The ambition to deliver a more place focused, locally responsive approach to public service delivery is fundamental to the creation of resilient communities. However, the turbulence of the past two years has seen a record fall in UK GDP, with obvious implications for the public purse and local government being tasked once more to make efficiencies.
Yet as communities pulled together to support one another throughout the pandemic, there has been a renewed focus on the importance of place, the home, neighbourhoods and communities. The term ‘Big Society’ is even back on many commentators’ lips. However, the new polemic is that to fulfil the ambitions of a Big Society, we need an active large state. Not a state which takes control away from people and dictates exactly how they act, but one that creates the opportunity for local government and communities to set the agenda, to best serve their needs through devolved responsibilities.
Maximising this opportunity will improve services, achieve climate objectives and create a satisfied, content, enfranchised and healthy society. All require similar strands of activity which, in our view, all revolve around the creation of place. Implementation of the ‘place principle’ requires an integrated, collaborative, and participative approach to decision making, services, land and buildings. Currently, however, there is a perceived, if not real, disconnect in some of the government-sponsored capital programmes.
Whilst there is a necessity for large-scale national investment programmes for infrastructure projects such as hospitals and schools, there is little evidence that place, neighbourhoods and communities are considerations, or that any thought is given to making best use of resources and growing local skills, or to releasing economic benefits beyond the brief. Other than the benefit of the new version of the old, this actually has a long-term disbenefit and, as such, is creating less with more!
The DFE - MMC framework, for example, is managed from the centre, with no evident connectivity to place or local government integration. At its worst, the product is a replacement box for schools with failing fabric, landed in a community that has not been given an opportunity to invest in the process or product, or create links with other services. In our experience in England, local authorities have accepted that this is just a process that is happening to them not with them.
On the other hand, the much vaunted £4bn Levelling Up Fund, designed to improve local infrastructure in towns and areas in need of investment, promises to promote holistic, place-based approaches and prioritise projects that make a real change to people’s lives. In practice, this means identifying critical social infrastructure that helps close the opportunity gap, alongside improvements to buildings, roads, and railways.
The Town Fund deal being rolled out across England, with locally designed regeneration projects focused on boosting skills, job creation and connectivity. Our work in Redcar and Stockton on Teesside highlights the opportunities that exist and the leverage to work smartly and efficiently through a central government primed initiative. The journey so far has been compelling and it is clear that solutions can only be validated if the objectives and opportunities are ingrained in the process. It is fair to say, however, that the impacts have not yet been realised.
Regardless, the ambition of levelling up opportunities across the UK is fundamental to the UK’s success. Whilst it remains to be seen how committed the latest iteration of government is to the levelling up agenda, it would be irresponsible, through outdated political dogma, to not make the best opportunities of the investment. It is key to creating resilient communities.
A place-based approach is not new, but with more devolvement and an emerging local agenda, it is probably more achievable, providing the opportunity to achieve better results across publicly funded projects.
It is a way of working and thinking that addresses the needs of our communities in a collaborative way, to achieve better outcomes. It means engaging with partners at national, regional, and local levels to collectively meet the specific needs of a particular location, achieving more and maximising the benefits from the project to the local community through better integration of service delivery. This means better performing facilities and better places for people.
Chris Malcolm is a partner at Ryder Architecture
