Sponsored by
Twinning: A godsend or a gimmick?
This month marks the 40th anniversary of Leeds's twinning with the German city of Dortmund and we now have no fewer than eight sister cities dotted around the globe. But what's the point of twinning, asks Grant Woodward. And what's in it for us?
EVER heard of Brno in the Czech Republic? How about Brasov in Romania? Maybe Hangzhou in China rings a bell?
You may not be familiar with the names, let alone able to pronounce them, but the trio are just a few of the cities with which Leeds enjoys close ties as part of its extensive twinning programme.
As well as Brno and Hangzhou there's Colombo in Sri Lanka, Dortmund and Siegen in Germany, Durban in South Africa, Louisville in the United States and Lille in France.
Added to this are more informal ties with three more cities – Brasov, a city in central Romania, St Mary in the northeast of Jamaica and the Swedish capital of Stockholm.
But it was the 1968 link-up with Lille and the partnership a year later with Dortmund, a former coal mining and steel milling city in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany, that set the twinning ball rolling.
Hatched as an attempt to heal some of the scars from the Second World War, the concept was embraced as a means by which towns and cities throughout the country could forge peactime links with counterparts in Germany.
Sure enough, this year's 40th anniversary of the partnership between Leeds and Dortmund has been marked with reciprocal visits. The Lord Mayor of Leeds travelled to Dortmund at the end of March and a delegation from the German city were in Leeds until the early part of this week.
But what does Leeds gain from these associations with far-flung places that, in some instances, lie up to 6,000 miles away from West Yorkshire? Does the city actually benefit in a tangible way, either economically or culturally? Or are they simply an excuse for councillors to take junkets at taxpayers' expense?
As senior project officer for the International Relations department at Leeds City Council, Karen Murgatroyd is confident the benefits are real.
She says there are three strategic objectives behind the partnerships.
Firstly, they are about promoting a sense of 'global citizenship' among schoolchildren through links with overseas schools.
The aim here is to widen youngsters' horizons and improve their chances of success in a future jobs market that is no longer hemmed in by international borders.
The exchange of best practice enables Leeds council to improve the services delivered in the city by learning from the way it's done in other cities around the world.
Then there are the trade benefits, with trade missions helping Leeds businesses to move into overseas markets – a process now being aided by the formation of a Central and Eastern Europe Business Network (CEBN) involving both Brno and Brasov, as well as the Serbian city of Niš.
Karen Murgatroyd accepts it's often difficult to quantify how much money such links bring into Leeds but it is her conviction that raising the city's profile on the international stage and encouraging its residents to look beyond Britain can only bring long-term benefits.
She says the number and frequency of visits to our sister cities varies from year to year. A chunk of the funding for the trips comes from private sources and national organisations such as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, rather than the council's own coffers.
"Back in the 1960s it was pretty much a push for post-war reconciliation but nowadays we have a very different approach to twinning.
"Our aim is to identify a city that we believe will bring economic and cultural benefits to Leeds. For instance, Durban in South Africa is a large city with a diverse economy that has an international outlook.
"We felt having a partnership with such a city would, in the long-term, bring benefits to Leeds from a business point of view. Not just that, but there is also the cultural element and the exchange of best practice.
"Dortmund is a former coal-mining area whose economy has now diversified into the service sector, so it's very similar to Leeds. It's a good example of the way we are trying to tie those strands together."
Peter Davies, the recently-elected Mayor of Doncaster, takes a rather different stance.
A confirmed Eurosceptic, he has taken the unusual step of 'de-twinning' the town from its five twin towns around the world, deriding it as a waste of money.
On taking office, he was amazed to discover that the council had agreed to pay a 2,800 hotel bill during the St Leger race meeting at the local racecourse to entertain councillors from Herten, Doncaster's twin town in Germany.
Mr Davies promptly announced he would be putting to good use the two words of German he knows – 'Auf' and 'wiedersehen' – by telling them not to come back.
Mark Wallace, campaign director for the Taxpayers' Alliance, couldn't agree with him more.
"From our point of view twinning is something that's very pleasant for councillors and council officials who get to fly back and forth every now and again but for 99.9 per cent of people in Leeds it brings no benefits whatsoever," he says.
"Councils like to think they are doing something, even if it doesn't make a difference, and quite often these things are an irrelevance."
Nor does he buy the argument that such partnerships can help stimulate trade between the cities involved, opening up new markets for companies in West Yorkshire.
"Businesses trade internationally on the back of their own success and vision, not on the strength of councillors from various countries meeting up and having a drink together," he says.
"It's a pointless expense for councils. In the age of the internet it's easy to communicate with people around the world. You don't need to spend our council tax on flying there.
"I think most taxpayers who are struggling with real issues in real life would recognise this is a bit of a gimmick."
However, such an opinion doesn't hold much water with the city's Chamber of Commerce. If you speak to them, they say twinning partnerships play a major role in helping Leeds businesses to take advantage of foreign markets.
"The twinning with Dortmund and our other international partners helps our city to raise its international profile and achieve our objectives as a global competitor and a hub for business," says Ian Williams, director of policy at the Chamber.
"Many of our region's businesses have felt the benefits of Leeds's twinning through new and sustained business, international opportunities and improved trading."
Then there are the educational, cultural and diplomatic advantages of twinning, which he says will serve the city well in the longer-term.
"Student exchanges, which many of the region's schools participate in, allow young people to broaden their cultural horizons and learn new languages, which will be a significant advantage for the future generation of workforces."
Though a native of Schleswig-Holstein rather than Dortmund or Siegen, Dr Ingo Cornils, as a German living in Leeds, is also convinced that twinning can still play a vital role in 21st century international relations.
The senior lecturer in German at Leeds University acknowledges that the motivation behind such partnerships may have altered down the years, but their importance has not diminished.
"Perhaps some of the objectives of twinning have been met," he says. "Originally it was about reconciliation, understanding and recreating trust between former enemies. Today, under the European Union, we have common values.
"And I can understand that you constantly re-evaluate any activity and the expense involved, but I don't buy the idea that these trips are freebies because these twin towns are often not the most exciting places to visit.
"It's not about having a jolly, most of the activities are done by real people and it's about learning from each other.
"More than 50 per cent of people now live in cities. How do you make those cities into smart machines? Twinning gives you an important opportunity to learn from each other. It's about sharing knowledge in the 21st century, mutual support and understanding. I think it would be so parochial to sever those ties."
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Leeds
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 10 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: East
