Secretary of State’s speech to the Local Government Association's Culture Tourism and Sport conference in Brighton
17 March 2009
When we met last year in Liverpool, at the start of Capital of Culture, my theme was of culture, tourism and sport as a growing force for regeneration.
12 months on, and the world has changed fundamentally. The full extent of global economic downturn has unfolded with consequences for culture, the arts, sport and leisure.
The stock response in times like these, as we all know, would be for non-statutory services to be the first to suffer, the first for cuts and in line for savings. I’m sure that is a real pressure colleagues here are facing at the moment.
Today, however, I want to argue for that stock response to be turned on its head.
If nothing else, I would hope that people leave this conference with renewed confidence and vigour to make the argument for culture, leisure, sport and tourism as a bigger priority in facing up to the challenges we face – and I see it as a core part of my job to empower you to make the case at a local level.
We can do this because this recession is unlike the early 90s. Back then, it was hard to make the case for our sectors which were seen as a luxury, only justifiable in the good times.
Now there is a body of experience and evidence, drawn from across the country, to demonstrate how sport and culture can regenerate communities, improve quality of life, give a sense of local identity and pride and build aspiration and hope.
It’s our job collectively to ensure that past mistakes - where a lack of investment in culture and sport left crumbling infrastructure and low levels of participation – are not repeated.
Our free and low cost cultural and sporting initiatives can make life just a little bit easier for cash-strapped families. They can help to keep our communities strong and cohesive, even when times are hard.
And looking ahead, culture and creativity will be an even more important force in the new economy.
But if we’re to make this work both nationally and locally, we’ve got to get our relationship right. I wholeheartedly believe that there is no more important relationship for my Department.
So how do we get it right? There are 3 key elements here:
- My Department working hard to give you the evidence and tools to make the case at a local level;
- To involve you more in policy development, and at an earlier stage; and
- To strike the right balance between the need for national standards, and empowering you to move forward. Continue the drive for improvement from the bottom up.
I took great heart from the latest round of CPAs - to see more councils achieving the top ratings for culture and 44 local authorities with higher ratings than their previous assessment. That is real progress.
We have to maintain this momentum and I’m working closely with Hazel to build on this.
I’d like to look more closely at the 3 steps I’ve just outlined.
How do we give you the evidence to make the case?
I think its worth starting by looking back at the success of Liverpool 08. In my view, this is the best example, on the grandest scale yet, of the Bilbao model. Taking the power of culture and transforming an area and its people.
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Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture has changed the terms of the debate - bringing in an £800 million boost to the regional economy. 3.5m visitors put £176m into the visitor economy.
Culture did more that bring visitors to Liverpool though. It transformed the way that the rest of the country thinks about Liverpool and how the people of Liverpool feel about the city and themselves.
One of the myths that was demolished was that world-class cultural events could not be successfully staged outside London, that the big names and the visitors would simply not travel to places like Liverpool
Liverpool shows us what is possible, and a fitting legacy, I think, would be to repeat that success on a regular basis through a programme of British Cities of Culture up and running as soon as possible.
I’m delighted with the positive reaction to the proposal the Phil Redmond made and the interest there was from cities around the country to meet with Phil to learn from Liverpool’s success and express interest in the idea.
I believe we can do much much more to unlock the creative potential of towns and cities up and down the country and expect the City of Culture to shine a spotlight on each individual city that wins the award. But the experience from Liverpool is that the benefits flow out across the whole region and on to the national cultural landscape.
The BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award, the Turner and Sterling Prizes and the other big ceremonies that decamped to Liverpool last year – these were all refreshed by the process of being staged away from their usual venues and outside of the capital.
There is a real vitality and depth of quality to culture beyond London and that is going to keep growing with the momentum behind City of Culture and with the prospect of centres of excellence like the V&A establishing a presence in Blackpool and the Royal Opera House exploring how it might work with Manchester and other arts organisations in the North.
Phil Redmond’s working group meets tomorrow to push the City of Culture idea on. Unavoidable clash with this event, but important that the LGA is involved in developing the idea from the start.
And the lessons from Liverpool can have an even wider resonance in these difficult economic times - when our town centres are feeling the effect of the downturn.
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I see in my home town of Leigh the effect on the high street with so much retail space emptying and Leigh is typical of so many smaller towns around the country.
Is there a different way of looking at how we fill our town centres full of life? Instead of leaving shop fronts boarded up until a new retailer comes along, is there an opportunity to use old retail space to celebrate local culture and heritage in some way?
