Amidst unparalleled change for the UK, which is now navigating the unchartered waters of Brexit, our towns, cities and local district centres are feeling the brunt of alien forces, as the economy contends with a third lockdown.
Whilst a rethink of our local centres is long overdue, the impact of the pandemic has been brutal and indiscriminate, affecting not just businesses but infrastructure, support agencies and local place shapers that advance the High Street’s future. What further compounds the problem is the myriad of institutions with comparable mandates for town and city growth, creating a wider gulf between decision makers and the voice of local communities.
It’s not surprising that devolution debates and calls for more unitary structures have gained momentum this last year. The pandemic has highlighted a need for both central and local administrations to re-think business models to better align services with the community. This is certainly true when delivering local place ambitions.
The Greener Ten Point Plan, ‘levelling up’ and the Shared Prosperity Fund all promise great conceptual ideas to build new growth in the UK but success will depend on strong strategic leadership, increased local capacity and commitment to coordinated delivery across all functions. Robert Jenrick has announced his preference for local government to take a lead in managing the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and success for local places requires effective funding through combined, single governance structures and onboarding of the necessary professional skills to deliver this ambition.
Finding the right people to deliver the High Streets revival will be challenging for local administrations still dealing with COVID-19 recovery. There are real capacity challenges in the sector and sharing skilled resource or pooling both private and public specialists in this field may be the answer. The High Streets Task Force has provided a useful route map to help agencies reshape places. Government must now trust local place innovators to deliver that success across the UK and provide funding and support for dedicated skilled professionals to deliver it.
The different funding streams available from many property or business related departments in central Government all impact on regeneration initiatives. Corralling this into one better connected agency with direct decision making powers would be a starting point. This would help prevent good initiatives becoming stalled, leading to lost opportunities. We also need to complete the Business Rates review. Revo has campaigned tirelessly on behalf of business on why the current regime negatively impacts High Street recovery. Whilst the system is the current source of local government funding and had impressive pre-pandemic collection rates, the changing dynamic of local built environments will seriously affect this funding stream. This, together with outdated business letting arrangements in our country are likely to restrict the advancement of effective paradigms of success for local towns and cities in a post pandemic world.
Through three successive lockdowns, there are amazing examples of local entrepreneurs and creative thinkers delivering innovative and sustainable, local business models. The more they are in control of local ambition, the quicker solutions are delivered. Many public sector organisations are already embracing this change culture. Creating local partnerships of like-minded pioneers with devolved budgets will help build back community spaces faster, building on the trust we found during the pandemic. We can also learn from global governance structures who are letting go of control. If we look at Paris, they are not only embracing the 15 minute city concepts with long term multi-billion Euro funding commitments but placing people at the heart of their strategic decisions, giving local people direct control of some of their capital funding, via participatory budgeting. Glasgow has also pioneered this budgeting approach.
With Brexit transition and changes to work patterns after COVID-19, a different delivery model has to emerge. The opportunity to re-shape the local offer and unite around the concept of fairer, stronger and greener futures can deliver trailblazing exemplar towns and cities that work to deliver our green ambitions. In regeneration terms, we have a small window of opportunity to create this new place legacy across the UK but it requires a collaborative, longer term and fairer funding commitment to our towns and cities. More importantly our future place ambitions need local communities and stakeholders to take centre stage to drive their towns’ futures and deliver a fairer place for all to prosper.
Karen Whelan is director of Henry Finall Consulting
