An Assessment of the Market Towns Initiative

Gordon Morris

”The city dweller who passes thorough a country town, and imagines it sleepy and apathetic is very far from the truth: it is as watchful as the jungle.” John

Broderick (1927 - )

Nothing new!“Survey should be a continuing process in the life of a community, a stocktaking of resources and conditions ... After this ... should come revaluation of current practices ... in the light of new techniques, material, and cultural standards.”Glaisyer, Brennan, Ritchie, and Sargant-Florence 1946 p286

• Scott Report• Smailes

(academic)

1940s

•Bracey – towns & Villages

•Green - transport1950s-60s

• Bracey redone• Settlement

functions• SERTP, MCTi• Market Towns

Initiative

80s to ?

All a bit ad hoc

The research: a mixed bagattitudes split between

There is nothing good to be had in the country, or, if there is, they will not let you have it.

William Hazlitt (1778-1830)

In human society the warmth is mainly at the bottom.

Noel Counihan, Australian artist, 1986.

A Summary – 2000-2006isho About 250 town partnerships + 1 in Australia, 1

in Canada, & 1 in ... Medway Towns!o Also

18 Beacon Towns (interesting places & work)8 “One-stop Shop” towns (joint service

provision)14 “Gateway Stations” (rail/transport-related)Parish Plans also linked at times/in places

What did people do?• IT projects• Business Support Fund• Sports centre feasibility study• Community Resource centre• Fire station redevelopment• Astro turf and sports facilities• Canal boat project• Two Youth Café projects• Restoration of railway station • Coastal Strip Evaluation• Creation of Heritage Rail trips• Credit Union

• Affordable and diverse Housing• New Outdoor Youth Facility• Local radio projects• Village hall improvement • Urban design framework

leading to leisure and retail developments

• 16 rented bungalows for the elderly; 20 shared equity homes built and occupied

• Door to door car service• … + many others

Social

Community

Economic

Environment

Services

Cultural

Physical

Project work

Money

Regeneration

Joint working

Influence

Transport

More people

Youth

Jobs

Skills

Time

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 113

3

9

4

1

0

1

1

3

0

4

2

3

4

1

2

1

1

10

7

6

5

3

2

2

1

1

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Topic head-ings men-

tioned by re-spondents as

being ad-dressed and

not addressed

Things that partner-ships did do and wanted to do.

No. of times topics mentioned

A few findings

• Knowledgeable about place and needs, but need clarity re aims, purposes; need support; get tired; disagree at times; are (mainly) volunteers so get confused by jargon, bureaucracy, changing names, new “initiatives”

People

• Pressures to achieve don’t help - community development, long-term!

• Is needed to recruit, train, keep volunteers

Time!

• Simple, stable yet flexible, supportive, trusting, not risk averse; not exclusive (Local Authorities & their staff are often key to success)

Structures should be

• Inequality is being addressed and ... MTI has proved to be beneficial - good project manager helps, but ...

• ... Healthcheck and Action Plan flawed – encouraged wish list - more emphasis on eg training/worklessness – more realism re expectations.

• Still ... local relationships are good and improving.• Good relationship with Town/Parish Council needed to overcome

concerns about democratic accountability.• Partnerships are reviewing Action Plans which are ... • • ... valid but depend on RDA approval, and ...• Steering group not representative. Still it’s a ... • ... well-conceived approach - should be followed by a second

phase. But it ...

• ... raised expectations and increased cynicism; money spent on ‘process’/consultants for little benefit; awful waste. For some ...

• ... “A project too far”; insufficient lateral thinking; insufficiently inclusive.

Most partnerships - still active

Yes67%

On stand-by7%

Questionable4%

Unlikely7%

No4%

Don't know11%

Some personal observations• The term, market town,

doesn’t help – Hardyesque without

poverty– Somehow “southern”,

privileged • Programmes want definitions,

but it’s really about people being helped to help themselves in their communities

• MTI & similar provide useful evidence of form and function

• Even those who were critical saw achievements as well as failures

• Still don’t know what our small (country) towns can do for us

• Intrigued by my simple IMD comparison – deprivation pretty evenly split north-south

• Parish Plans & Healthchecks could be combined for general use

• Partnerships need to be lightly monitored and the work evaluated (longitudinal study)

To conclude - 1• Broadly, it worked – met/exceeded its “targets”• I only know what I was told – what did the non-

participating partnerships achieve? • Some frustration – but overall, views about

programme/approach & value to people: positive• Phasing a problem - Healthchecks & project

implementation should have been sequential• Different places, different “capacities” – eg were

towns used to SRB, RDP, LEADER etc. advantaged? • A sense of unexploited potential

To conclude - 2• Local people’s knowledge & time = £s &

wisdom > there is real strength locally... but we all need to think ...

• Will devolution happen? ... if so ...• ... will locals take responsibility for failure?• Will we accept Postcode Lottery problems?• How will we share experience, monitor &

evaluate, keep it going (people will tire)?

Finally, pause for thought ...“The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern.” Lord Acton,1834-1902

But perhaps we should remember Counihan’s message, that,

In human society the warmth is mainly at the bottom.