When the House of Lords Built Environment Committee published the results of its 9-month inquiry into high streets in towns and small cities at the end of November, my immediate reaction was, “What difference will it make at street level?”. Local leadership and empowered partnerships This is not stated as a criticism of the Lords’…
As the Government publishes its English Devolution White Paper, with the stated aspiration of giving local leaders and communities the tools they need, I find myself asking “how local, is local?” Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner MP, explains in her foreword to the White Paper, that it offers a shift of power away from Whitehall…
At the People & Places Partnership, we pride ourselves on finding solutions to pressing problems identified by stakeholders. So great to have residents’ common calls for diversifying town centre retail, business and services, so neatly addressed in this new guide to Tackling High Street Vacancy, published as a last act of the High Streets Task…
Guest blog about teamwork tackling empty shops, by Iain Nicholson MIPM, founder of The Vacant Shops Academy. Why don’t you set a target of reducing high street vacancy in your town or city centre by half in 18 months? Impossible…? What if you learned – as you will from the accompanying ‘Tackling High Street Vacancy’…
From sifting through ministerial contributions to a House of Lords Inquiry, our conclusion is that Stevenage may hold the key for predicting government high street policy for years ahead. It helps that one of the two ministers answering questions at last week’s session of the high streets in towns and small cities inquiry, was Baroness Taylor…
What is the role of place branding in rebuilding cities and their image? The dramatic scenes in the photograph above are of the devastation caused in the centre of Ōtautahi Christchurch by its 2011 earthquake. Whilst gladly such images are rare, many towns and cities worldwide need their infrastructure, community spirit, economies or image rebuilding…
How do you address community concerns about the loss of town centre banking services, and how do you ensure that local, small businesses can still deposit cash conveniently? What might be a suitable solution for safeguarding banking services? Addressing local concerns At the People & Places Partnership, we pride ourselves on finding solutions that address…
As part of People & Places’ wider work to help councils and communities revitalise town centres, here we provide updates about a top local concern -retaining the right to bank on your High Street. This article offers a round-up of recent moves to safeguard town centre banking services, including proposals produced this week by the…
One of the key issues emerging from the Government’s push in the Kings Speach for new homes (not just houses!), is determining who will care for the concrete cows or other community, environmental and cultural assets in proposed new settlements. Investing in community assets If the aim is to create attractive and appealing new communities…
Whilst many aspects of proposed new legislation set-out in this year’s King’s Speech will impact indirectly on place, we single-out three proposed Bills likely to have the most direct impacts. In short these proposed impacts can be summarised as building homes; devolving budgets and making buses better. The narrative below is taken directly from the…