It was Percy Shelley who once said that, “poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world”. Almost 200 years later, a modern interpretation might be that creative thinkers often blaze a trail for policy makers to follow.
Nowhere is this truer where the challenge of supporting our high streets is concerned than Bristol. Anyone who saw hundreds of thrill seekers whizzing down a Bristol high street on a giant water slide recently would have known straight away they were witnessing something special. The brainchild of artist Luke Jerram, nearly 100,000 people applied to ride head first on a lilo as part of Bristol’s Make Sundays Special programme, which has seen roads closed off for cultural and leisure events.
By all accounts it’s been a resounding success. Billed by Jerram as a playful initiative that asks people to take a “fresh look at the potential of their city and the possibilities for transformation”, its ideas like this that are beginning to develop a blueprint for a new high street model.
The penny is slowly dropping for policy makers too. Even the embattled high streets minister is now talking about high streets needing to have their own community spaces. But if the wind of change slowly breathing new life into some high streets is going to be properly harnessed, government and local authorities will need to properly recognize that the old approach to town centre regeneration needs to be replaced with fresh thinking.
The traditional mindset of regeneration officers and town centre management officials, which sees high streets as solely concerned with shopping, is hopelessly out of kilter with today’s reality. Far too many council officers still haven’t taken their boom goggles off and act as though it’s still 2006. Days where every town could dream of having Debenhams as an anchor tenant and hundreds of millions of pounds being poured into shopping regeneration schemes are over.
Rapidly changing shopping habits, the growth of online consumerism and the trend of major chains consolidating their portfolios, moving out of secondary towns and focusing on out of town shopping centres will continue to hollow out many town centres, leaving them bereft of purpose. For high streets to have a chance of flourishing all over the country, a new post retail landscape will have to develop. There will always be shops, but high streets won’t solely be reliant on commerce, they will have to develop a much stronger community offer.
This is where Bristol is leading the way. With an independent mayor pushing a ‘can-do culture’ and interesting partnerships springing up everywhere, there’s a strong sense that new thinking has to be embraced. There’s already talk of zip wires across the Avon Gorge, pedalos on the Avon and zorbing in the docks. It’s this kind of playful, fun thinking that’s needed to capture people’s imagination and give towns and cities a new lease of life.
Over at Stokes Croft, Bristol’s cultural quarter, there’s further evidence of how creative thinking is transforming a run down high street into a vibrant community. Giant street murals, a vibrant night scene and an interesting range of independent shops are helping reverse years of economic decline to give the area a creative buzz and strong identity.
But it’s not just Bristol embracing creative thinking to start the process of re-designing their high streets to make them fit for 21st century needs. It’s starting to happen in many places.
From intergenerational activities that bring young and older people together and ‘hack the high street’ events where IT geeks come together to build new software to enhance the high street to friendship groups, high street literacy projects and innovative pop up health projects, there are plenty of great examples where the needs of the wider community are being addressed on the high street.
Not every creative foray works, however. Mid Devon District Council’s decision to spend £4,000 on a gorilla statue for the high street is an example of where thinking outside the box doesn’t necessarily achieve anything. But with the right partnerships in place, councils can act as a conduit for real community innovation to take root on their local high street.
But it also needs Government to play its part. Reforming business rates so it’s a fairer tax, providing mandatory rate relief not just for charity shops, but social businesses too, reforming planning powers and encouraging long term planning by local authorities are some basic steps required to start creating the right policy environment to bring our high streets into the 21st century.
For years, we’ve entrusted our high streets in the hands of a small group of so-called regeneration experts. The sight of beleaguered high streets with row after row of empty shops suggests they’ve failed. It’s high time we called on some fresh thinking.
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