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| Councils are failing to honour spirit of Portas Pilots | Councils are failing to honour spirit of Portas Pilots |
| (4 months later) | |
| Mary Portas has long had her critics. Dismissed by some as a TV celebrity lacking the necessary gravitas to tackle deep entrenched problems on our high streets, her Portas Pilots were always up against it. But while some jeered from the sidelines, pouring cynicism on the idea, I always believed the Portas approach was a much-needed breath of fresh air. At last there was someone making the case for a different kind of high street that shattered the clone town consensus, which had become an article of faith for unimaginative regeneration chiefs. | Mary Portas has long had her critics. Dismissed by some as a TV celebrity lacking the necessary gravitas to tackle deep entrenched problems on our high streets, her Portas Pilots were always up against it. But while some jeered from the sidelines, pouring cynicism on the idea, I always believed the Portas approach was a much-needed breath of fresh air. At last there was someone making the case for a different kind of high street that shattered the clone town consensus, which had become an article of faith for unimaginative regeneration chiefs. |
| At their best Portas Pilots embodied a spirit of brave community-led experimentalism allowing local people to reclaim public spaces that had become eyesores. They had unlimited potential and looked to be creating a blueprint for the future of high streets. | At their best Portas Pilots embodied a spirit of brave community-led experimentalism allowing local people to reclaim public spaces that had become eyesores. They had unlimited potential and looked to be creating a blueprint for the future of high streets. |
| But two things threatened to hold this quantum leap of progress back. Firstly, it soon became clear that Government never bought into the idea seriously and saw the whole scheme as nothing more than a valuable PR exercise. How else can you explain ministers queuing up for photo-shoots and issuing endless press releases on the Pilots only to then commit less funding to the programme than Jordan Henderson's transfer fee to Liverpool? Or introducing the biggest increase in business rates in 20-years just before launching the Pilots? Or ignoring the central recommendations from Portas' report? | But two things threatened to hold this quantum leap of progress back. Firstly, it soon became clear that Government never bought into the idea seriously and saw the whole scheme as nothing more than a valuable PR exercise. How else can you explain ministers queuing up for photo-shoots and issuing endless press releases on the Pilots only to then commit less funding to the programme than Jordan Henderson's transfer fee to Liverpool? Or introducing the biggest increase in business rates in 20-years just before launching the Pilots? Or ignoring the central recommendations from Portas' report? |
| Whichever way you look at it Portas never had full support from Government and I believe she was used. | Whichever way you look at it Portas never had full support from Government and I believe she was used. |
| Secondly, while the concept of town teams had the potential to unleash a busload of great ideas and community spirit onto tired, desolate high streets it didn't take long before councils started to dominate the teams and spoiled them with cloying bureaucracy. | Secondly, while the concept of town teams had the potential to unleash a busload of great ideas and community spirit onto tired, desolate high streets it didn't take long before councils started to dominate the teams and spoiled them with cloying bureaucracy. |
| This has been confirmed to me by the results of a Freedom of Information request I submitted to find a breakdown of how the first wave of Portas Pilots have spent their money. The findings are extremely depressing. | This has been confirmed to me by the results of a Freedom of Information request I submitted to find a breakdown of how the first wave of Portas Pilots have spent their money. The findings are extremely depressing. |
| Only 12 per cent of the money (£136,000) has been spent so far with very little going on delivery and the bulk of it on bureaucracy and admin costs. This was a unique opportunity to try something different for the high street but many councils have reverted to type and wasted funding on the usual bureaucracy of meetings, expense claims and consultants. | Only 12 per cent of the money (£136,000) has been spent so far with very little going on delivery and the bulk of it on bureaucracy and admin costs. This was a unique opportunity to try something different for the high street but many councils have reverted to type and wasted funding on the usual bureaucracy of meetings, expense claims and consultants. |
| There are countless bad examples. Bedminster Council spent £15,510 on consultants including a backdated £2,000 for the cost of its application and Stockton-on-Tees Council spent £2,549 on time spent by business representatives on town team activities, £1,000 on rail and travel costs and £35 on refreshments for a ministerial visit to the town team. | There are countless bad examples. Bedminster Council spent £15,510 on consultants including a backdated £2,000 for the cost of its application and Stockton-on-Tees Council spent £2,549 on time spent by business representatives on town team activities, £1,000 on rail and travel costs and £35 on refreshments for a ministerial visit to the town team. |
| Stockport Council has yet to spend any of the £100,000 it were awarded last May. | Stockport Council has yet to spend any of the £100,000 it were awarded last May. |
| Only a few days ago, Mary Portas said that all the people involved in the regeneration of their high streets are doing this for nothing. I wonder how she would feel knowing that Stockton Council is paying business representatives to be on the town team? It hardly seems in the spirit of the Pilots. | Only a few days ago, Mary Portas said that all the people involved in the regeneration of their high streets are doing this for nothing. I wonder how she would feel knowing that Stockton Council is paying business representatives to be on the town team? It hardly seems in the spirit of the Pilots. |
| Watching a Stockport councillor on the BBC's Newsnight last night explain why 259 people had to vote on every item of expenditure was painful. We need town centre champions, not a committee. Equally painful was hearing Dartford Council chiefs yesterday try to justify spending 24 per cent of their money so far on Peppa Pig, Mike the Knight and Fireman Sam costumes. Wasn't the criteria set by Government for these awards that they must offer a "transformational vision"? | Watching a Stockport councillor on the BBC's Newsnight last night explain why 259 people had to vote on every item of expenditure was painful. We need town centre champions, not a committee. Equally painful was hearing Dartford Council chiefs yesterday try to justify spending 24 per cent of their money so far on Peppa Pig, Mike the Knight and Fireman Sam costumes. Wasn't the criteria set by Government for these awards that they must offer a "transformational vision"? |
| To me this makes a mockery of ministers' rhetoric about the Pilots being "the vanguard of a high street revolution" that would "kick start a renaissance" in town centres. | To me this makes a mockery of ministers' rhetoric about the Pilots being "the vanguard of a high street revolution" that would "kick start a renaissance" in town centres. |
| Despite such snail-like progress, there is still a future for town centres, but we need a much greater sense of urgency about the task ahead – and recognition that councils are not capable of delivering the dynamic change needed. | Despite such snail-like progress, there is still a future for town centres, but we need a much greater sense of urgency about the task ahead – and recognition that councils are not capable of delivering the dynamic change needed. |
| After all, these are the people who presided over the decline in high streets. Why does the Government think that schemes to reverse years of decline on the high street can only be delivered by Councils? If you want to see creative solutions and real innovation then it's time bureaucrats were pushed out of the way and entrepreneurs, creatives and community groups were given bigger opportunities. You've got to bring fresh thinking into the room. The Portas Pilots are a great idea. But at the moment they're at risk of drowning in bureaucracy. | After all, these are the people who presided over the decline in high streets. Why does the Government think that schemes to reverse years of decline on the high street can only be delivered by Councils? If you want to see creative solutions and real innovation then it's time bureaucrats were pushed out of the way and entrepreneurs, creatives and community groups were given bigger opportunities. You've got to bring fresh thinking into the room. The Portas Pilots are a great idea. But at the moment they're at risk of drowning in bureaucracy. |
| Paul Turner-Mitchell owns Rochdale's 25 Ten boutique, writes columns for Drapers and Retail Week and contributed to Mary Portas' high street review. | Paul Turner-Mitchell owns Rochdale's 25 Ten boutique, writes columns for Drapers and Retail Week and contributed to Mary Portas' high street review. |
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