff.ly/fkqDTjU
Our new report shows cities like Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds are far less dense than peers in France and Japan — holding back growth 👇
buff.ly/fkqDTjU
Reposted by Sean Canty
British cities are too flat — and it’s holding back housing supply.
Our new blog shows a big density gap with France and Japan, driven by missing mid-rise homes.
Read more 👉 buff.ly/mm3GBRX
Our new blog shows a big density gap with France and Japan, driven by missing mid-rise homes.
Read more 👉 buff.ly/mm3GBRX
November 20, 2025 at 10:20 AM
British cities are too flat — and it’s holding back housing supply.
Our new blog shows a big density gap with France and Japan, driven by missing mid-rise homes.
Read more 👉 buff.ly/mm3GBRX
Our new blog shows a big density gap with France and Japan, driven by missing mid-rise homes.
Read more 👉 buff.ly/mm3GBRX
Travelling in Central Europe and I've brought a few books to occupy the train journeys, including 'Against Post-Liberalism' by @pjthinker.bsky.social - decided it could not wait until I got back home.
November 13, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Travelling in Central Europe and I've brought a few books to occupy the train journeys, including 'Against Post-Liberalism' by @pjthinker.bsky.social - decided it could not wait until I got back home.
Devolution is critical to improving UK cities. Now that we're on the way to European-style integrated transport in big cities, European-style fiscal devolution could help fund transport upgrades out of their local economies
www.lbc.co.uk/article/metr...
www.lbc.co.uk/article/metr...
Metro mayors are about to transform transport in England’s biggest cities | LBC
If metro mayors are to deliver European-style transport systems, they need European-style ways of funding them, writes Andrew Carter
www.lbc.co.uk
November 8, 2025 at 10:04 PM
Devolution is critical to improving UK cities. Now that we're on the way to European-style integrated transport in big cities, European-style fiscal devolution could help fund transport upgrades out of their local economies
www.lbc.co.uk/article/metr...
www.lbc.co.uk/article/metr...
Last-minute trick or treat costume idea for urban economists - go as a 2021 census data collecter
www.centreforcities.org/blog/the-cas...
www.centreforcities.org/blog/the-cas...
The case for a 2026 ‘corrections’ Census - Centre for Cities
The 2021 Census was conducted in the height of Covid-19, we need another Census to provide local-level data we can trust.
www.centreforcities.org
October 31, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Last-minute trick or treat costume idea for urban economists - go as a 2021 census data collecter
www.centreforcities.org/blog/the-cas...
www.centreforcities.org/blog/the-cas...
Labour and Tories both know the route to levelling up is through tackling big cities' underperformance.
The Conservatives' Levelling Up White Paper and Labour's Industrial Strategy all rightly focus on the work to be done to fulfil our cities' potential.
www.lbc.co.uk/article/labo...
The Conservatives' Levelling Up White Paper and Labour's Industrial Strategy all rightly focus on the work to be done to fulfil our cities' potential.
www.lbc.co.uk/article/labo...
October 31, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Labour and Tories both know the route to levelling up is through tackling big cities' underperformance.
The Conservatives' Levelling Up White Paper and Labour's Industrial Strategy all rightly focus on the work to be done to fulfil our cities' potential.
www.lbc.co.uk/article/labo...
The Conservatives' Levelling Up White Paper and Labour's Industrial Strategy all rightly focus on the work to be done to fulfil our cities' potential.
www.lbc.co.uk/article/labo...
Reposted by Sean Canty
The Government has set a clear mission – to get the UK growing again 🌱
To achieve this, they will need to increase residential density.
Join us for the launch of a new report exploring where higher densities could be expected in UK cities👇
www.centreforcities.org/event/report...
To achieve this, they will need to increase residential density.
Join us for the launch of a new report exploring where higher densities could be expected in UK cities👇
www.centreforcities.org/event/report...
