Leamington’s safe and welcoming reopening captures a positive and practical approach that is needed in town centres across the country.
Positive and practical
As this case study about Leamington’s reopening prepared as part of the Local Government Association’s (LGA) revised revitalising town centres toolkit shows, this can be achieved in a positive and practical way through partnership working. Leamington’s safe and welcoming reopening is a great example of a creative collaboration between County, District and Town Councils working with BID Leamington. This began with temporary road layout changes backed by floral distance markers and butterfly ambassadors that respect the place brand and embrace community participation.
There is a great deal of learning from this case study covering the what and the how of town centre recovery and revitalisation.
‘What’ is being achieved
Leamington’s ‘butterfly ambassadors’ epitomise the creative approach to reopen Leamington in a safe, kind and welcoming way. The butterflies not only brighten up the streets and provide a warm welcome; they will also help to monitor and understand changing community sentiment. This is symbolic of an approach which aligns with the town’s existing identity, branding and approach.
‘How’ is it happening
An important part of the learning in Leamington has been reflections on the value and changing nature of collaboration and shared learning. The ‘how’ of facilitating town centre change. Feedback from the various stakeholders suggests that communication and flexibility are important ingredients to fostering relationships. This fast pace of adaptation recognises areas such as staff support, listening to new voices and meeting facilitation, as important in enabling change.
Continued evolution and learning
We will continue to track the approach in Royal Leamington Spa here as it will doubtless keep evolving as the partnership between the county, district and town councils, working with the BID, supports transition and then transformation. Already this has seen local schools adapting the town’s floral distancing markers to help minimise anxiety for pupils. Community participation is a big part of the ethos in Leamington with opportunities sought to try low risk and often temporary installations or experiments, using quick feedback loops and adapting through learning.
Additional guidance
Read the full case study, “say it with flowers: reopening Leamington Spa town centre” and access comprehensive resources available from the LGA’s revitalising town centres online toolkit.
A free, downloadable checklist for managing town centre streets and public spaces in 2020 and other up-to-date, detailed guidance is available via our dedicated beyond COVID-19 web page.
