Wednesday 24 October 2012

I attended the SOLACE (Society of Local Authority Chief Executives) conference last week in Coventry. It was great to catch up with colleagues from across the country and to explore the role of, and challenges facing local government. I thought that I would share with you some of the highlights over the next couple of blogs. The following is taken from the summary of the event published by SOLACE.


This year’s SOLACE Summit – built around the theme of Prosperous Places – provided a rich source of views and ideas from SOLACE members about the complex challenges facing local government.

This item reflects the richness of the Summit discussions and highlights actions for chief executives and senior managers to consider in their authorities. President Martin Reeves and Chair Joanna Killian are committed to developing the society’s work programme over the coming months, much of it based on these ideas.

Workstream 1: Your Local Future

How we think about local areas and what they mean to those that live, work and visit there. How can cities, towns and rural areas differentiate themselves from others, compete and collaborate? The answers have consequences for how we view a locality’s future and how we lead change.

Each place needs a narrative

It needs a distinctive set of attributes with which it is identified – reputation, identity, history etc – which provide a subconscious identification/sense of security/comfort/happiness. But sense of place can also undermine growth:

• People fear a loss of identity

• Residents resist change

• It can encourage people to look backward not forward.

Evidence matters – build up a picture of what people think of the area, and assess the impact of how the place is viewed from outside. Reputation can often unfairly denigrate an area – what are these negative perceptions and how can you tackle them? Local people can often buy into or perpetuate external misconceptions. You need to be in control of how others see you.

Branding matters

Branding can promote identity and tackle negative perceptions. It needs all local organisations to promote the same message. Businesses and other local organisations need to feel it is everyone’s identity, not just the council’s. Branding is an embodiment of culture, mood and emotional connection. It is more than just a logo. Place needs to be apolitical. Branding is not all about communications, but also about service quality and street scene, all of which need to reflect the values the brand is promoting.

Politicians

Members can sometimes try to keep the status quo to please voters. They need to develop a long term sense of place, which does not fit a political timeframe. Developing a sense of place may mean working with Members to develop a new set of skills, particularly around letting go of control of the sense of local identity and learning to influence as one of a number of local players. It is important to establish greater cross-party business strategies to ensure stability and success.

Boundaries

Different boundaries can be used depending on the audience, e.g. a home county might associate itself with London when talking internationally. Formal boundaries should not determine identity. There can be a conflict between the local authority and place boundaries – local authorities are not places.

Private sector

Businesses are now realising the ‘I pay my rates’ excuse no longer works. They will contribute if they realise they will get something in return. Private sector needs to recognise it is their place too and they don’t need permission from the council to transform it. Customer experience of an area is key e.g. Trip Advisor. The example of Burnley shows the value of the private sector in generating a sense of place because they understand branding. The 100 biggest companies now drive the message; the local authority does not front it.

Group comments from attendees

• A sense of place should help link local businesses with education providers, e.g. to help focus apprenticeships on business needs

• The narrative of place provides a foundation for policy issues which may destabilize existing policies and relationships

• Creating a sense of place can be a challenge if people feel you are taking over their own story

• Important to ensure leadership is not command and control – this requires a more enabling approach.

• Recognition of place management: in the UK less than 10% of places have woken up to the potential of place management. Australia does this well

• Loss of retailers: within 5 years, 30-40% of retailers will not be around. 100,000+ empty units. This requires a rapid rethink of the town centre offer

• Need to be ruthless with who is involved. Need people who want to make something happen

I find the ideas shared here thought provoking and profound for the challenges we face moving forward. We need to ask ourselves if we are up for this approach? I think we have to be...

For daily updates, discussion, personal opinion, comment or just to connect or keep in touch you can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/drcarltonbrand.

Thanks for reading and I’ll share more with you soon from SOLACE. Talk again in a week or so.


Carlton