Going local: why levelling up won’t work if it is top down

Implementing policy is always rather less exciting than getting it launched. A fanfare greeted the Levelling Up White Paper, though the nuts and bolts work of delivering the ambitions it set out won’t attract the same attention. But if other more immediate priorities – not least war in Eastern Europe and a massive cost of living crisis — have pushed levelling up further down the political agenda, the Government appears nonetheless to be getting on with the roll out of this long-awaited flagship policy.

“Levelling Up Directors” are being recruited across the country to lead work at a regional level; the final touches are being made to the launch of the £1.5bn a year UK Shared Prosperity Fund; and plans are in place for consultation on dormant assets that might presage a new wave of investment in left behind neighbourhoods across the country.

When he was first elected, the Prime Minister promised to answer “at last the pleas of the forgotten people and the left behind towns” and to spread opportunity across the UK. The challenge now is to ensure that levelling up is seen to be sowing the seeds of improvement in the most deprived or “left behind” communities before the next election, now only two years away.

It’s not much time to get it right, and there is a lot to get started on. We know that people living in many left behind places describe their area as having been asset-stripped as, over time, they have lost traditional employers and seen the erosion of their community services and facilities — post offices, cafés, GP surgeries and libraries. Alongside industrial decline came the loss of the factory club which provided social and recreational activities, the youth club where kids were taught to dream, the community centre where provision to meet local need was organised.

The perception in many of the most left behind neighbourhoods is that they have been forgotten. Often this is compounded by belief fatigue. People refer to past government programmes or initiatives designed to regenerate their areas which failed to deliver. Too often they were short term, top-down and failed to respond to the priorities of local people. They are clear about what is needed: a framework that ensures change is decided, driven and delivered by local people, with a stable and reliable funding source and appropriate support to build confidence and capacity. Nothing short of this will do.

Through our work on the Big Local programme, the largest ever national experiment in devolving a budget to local communities to improve their neighbourhoods, we have significant evidence to show how powerful this approach can be. A good example is Lawrence Weston — a deprived post-war housing estate on the periphery of Bristol. Here, Lawrence Weston Big Local has put the local community in the lead in driving forward work to improve the area and the quality of life of its residents. The security and stability of a 15-year funding programme has enabled local people to plan with confidence and lever in significant additional external investment.

The community is now thriving – attracting a new supermarket and spawning a number of locally owned and run businesses. A new community energy organisation is delivering income to support local community initiatives, and playing a leading role in Bristol’s overall approach to climate action. It is also providing clean, green, locally-sourced and cheaper energy to the estate.

The Government needs to demonstrate its firm commitment to implementing levelling up with energy, passion and commitment. With big decisions to be made on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and dormant assets, they need to deliver on their commitment to put local people in the lead. And if they want advice on how to make it work, they should ask the people of Lawrence Weston to show them the way.

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