To mark Historic County Flags Day a fortnight ago, 52 flags from all corners of the UK were flown in Parliament Square. This demonstration of local ‘pride in place’, if symbolic, has been widely welcomed by local authorities who have hoisted flags on their town hall flag polls for years.
Flag-waving is important, to be sure, but beyond it what is pride in place and how can it help support our communities? This is something that we have been exploring at the Bennett Institute in the latest of our Townscapes reports.
The position taken in the Government’s Levelling Up White Paper commits it to boosting civic pride through high street regeneration, crime reduction and increasing homeownership.
Our research situates pride in place within a broader field of policy. Having pride in the places where they live contributes to people’s feelings of belonging and connection. Both of these, in turn, can strengthen the social fabric of places. In our report, we argue that this sense of civic pride plays an important role in boosting social capital, participation and trust – all of which contribute to the ‘seed capital’ required for economic growth.
Our research also highlights the relationship between feelings of civic pride and the prosperity of places. The authors of the White Paper take a particularly ‘declinist’ perspective of pride in place; its call for a ‘restoration’ of community, local pride and belonging, “especially in those places where they have been lost” [my italics] is a case in point.
We argue that this assumption that pride has been lost is not necessarily accurate. Equally, the idea that pride in place is lacking in ‘left-behind places’ that have been a focus of government policy in the years since the Brexit referendum is also far from certain. Instead, the available data shows that there is a mixed record across the country, with people in one of the most deprived regions, the North East, citing higher levels of pride than London.
We also identify some of the key policy tools that are most relevant to the challenge of enhancing the cultural life of poorer towns and left-behind areas. These include the role played by high streets and town centres; the opportunities associated with regeneration, if the challenge of boosting economic growth and pride in place is addressed; a focus upon cultural provision, and the renewal of heritage sites.
If the government is serious about enhancing civic pride, we suggest that the size of the Community Ownership Fund should be increased seven-fold from £150 million to £1 billion. As part of this – and to ensure long-term sustainability – we also encourage investment in the capacity of communities to drive change in their local area. We believe that inspiration can be taken from the US Community Revitalization Fund, which allocates $500 million of its $10 billion to community capacity building.
We also recommend that government commits to a ‘Minimum Standard Guarantee’ so that communities across the country have access to a basic level of social and cultural amenities; adopt a ‘green is good’ principle and legislate to ensure that green spaces are protected in perpetuity and not threatened by encroachment; and enshrines community ownership in law.
Government should extend powers to fix up high streets and give communities a say over what happens in their neighbourhoods when change happens; and related to this, place the onus on government – both national and local – to unlock onward devolution where it has stalled.
Finally, a Minister for Civic Pride is necessary to drive focus across Westminster to ensure that departments are boosting pride in a way that meaningfully impacts the lives of millions of Britons.
The scale of ambition in relation to pride in place needs to go beyond just flying a flag once a year. Taking a more fine-grained view of the history and prospects for all of our places – not just left-behind places - will enable us to develop solutions that tap into local visions of what is meaningful. We believe that this approach can help ensure that levelling up is truly ‘fit for place’ and in order to achieve this local government must be in the driving seat.
Owen Garling is the Knowledge Transfer Facilitator at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy
