What are we here for?

Chris Murray shuffles into the room with his tongue extended. He is carrying a pen, a notebook, a phone and a cup of coffee – the tongue is there as an aid to concentration.

Even when he is not grappling with the necessities of life, Murray still cuts an earnest figure. His chiselled features and flat Northern vowels convey gravitas, and now that he has been named first chief executive of the Academy for Sustainable Communities, he has plenty to be earnest about. He has not only to meet the expectations of his masters at the ODPM, but also those of the regeneration community, which has been awaiting action to improve skill levels ever since Lord Rogers’ urban taskforce called for it five years ago.

The long-awaited announcement of the ASC’s birth was made by John Prescott, its proud father, on the platform of the Delivering Sustainable Communities Summit in Manchester last month. “It will be a place for new ideas and new thinking,” he gushed. Shortly afterwards, Murray was named chief executive, but his appointment is a six-month secondment from CABE, where he was director of learning and development.

That’s because the ASC has not yet appointed a chairman, and it will be the chairman’s job to choose the permanent chief executive.

Over the next six months, Murray will try to establish the academy as a practical delivery agent for skills and best practice – which is what was recommended a year ago by Sir John Egan’s Skills Review. His appointment was not a great surprise, as he had a role on Egan’s group. “He’s always been interested in the making of places and recognised that we need to improve the quality of decision-making. And he has the ability to ally blue-sky thinking to pragmatism,” says one of his fellow Egan review members.

Murray is an advocate of a holistic approach to community building, which calls for help from everyone from economists to nurses. He put this into practice at Milton Keynes council where he led the UK’s first cultural planning division. The move to the ASC’s base in Leeds is a “spiritual return” for a man who was raised in Yorkshire. However, the academy won’t be formally launched for a while – the imminent general election prevents the champagne bottles from being uncorked just yet.

Chris Murray’s Q&A

What is the ASC?

As its name suggests, ASC has grown out of the policy around sustainable communities. With the development of sustainable communities we’re into a totally different game now; things have changed over such a short space of time.

Although it is called an academy, it will not be academic. It will think, and have an opinion, but it is very much a “doing” organisation. It is there to transfer knowledge, but we’re not expecting planners to visit Leeds. People will have more contact with the regional centres of excellence. I’d stress that we’re not going to be a heavy-handed organisation – we’re here to work with a range of partners.

What are the ASC’s objectives?

First, we want to increase awareness and that is about helping people to understand what a sustainable community means. Continual learning will be important. We’ll also be lobbying and trying to influence policy to generate more learning cultures.

Second, we’ll be developing the right skillset. That goes back to the Egan review. We’ll be looking for a range of generic skills, such as leadership, project management and entrepreneurship.

Third, we’ll be engaging with people. We’ll be working particularly through the regional centres of excellence, but we’d hope to be engaging with people broadly, even with schools. We’re also hoping to get people to hop over the skills divide. So a community nurse could be equipped with another skillset.

In east Lancashire, about £140m is being spent from 12 funding sources. there is a huge potential for disconnection

One of the big issues is that professionals tend not to work together – for example, planners don’t communicate with architects. So how much more difficult is it if you bring the full range of regeneration players, from economists to community development workers, into the picture? One of the unique features of ASC is that learning will be cross-occupational.

You mentioned that the ASC will be lobbying – does that mean it won’t have any statutory power?

When you set up an organisation you have to decide whether to give it a stick or a carrot. There’ll be a stick there through its influence, in the same way that CABE has. If you can convince people and convert them, it is so much better than wielding a stick.

Won’t it be another talking shop?

It has got to deliver, it’ll be measured by whether it changes anything in the sustainable communities output. We’ll also be feeding our work back into government policy.

How will the ASC be resourced?

We’ve got £13.5m over three years from the ODPM, and we’ll be looking to increase that. We won’t have a large learning facility in Leeds, we’ll have an office. On staffing there is still a lot of legwork to do, but we’ll be looking to recruit fewer than 20 staff.

How will you tackle fundamentals such as the North–South divide?

We’ll tackle it by understanding what the issues are. There is an understanding out in the marketplace, and we’ll work out packages to help people deliver. But it is very complex – take the Thames Gateway and east Lancashire, for instance. The Thames Gateway is a major area of housing growth and there is an issue with the shortage of skills. Meanwhile, in east Lancashire, about £140m is being spent in two years from 12 regeneration funding sources and there is a huge potential for disconnection.

Why do we need an academy?

I’m very aware of the number of learning units around at the moment and they all do different things with different degrees of success. But ASC is different in that it works across the sustainable communities professions, is about generic skills rather than technical expertise and works to bring together the three major sectors in regeneration: building, economic and social.

What happens in six months?

We’re advertising for a chair for the organisation, and as the chair selects the chief executive, the role will go to an open competition process. It is important for me psychologically to keep an open mind about the future. I’m very happy to be doing this job.