Many people in Norwich are suffering every day with continuing Tory austerity and a national economy which will not recover from the effects of Covid-19 for years to come. Despite these challenges, Labour in Norwich is fighting back with a collaborative and creative municipal socialism gaining widespread recognition as a successful blueprint for a post-crash economy. To realise Labour’s aspirations to improve our community we must not simply manage but transform our local economy in support of working people and their families. This means promoting forms of economic ownership and activity that are democratic and create and retain wealth locally.

Your Labour councillors understand that the City Council has a major influence on the local economy. We are a large local employer and a significant purchaser of goods and services. We have responsibility for providing a range of vital services such as housing, local area planning, economic development and regeneration, waste collection, leisure, culture and looking after the city’s environment and citizens’ wellbeing. All of these services are vital to the local economy. We will use our influence to stand up for all our people.

A Labour City Council will:

1. Continue to resist the ideological onslaught from Conservative led governments since 2010 that has reduced council resources to spend on Norwich people by over 40%. Despite this, Labour has balanced the budget by reducing senior management costs, generating income, improving efficiency, sharing services when appropriate, and sensibly using our reserves. If re-elected, we will continue this approach.

2. Promote the rights of working people in Norwich by promoting trade union recognition across the city, and as a social value outcome in local purchasing. A Labour council will not employ staff on exploitative zero hours contracts, and we will apply this principle to our purchasing policies as far as legally possible. Neither will we engage with organisations involved in illegal blacklisting activities or pursuing fire and rehire tactics against their employees.

3. Work with trade unions and other partners to bring high quality unionised jobs to the city.

4. Ensure that Norwich City Council and its wholly owned companies always have a formal trade union recognition agreement in place and are a gold standard employer within the sector offering significantly above statutory minimum terms and conditions.

5. Use the council’s resources innovatively to lever new investment into the city, prioritising investment in projects with the greatest potential to drive sustainable unionised jobs growth.

6. Ensure that all new council-funded construction includes job opportunities and training for the workforce. We will work with our partners to help increase training, apprenticeships, and equal employment opportunities in the city. We will work to expand the real Living Wage and apprenticeships in the Towns Fund or GNGB infrastructure programme through public procurement across Norwich’s anchor institutions.

7. Work with partners to raise the city’s profile and attract visitors, students, new businesses, and investment to the city.

8. Build on the work, before and during the Covid pandemic, to boost retailers in our city centre and ensure Norwich stays among the top shopping destinations within the United Kingdom. We will use licensing powers to support businesses, particularly those in the hospitality sector, to use outside space appropriately in order to boost trade.

9. Continue to boost the local economy by seeking to use local suppliers and workers. We will change our procurement policy so that weight is given to award contracts that will include the social value that the company will return to the community if it wins the contract.

10. Successfully deliver our Town Investment Plan which has seen the City Council win over £25m in funding to enhance and develop our city through regeneration, skills, and enterprise infrastructure.

11. Continue to work with our local universities and partners to promote Norwich as a global centre for research and public knowledge – energy, engineering, science, digital businesses, and art and design.

12. Continue to promote a real Living Wage so we have a fair city with a strong economy. We are proud to have become a Real Living Wage City and will be supporting the Norwich Real Living Wage Action Group in their ambitious plans to expand the number of Real Living Wage employers in the city, ensuring a liveable income for thousands of citizens. Labour will continue to encourage more Norwich based employers, especially in the private sector, to pay the Real Living Wage. Building on the success of the Norwich Living Wage campaign, we will develop a Fine City Employers Charter, which rewards and recognises good employers.

13. Labour will continue to expand the Real Living Wage through local procurement, influencing our investments and our role as a landlord. We will continue to build on our Real Living Wage Place status.

14. Labour will support the rights of working people in Norwich by promoting trade union recognition with employers and as a social value outcome in local purchasing. Labour will work with the TUC to encourage Norwich residents to join trade unions, so they work in safe environments, and ensuring their rights at work are safeguarded.

15. We will not engage with organisations involved in illegal blacklisting activities.

16. Labour has brought services in-house, under democratic control. This has enabled us to begin the work to improve them, ensure they deliver real value for money and enhance the terms and conditions of employees as an established exemplary employer. Our success at ensuring Norwich City Services Ltd has now become an accredited Living Wage employer in 2022, offering a sliding scale of additional holiday benefits, and a length of service based sick pay scheme, shows what we can deliver, and we pledge to continue to do so.

17. Support the development of skills in the workplace by signing a Learning Agreement with Trades Unions. We will also seek to expand further the range of apprenticeships offered by the council, and our solely owned companies, and will encourage other employers to take on more.

18. Continue to increase business access to superfast broadband through our successful work with CityFibre. This will see the installation of a full fibre broadband network and give speeds of up to 1,000 megabits per second, near unlimited bandwidth, and improved reliability.

19. Continue to support growth in knowledge businesses and new business start-ups, including encouraging the development of worker-owned cooperatives and social enterprises, through continuing to procure bespoke business advice and support for local social enterprises. We will work with commercial landlords, together with the BID and partners, to use empty retail or business space as ‘meanwhile’ space for start-ups or small businesses and social enterprises to get them going.

20. Continue to develop activities to support digital skills and employability with particular emphasis on connecting NEET young people to local job opportunities and help them to develop their own job opportunities where appropriate.

21. Continue working with landowners and stakeholders to bring forward the development of the previously stalled sites in East Norwich, ensuring the co-ordinated provision of vital infrastructure and the creation of a coherent and sustainable new Quarter in the East of the City. We will continue to progress the Delivery Phase of this project and will use a rigorous and transparent process for assessing and, where necessary, challenging developers’ viability assessments, to ensure best value and maximum provision of affordable housing. We will continue to make full use of government guidance, and work to ensure new development provides the right infrastructure.