13 July 2023

Report from the LGA Conference - Cllr Richard Daws

They say a week is a long time in politics. Last week certainly packed it in as I represented the South Devon Alliance at the Local Government Association Annual Conference in Bournemouth. One bonus of being the official opposition at Teignbridge Council?!
I attended the conference with some caution and scepticism. The event was thankfully more high profile than I had anticipated, so no blaming everything on Ministers, they were actually there to talk policies, many of which touched on our local issues.
In the opening speech, Minister Michael Gove appeared to announce that 30% of Future High Street Fund grants could be repurposed without much difficulty, as many councils are struggling with spending the money by March 24. The immovable object of changing the deployment of the Future High Street Fund £9.2m grant now appears to be completely in TDC's control. The plans oversized 'shipping container' cinema are surely now destined for the waste bin of failed projects, as it is neither deliverable in that timescale and, in the wake of another cinema chain falling into administration, nor is it something that can be justified as commercially viable in a post covid world. Step forward the community plans for a rejuvenated Alexandra Theatre to be the centre point of transformational change around the Market Hall?
Gove was also correctly challenged on another key point, which was when he might enact the announcement last year that house building target numbers were no longer mandatory. I learned that 40 councils have paused their Local Plans so they will be able to take advantage of this concession, 50 more are about to follow. Let's see if TDC's Lib Dems follow this lead and take the pressure off the district by doing the same?

Angela Rayner took to the stage the following day, a government in waiting for a country in crisis, predictably warning that the money taps will be harder to turn on, but reassuringly suggesting that social housing might eventually get the focus it needs. Though they seem likely to reinstate housing targets, so more reason to change the Local Plan whilst there is an opportunity.
On Culture there were impressive presentations from Bournemouth and Knowsley Councils of their district's strategies. I noted in the Q&A afterwards, that despite the huge positive benefits to residents, some councils, including TDC, don't have any cultural strategy at all.
To reinforce the benefit of cultural regeneration, the following day I visited Brighton, a city in which I chaired the Council's Culture Group in 2000. My day job involves operating the Komedia live entertainment venues and we had a long-arranged meeting with our Brighton constituency MP Caroline Lucas.

She was keen to hear how the renovation of a disused former Tescos around the millennium was one of the key catalysts for the regeneration of what is now dubbed ‘the cultural quarter’ of Brighton. I ended the week with more hope that the housing targets could realistically be challenged and that the opportunity to implement cultural regeneration around The Alexandra Theatre really could become reality. Let us hope that optimism stays, after all, a week is a long time in politics.