Report launch – Flat Britain: The urban density gap and how to solve it - Centre for Cities
Join Centre for Cities for the launch of a new report exploring where higher densities could be expected in UK cities.
www.centreforcities.org
October 29, 2025 at 10:07 AM
The Government has set a clear mission – to get the UK growing again 🌱
To achieve this, they will need to increase residential density.
Join us for the launch of a new report exploring where higher densities could be expected in UK cities👇
www.centreforcities.org/event/report...
To achieve this, they will need to increase residential density.
Join us for the launch of a new report exploring where higher densities could be expected in UK cities👇
www.centreforcities.org/event/report...
Reposted by Sean Canty
London isn't building houses and now we've got some emergency measures to fix things?
What to make of them? ...
What to make of them? ...
October 28, 2025 at 12:28 PM
London isn't building houses and now we've got some emergency measures to fix things?
What to make of them? ...
What to make of them? ...
Really humbled to share this profile The Independent has written of me
Average person’s life saw ‘no meaningful improvement’ over past year www.independent.co.uk/news/busines...
Average person’s life saw ‘no meaningful improvement’ over past year – charity
Carnegie UK found stagnating wellbeing and persistent hardship for millions of people since 2023.
www.independent.co.uk
October 28, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Really humbled to share this profile The Independent has written of me
I did my undergrad at the dinivity faculty where James Orr holds a position. There are loads of thoughtful critics of righwing policy there, many in the public eye like Michael Banner (a regular contributor to Thought for the Day).
You have to ask why noone is choosing to acknowledge them.
You have to ask why noone is choosing to acknowledge them.
another interesting thing about James Orr and his ilk is that they're symptoms both of failures of the intellectual mainstream, and products of an asymetry where only the right gets to be pompous: www.thenewworld.co.uk/marie-le-con...
October 27, 2025 at 12:54 PM
I did my undergrad at the dinivity faculty where James Orr holds a position. There are loads of thoughtful critics of righwing policy there, many in the public eye like Michael Banner (a regular contributor to Thought for the Day).
You have to ask why noone is choosing to acknowledge them.
You have to ask why noone is choosing to acknowledge them.
"I am telling you, if there is a God, when I get to heaven I'm not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven. It's not even close."
- Michael Bloomberg, then one of the ten wealthiest Americans, in an NYT interview, 2014
www.nytimes.com/2014/04/16/u...
- Michael Bloomberg, then one of the ten wealthiest Americans, in an NYT interview, 2014
www.nytimes.com/2014/04/16/u...
October 23, 2025 at 2:10 PM
"I am telling you, if there is a God, when I get to heaven I'm not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven. It's not even close."
- Michael Bloomberg, then one of the ten wealthiest Americans, in an NYT interview, 2014
www.nytimes.com/2014/04/16/u...
- Michael Bloomberg, then one of the ten wealthiest Americans, in an NYT interview, 2014
www.nytimes.com/2014/04/16/u...
Reposted by Sean Canty
Amazing 😂
Jesus may have said “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” but rich people don’t appear to be heeding the warning. Those earning over £100,000 are the most likely to think they’ll go to heaven.
October 23, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Amazing 😂
📈 That light green line is wind energy ramping up overnight.
At 09.35am, Storm Benjamin is generating 40.3 per cent of the National Grid's electric power transmission.
Source: grid.iamkate.com
At 09.35am, Storm Benjamin is generating 40.3 per cent of the National Grid's electric power transmission.
Source: grid.iamkate.com
October 23, 2025 at 8:44 AM
📈 That light green line is wind energy ramping up overnight.
At 09.35am, Storm Benjamin is generating 40.3 per cent of the National Grid's electric power transmission.
Source: grid.iamkate.com
At 09.35am, Storm Benjamin is generating 40.3 per cent of the National Grid's electric power transmission.
Source: grid.iamkate.com
Entertaining review of the new Thatcher centenary document.
Apparently, Rishi Sunak complains that the post-Brexit world is not as in favour of free trade as he expected.
It's a huge day for irony.
www.ft.com/content/7ad4...
