The five-star Lowry Hotel and neighbouring riverside apartments are a far cry from the Salford streets immortalised by the artist. And when Barbara Spicer, the council’s colourful chief executive, comes breezing in and talks about the BBC relocation to ‘mediacity:UK’, a state-of-the-art creative industries hub on a 200-acre site at Salford Quays, the mood of optimism is unmistakable.
Barbara has been at the helm of Salford City Council for just over 12 months. She took over from John Willis, who retired after almost 40 years at the authority.
During a hand-over period, the two worked together on the bid to attract those BBC departments which are moving north. She praises the legacy of a ‘tremendous platform of achievements,’ on which to build.
The physical regeneration of the city is the most evident of these. Salford is, ‘on the cusp of an enormous resurgence’, she says, with £2bn of regeneration projects currently in progress. These include a stadium for Salford City Reds rugby club, £110m Building Schools for the Future work, and large-scale development in Chapel Street.
mediacity:UK is driven by a public-private partnership of Peel Holdings, Central Salford Urban Regeneration Company, Salford City Council and the Northwest Development Agency.
It will provide space for more than 1,000 media-related businesses, plus retail and residential units next to the Lowry Gallery, and jobs for 15,500 people. The Greater Manchester authorities have all collaborated and the project is expected to add £1bn to the North West’s regional economy.
But, she adds: ‘We have to get it right.’ And what will make the difference between success and failure? ‘People – making sure they get the benefits’, she replies.
Barbara, who stands out at local government gatherings because of her bright clothes and red spiky hair, is renowned for being ‘up front’. She is aged 42, and has two sons aged six and 14.
She plays down the alternative image after she was dubbed ‘punk mother of two’ in the local press for being a fan of punk rock band The Clash, but has maintained an interest in pop culture.
She is always noticed when out and about in the local community, and takes it as an opportunity to ask residents’ views.
Barbara worked her way up through the ranks, having started as a clerk at Knowsley MBC after leaving school at 17. And she thinks this gives her an ‘empathy with the frontline’.
Her career has centred around ‘resident-led, people-focused’ regeneration. Spicer Grove, a street in Knowsley named after her by local people, is a testament to her success.
Barbara worked at Merseyside Development Corporation in the 1990s, and then moved back to Knowsley. During her 10 years at the council, it gained an ‘excellent’ CPA rating, and was one of the first authorities to introduce a one-stop shop, and she became director of regeneration and neighbourhoods.
She moved to Salford at a time when its education and children’s services had been improved. But worklessness and housing now need attention.
‘We need to lock together the pieces of the jigsaw’, she says. The council needs to be ‘one organisation with one culture and a single set of priorities’.
This is why it is introducing the ambitious Connecting People strategy. The DCLG has shown interest in this ‘cradle to grave’ approach to service provision, which charts interventions that are necessary for individuals at different stages of their lives.
Connecting People will ensure the BBC relocation, which should be completed by 2011, is a catalyst for raising aspirations, through measures such training local people, bringing opportunities into the school curriculum, and setting up a new walk-in health centre on the mediacity:UK site.
‘A lot of creative jobs are more accessible than traditional professions. It will be a community not just a business park housing the BBC,’ she insists.
But, she warns: ‘We need to be careful not to polarise where there is both wealth and poverty, side by side.’ To this end, council services must ensure ‘parity of outcomes not inputs’, she adds. ‘For example, it’s not how often the streets are swept but how clean they are that counts.’
And those streets will be very different from the industrial landscape of Lowry’s day. n
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