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Culture
The Quality Places Delivery Panel
If PUSH is to succeed in improving South Hampshire’s economy, we must have the right jobs, and give people the skills to fill them. But business will only thrive and grow when it is in the right environment. Equally, as we face the challenge of housing growth, we must make sure we build real communities, not simply soulless housing estates. In short, our new and existing communities must be places people want to live in, work in and visit.
One of PUSH’s key aims is to create quality places – places which are well designed, have excellent leisure and sporting facilities, offer a range of cultural activities for all our citizens and are a magnet for visitors. This is the remit of our Quality Places Delivery Panel.
Through the Delivery Panel the local councils in PUSH are working with the SEEDA, Arts Council England, Sport England, Tourism South East, the Commission for Architecture & the Built Environment, the Museums, Libraries & Archives Council and English Heritage.
Our vision is:
“to put culture at the heart of South Hampshire, which will be recognised as a national and international beacon for and capital of all forms of cultural activity, to the benefit of residents, visitors and the local economy”
PUSH's Cultural Strategy
In July 2008 the Quality Places Delivery Panel commissioned a Cultural Strategy for our area. We asked the consultants employed to review the strengths and weaknesses of our arts, sporting and recreational offer and suggest where, by working together, PUSH authorities and partners could help make improvements and realise opportunities.
The Strategy led to the Delivery Panel identifying seven key themes as the basis for our future work. These themes were endorsed by the Joint Committee in December 2008:
- Developing Excellence – a joint commitment by local authorities and other key partners to supporting and developing the sub-region’s centres of cultural excellence, including:
- World class cultural offer (notably the sporting facilities at the Rose Bowl, Portsmouth/Gosport as Home of the Royal Navy and Southampton’s emerging Cultural Quarter)
- Nationally/regionally significant cultural offer (for example The Point as a centre for dance and performance, Southampton and Portsmouth Football Clubs or The Mayflower Theatre)
- Locally significant facilities and activities (such local arts centres or sports facilities serving part or all of the PUSH community )
Under this theme, PUSH will offer its support to a variety of facilities and activities, which would in turn attract support from funding bodies. It provides a framework for PUSH authorities to focus on supporting key facilities, or seeking to fill gaps in provision.
- Promoting Access for All – ensuring all facilities are accessible to all sections of the community, and that the community is aware of the wide cultural offer.
A key priority for PUSH is ensure equality of opportunity for all our diverse communities, and this and the following theme on participation are intended to recognise the role culture can play in improving social and physical well-being.
Work already begun on a ‘cultural audit’ offers the basis for a web-based information service, which should be part of a broader collective approach to providing information and enhancing access to facilities and activities for all sectors of the community.
- Promoting Participation for All – encouraging participation in all forms of cultural activity. The ‘Find your talent’ pilot supported by PUSH is an early example of the joint initiatives possible which bring culture into our diverse communities.
- Advocacy – ensuring that the case for culture being at the heart of sustainable communities is made to local authorities, developers and other key stakeholders. It will be particularly important to embed culture in our planning framework, and work is being commissioned on how s.106 Developer Contributions can be best used to promote cultural activity.
- Creating Quality Places – ensuring the highest standards of urban design are adopted in existing and new settlements.
The Commission for Architecture & the Built Environment are already working with the Delivery Panel to develop a consistent approach to design within the local planning framework, and the Delivery Panel has also worked with the Solent Centre for Architecture & Design and planning colleagues to develop a programme of design training, now being delivered.
- Supporting the Creative and Cultural Economy – ensuring the conditions exist to allow creative and cultural businesses to thrive and contribute to PUSH’s economic vision, a task undertaken alongside colleagues on the Economic Delivery Panel. The Delivery Panel are working closely with Hampshire Economic Partnership’s Creative Industries Task Group on this topic. The Panel has already agreed support funding to Creative Industries Business Advice Service (CIBAS) – a specialist service based in Portsmouth, whose services will be rolled-out across the sub-region. The University of Portsmouth have been particularly active in promoting creative industries, and they are working alongside the Delivery Panel.
- Supporting the Visitor Economy – ensuring that the economic and cultural potential of visitors to the sub-region is fully recognised. The Strategy has identified particular opportunities for more integrated marketing and management of key aspects of the visitor offer already within the sub-region, as well as supporting the development of existing and new opportunities.
These themes will guide the programmes and projects which will be outlined in the next revision of the PUSH Business Plan for 2009/10.
PUSH as a 'Priority Place'
The national Living Places Partnership, which includes the external partners on the Delivery Panel, are working across the country to ensure cultural activity is a central part of all regeneration and growth programmes. They have identified five Priority Places across the UK as a focus for their support. PUSH is one of those Priority Places. The national partners in the Living Places initiative, who include Government Departments, will work with those in the PUSH area to see how we can ensure culture contributes to the identity and success of new communities. Together we will:
- ensure that investment and activity by the cultural agencies is effectively aligned and adds value to work already underway and/or planned.
- stimulate the development of effective collaborative working across the growth point, including with the various local authorities.
- provide an opportunity for advocacy and an exemplar for best practice with regard to the role of culture in place making/place shaping.
- allow for the further development of the research/evidence base.
They have also agreed to assist with funding and recruiting a Quality Places Delivery Manager to support the Delivery Panel in overseeing the development and delivery of a range of programmes and projects under the broad themes identified by the Cultural Strategy.
Understanding PUSH's capacity to deliver Quality Places
The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) are currently working with the PUSH Quality Places Delivery Panel (QPDP) to produce an action plan that will enable us to make best use of our joint resources to ensure that new development is of a high quality and leads to the creation of attractive places that function well and meet the needs of their occupants. This action plan will look at the distribution of resources, processes employed and the level of leadership in this area. In order to fully understand our current position CABE have commissioned Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design to undertake a Design Infrastructure Review. This work will be launched at a Diagnostic Workshop being held at the Historic Dockyard in Portsmouth on 24th & 25th February. The aim of this event is for the PUSH authorities to understand the benefits of this approach and fully sign up to the process. The workshop is being overseen by a CABE panel of experts who will report back with a series of recommendations and develop the framework for the action plan.
A copy of Tibbalds final report can be viewed or downloaded in PDF format here.
Contacts
To find out more contact Simon Eden, the Lead Chief Executive for the Quality Places Delivery Panel, at seden@winchester.gov.uk.