Apparently, Rishi Sunak complains that the post-Brexit world is not as in favour of free trade as he expected.
It's a huge day for irony.
www.ft.com/content/7ad4...
October 22, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Entertaining review of the new Thatcher centenary document.
Apparently, Rishi Sunak complains that the post-Brexit world is not as in favour of free trade as he expected.
It's a huge day for irony.
www.ft.com/content/7ad4...
Apparently, Rishi Sunak complains that the post-Brexit world is not as in favour of free trade as he expected.
It's a huge day for irony.
www.ft.com/content/7ad4...
In 2024 it was quicker to get to Central London from parts of Hertfordshire than it was to commute in from the end of Old Kent Road.
Interested to know how the Bakerloop will have changed this.
(Graphic: The Times with Centre for Cities data).
Interested to know how the Bakerloop will have changed this.
(Graphic: The Times with Centre for Cities data).
October 21, 2025 at 10:34 AM
In 2024 it was quicker to get to Central London from parts of Hertfordshire than it was to commute in from the end of Old Kent Road.
Interested to know how the Bakerloop will have changed this.
(Graphic: The Times with Centre for Cities data).
Interested to know how the Bakerloop will have changed this.
(Graphic: The Times with Centre for Cities data).
Reposted by Sean Canty
I don't understand what is going on with sub-national productivity data in the UK. @centreforcities.bsky.social doing their best here, but I'd be wary drawing any substantive conclusions: www.centreforcities.org/publication/...
How productive are the UK’s big cities? - Centre for Cities
This briefing dives into the latest subregional productivity data to understand the trends over the past 20 years and what it can tell us about local and national economic performance
www.centreforcities.org
October 20, 2025 at 10:48 AM
I don't understand what is going on with sub-national productivity data in the UK. @centreforcities.bsky.social doing their best here, but I'd be wary drawing any substantive conclusions: www.centreforcities.org/publication/...
Good piece but I disagree with it, specifically:
- Sticking it to the deregulatory "technocrats". The UK is short of over four million homes.
- YIMBYism as "place-less" - the places are big cities, where all people belong.
- The suggestion that "ordinary hope" should temper actual change.
- Sticking it to the deregulatory "technocrats". The UK is short of over four million homes.
- YIMBYism as "place-less" - the places are big cities, where all people belong.
- The suggestion that "ordinary hope" should temper actual change.
“While you may well govern at times as a Yimby, you campaign as a communitarian.”
In my latest piece for @newstatesman.bsky.social I set out why YIMBYism isnt a politics Labour can win with.
www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...
In my latest piece for @newstatesman.bsky.social I set out why YIMBYism isnt a politics Labour can win with.
www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...
Steve Reed's Yimbyism can't win
To connect to voters, politics needs to be rooted in place and community
www.newstatesman.com
October 15, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Good piece but I disagree with it, specifically:
- Sticking it to the deregulatory "technocrats". The UK is short of over four million homes.
- YIMBYism as "place-less" - the places are big cities, where all people belong.
- The suggestion that "ordinary hope" should temper actual change.
- Sticking it to the deregulatory "technocrats". The UK is short of over four million homes.
- YIMBYism as "place-less" - the places are big cities, where all people belong.
- The suggestion that "ordinary hope" should temper actual change.
Reposted by Sean Canty
Loved writing this. The local productivity data has got a lot of attention lately, and here I try to unpack what goes into the data
NEW | How productive are the UK’s big cities? 🏙️
We've taken a look at the latest subregional productivity data to understand the trends over the past 20 years and what it can tell us about local and national economic performance.
Read the briefing👇
buff.ly/9TjZ7t8
We've taken a look at the latest subregional productivity data to understand the trends over the past 20 years and what it can tell us about local and national economic performance.
Read the briefing👇
buff.ly/9TjZ7t8
October 15, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Loved writing this. The local productivity data has got a lot of attention lately, and here I try to unpack what goes into the data