It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it!
Here we focus on how to turn-around town centres by supporting collaborative placemaking. This is based on the People & Places Partnership’s work to help Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council review how it supports communities in revitalising six town centres. It also draws on our analysis of the Northern Ireland Executive’s new Living High Streets Programme.
The ‘how’ and the ‘what’ of revitalisation
At People & Places we have long advocated an equal focus on the ‘how’ (partnerships & plans) and the ‘what’ (projects) of town centre revitalisation. This twin-track approach forms part of the national Revitalising Town Centres Toolkit that we wrote for the Local Government Association as far back as 2018.
It is thinking backed-up by the findings of the Institute of Place Management’s (IPM) recently published report, ‘Making the most of High Street Investment‘. Analysing the findings from High Street Task Force visits made to 137 towns and cities across England, the IPM report documents how in over a third of places (37%) the key issue identified was the lack the local partnerships and place governance required to deliver change at the high street level.
Review and recommendations for Causeway Coast and Glens
At People & Places we are delighted when a local authority asks us to look at how they work to support local town centre revitalisation. That is especially the case when the request comes from an authority like Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council that is looking to build on already good practice.
From our work immersing ourselves in Council policies, procedures and plans for working with places and speaking to 25 key stakeholders, we found the following opportunities to revise & recognise existing roles:
Strengthening liaison on national policy:
- Exploring synergies with Northern Ireland High Street Task Force Report
- Pursuing potential to be key part of rolling-out of Living High Streets Programme
Formalising Borough-wide brokering:
- Facilitating coordinated town-based delivery across Council services
- Increasing direct, joint work between key place-based services such as regeneration, events and desination management
- Recognising & measuring the depth and breadth of impacts across the Borough’s towns
Supporting local partnerships:
- Evolving the role of Town Centre Forums towards greater collaborative placemaking
- Supporting the development of evedence-based and coordinated plans for each town
A chance to pioneer the Living High Streets approach
The Northern Ireland government’s Living High Streets Craft Kit provides an innovative aprroach to collaborative placemaking. Support from the Borough Council could enable the Living High Streets approach to be pioneered across local towns in a way that would build-on the experieces of the programme pilot. This could include:
- From framework to action plan: advancing on the intermediate framework to create a deliverable action plan.
- Evolving governance: considering the LAG role, structure and membership from engagement to delivery.
- ‘Hard’ and ‘soft’ scope: Making most of existing assets, alongside communications and marketing.
- Full integration of masterplanning: Integrating masterplan reviews as part of process.
- Town centre scope: encompassing the wider town centre and links to community.
For more information
This six minute video presentation provides more information about how to turn-around town centres by supporting collaborative placemaking based on the People & Places Partnerships review for Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council.
This work in Causeway Coast and Glens draws-on the approach for creating community-led action plans developed by People & Places for the Local Government Association’s revitalising town centres toolkit. This toolkit includes practical guidance for local leaders including a case study on People & Places’ support for reopening & revitalising Selby town centre and reopening East Suffolk’s towns.