Can we use the space creatively to showcase the sorts of things that give us a sense of local identity and pride – characters, the culture, the historic events for which the local area is famous? Is there a way to use the space to inspire new interests locally – arts or sport or music? – or to develop and showcase local talent?
I see this work as building directly on the Sea Change programme which for me perfectly encapsulates the ambition and innovation we must maintain. A prime example of how public money can be invested to maximum effect - being used to leverage in private money and to kick start an urban rival around new exhibition spaces and by making parks and proms and piazzas feel like good places to look at and to spend time in.
It’s money putting pride back into communities. Money spent on high quality development done to high standards using the best of what traditional resorts have had in the locker.
The English seaside has been a priority but we can use the same creative thinking now to come to the aid of every town centre that is struggling to map out its future at the moment. I’m talking with Hazel Blears at the moment about how our departments best offer our support his way and you’ll hear more from us at the end of this month.
The second challenge I raised was around our relationship. In the past, DCMS has not always talked early enough and often enough with local authorities. But we are changing that. We can do better on this than we have previously. It's important that we make sure you are engaged in developing parameters and trajectory with us from the start.
The current Libraries Review is a case in point. While DCMS is taking a strong leadership role - given the special relationship we have with these services through their statutory status - the LGA has been at the heart of devising the new policy from the outset.
You have been represented throughout discussions at a political and officer level, and the work has benefited enormously from the advice and guidance provided.
Libraries are fundamentally a local service. It's an obvious thing for me to say, yet not something fully recognised by many of those who weigh in to the library debate. If the Library Review achieves one thing I want it to make clear a new, mature relationship between DCMS and local authorities on public libraries.
We commit to providing the high-level strategic vision of what is possible, to support modernisation at a local level in ways which are right for your communities. There may be a need to look, as part of the Review, at whether we can define a ‘comprehensive and efficient’ service, but it is for you and your peers to rise to the challenge we set out and deliver first-rate services which improve people's lives and make stronger communities.
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Free swimming – there’s another challenge for local authorities. And one that you have risen to magnificently.
Free swimming for over 60s in over eight out of ten authorities. Free swimming for 16s and under as well in six out of the of those authorities. That is a tremendous response.
This is entirely new territory with a risk that Government funding might fall short in some areas. So the number of councils that have signed up has exceeded our expectations and I’m absolutely delighted with the positive response it has received.
I have been clear that this is an iterative process – we are on a journey and will continue to listen closely to the concerns/issues raised by Local Government colleagues.
This is going to attract new people to pools and leisure centres, removing a cost barrier. People who may not have even thought of going to a swimming pool before. Each new swimmer can tell their friends or take their family next time or even get involved in other activities.
Longer term, getting more people more active, getting them active and into the pool with their friends, is good for their health and wellbeing, and it is going to make a real difference to not just the individuals but to your communities.
Nothing like this has been done in the past. That’s why we need to work in partnership with you, the ones who’ve made the links with the NHS, who’ve designed the best offer they can for the public and who’ve taken us up on our challenge.
We need to see what works and spread that learning. We need to listen to what the problems are and respond.
We will, in the coming days, make a further announcement about how we intend to use funding left unallocated as a result of councils who chose not to participate in the scheme.
We want to:
- To further support those councils already in;
- Issue a last call to those LAs who aren't in but now want to be; and
- retain some resource to further support those Councils who do the most/go the furthest.
We’ll be writing out this week to participating councils with more detail. I hope there’ll be a good response to this final call to get involved and that, working in partnership, we’ll give as good an offer as we can to the public.
I want you to see my department and our NDPBs as a practical and very willing resource, ready to work with you as a close partner and the level of commitment to our sectors in the new Local Area Agreements is a clear sign of the growing recognition of what we have to offer.
To have sport in over half of all the Agreements is a really positive step, but recognise there is more we can do to convince the unconverted.
That’s why I’m delighted to launch the Passion for Excellence Action Plan today. It sets out the key initiatives and resources available to you all to further the great improvement work you have been delivering to date. I hope you will make full use of it so that you can continue to provide the maximum value to local communities.
Want to set an ambitious challenge to finish on. In future LAA rounds I want to see even more authorities prioritising sport – but I also want to see just as many authorities prioritising the culture indicators. And I want to see culture and sport helping to deliver for people locally in a whole range of other areas.
There’s an irresistible case to be made for culture and sport. We will be there side-by-side with you, giving you the confidence and the evidence to win the case to fight for investment for the future.
Thank you
[ENDS]
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