New research shows the importance of the skill and capacity of a multi-disciplinary team focused on a place-based approach to recovery, writes the CEO of Public Practice.
The active involvement of local authorities is critical to success in town centre revitalisation. That’s the conclusion of the leadership of the National Retail Planning Forum to a report jointly published with Public Practice and the Planning Officers Society this week.
Pooja Agrawal, CEO of Public Practice
Our report reviewed two decades of literature and conducted five-in depth case studies and found that after decades of both chronic and acute challenges that have redefined the way people across the UK use town centres, there is no substitute for leadership from local authorities.
This thread emerged at every stage of the research: time and again, local authorities demonstrated skill in the use of their unique role of bringing together partnerships across diverse sets of stakeholders as in Shrewsbury town centre or taking a place-based and strategic approach such as in Weston-super-Mare.
Improving the property market
One of the case studies that particularly stood out for me was Middlesbrough Council’s pro-active approach to investment and the diversification of town centre uses. By commissioning an economic assessment of the town centre, they gathered evidence to develop a Middlesbrough town centre strategy, brought together a complex range of stakeholders and identified specific action, which was to diversify the uses on the high street.
Interdisciplinary working leads to joined-up initiatives that support one another
This strategic work and the evidence base produced in 2018 put the council in a strong position to apply for both the future high streets fund and the towns fund, securing over £36m of investment across the two schemes.
Middlesbrough Council also made direct investment in the town centre with a view to improving the property market. In 2020 they purchased one of the town’s four shopping centres with a plan to use future high streets fund money to consolidate retail units elsewhere in the town then transform a quarter of a million square feet of retail space into leisure.
The vital ingredient
Middlesbrough demonstrates that a confident and multi-disciplinary local authority can take leadership by delivering a long-term strategic vision that attracts funding by investing directly in their local places and bringing together different stakeholders over time.
The success of Middlesbrough underlines the importance of the skill and capacity of a multi-disciplinary team focused on a place-based approach to recovery.
The town centre officers are part of the economic growth and infrastructure team, which sits within the regeneration and culture directorate alongside the planning, culture and capital projects teams. Interdisciplinary working leads to joined-up initiatives that support one another. So while the town centre team is focused on the business community, the culture team generates a strong programme of events and activities which aim to animate the town centre and drive footfall.
Our report calls for recognition for local authorities as the drivers of recovery and the stewards of town centres and high streets. The vital ingredient to this is people. If we hope for every council to emulate Middlesbrough, Weston-Super-Mare or Shrewsbury we will need to help them to access capacity and skills within their place-shaping teams. Experience shows that doing so will unlock pro-active approaches to town centre recovery.
Pooja Agrawal, CEO, Public Practice
Public Practice is carrying out a resourcing and skills survey of council officers about the impact of under-resourcing in local authority teams across England, which is open until Friday 4 March. See www.publicpractice.org.uk
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