LOCAL GOVERNMENT – OLWEN BROWN

Olwen Brown Partner, local government sector lead 0121 214 3625 olwen.brown@anthonycollins.com

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

LOOKING FORWARD TO 2021

“There is a future out there for town centres and councils need to be at the heart of it. To thrive, and I absolutely believe that they can, town centres have to be truly multifunctional, like many places we see on holidays in mainland Europe.”

Last year was a strange one for local government and there is still a sense of insecurity about what the future will bring, given the enormous expense of Covid-19 and the continuing challenges that has brought with it. There is however a growing sense that things will not, in many situations, ever be the same again.

Taking a swift straw poll of colleagues, we all agreed that whilst we enjoyed seeing our colleagues and looked forward to seeing them in person again, rather than via a Zoom or Teams set up, we would be reluctant to again spend the time and money on commuting into the office five days a week; or to spend the three or more hours it can take each way either on train or by car for a meeting with clients.

In this world that has to make sense, and the pandemic has probably truncated the time it would have taken for an acceptance of a virtual rather than face to face world of meetings, forward by half a decade. Because now for us, that’s normal. So yes, let’s go into the office, but one or two days a week only, please. And only then if we can do it at a safe distance.

So we will have to coordinate our presence, value our time together and talk to each other to do that to the best effect. Make the most of our time together; because it’s pointless travelling to only achieve what can be done as effectively remotely. We might regret the many hours on public transport…but that was the way then.

There’s also a changing picture for our villages, towns and cities. The 2019 local government elections ushered in a number of purely local candidates. By that, I mean candidates that weren’t aligned to any of the established political parties, but who had stood on the strength of their local passion and vision. They wanted to do their best for where they lived and to use the power of the democratically elected council to help them do that. With the pandemic and the associated lockdowns, we have seen this local focus grow. And that focus is not on retail; it is on a much rounder life model for the high street.

Research shows that whilst footfall that was purely or significantly retail-based fell over this year, there was a much smaller fall in high streets which were multi-functional. People still and will always want to get together, what they don’t want (based on a straw poll of friends and family here but I would be surprised if it wasn’t typical) is to have a purely robotic retail experience that they could have in the comfort of their own home, online. So there will have to be a reason to get out there (when we can); to make visiting your town centre worthwhile; whether it’s because it’s only there you get the freshness of the Farmers Market; or it’s only there where you get a great lunch; or it’s only there you get a fabulous artistic event or can buy clothes from someone you know and trust to have understood what you want and look good in and searched in their suppliers for them. Just for you. And yes, its profit for them but it’s surely better than that 80p rag from you know who…with no added value at all.

There is a future out there for town centres and councils need to be at the heart of it. To thrive, and I absolutely believe that they can, town centres have to be truly multifunctional, like many places we see on holidays in mainland Europe. That means that they have to have residential places, eating places, shopping places, bars, cafes, parks, arts venues and everything which say people live and work and shop and enjoy themselves here.

Councils need to partner with other organisations, housing associations most likely, to provide needed homes in town centres, on a range of different tenancies; some owned, some rented, some socially rented. And, instead of investing in business parks, like so many have done, or in shopping centres far far away, councils should invest in their area. Not somewhere else. And that, I think is what many of the newly independent councillors want. “Put your money with your high street; that’s why they voted me in”.

To be clear, this is not in the pursuit of maximum income for councils, because that will not be the outcome. But over time a local authority shouldn’t lose; it should win big time. Because every council I have ever known wants sustainable growth for its area; wants regeneration, wants more jobs, wants better housing, wants these things for their residents. And there are different ways of achieving this, but that is politics.

So, what should councils do? Focus on local, invest in local, think local. Put money into local housing, local retail, local multi-functional hubs that are easy to get to, easy to spend time in, easy to live in. Invest in soul, rather than the soulless. Enjoy and exploit the idiosyncrasies of your locality. Be local. Be brave.