‘Top-down policy making must end’
SETTING aside arrogance and incompetence, if there is one thing that characterises our present government it is its natural tendency towards centralisation and a top-down approach to policy making, despite its warm words about devolution and levelling up.
And it’s something that seems to be catching on here in the Potteries.
Today sees Stoke-on-trent City Council launch the Heritage Congress that it promised in the aftermath of the fire that destroyed the Leopard back in January with an event at the King’s Hall in Stoke.
But unless you are part of a select group of people, you wouldn’t even know it was happening.
The city council trumpeted the Heritage Congress as the city’s first, but that is perhaps a little disingenuous.
Back in 2013, they established a Heritage Commission – what’s in a name, eh? – at the behest of Historic England and the then Heritage Lottery Fund who had expressed concerns about the lack of strategic direction for the city’s heritage.
A report was produced and published in 2014 which made a series of clear recommendations in areas such as regeneration policy, planning policy, and enforcement, all designed to improve the management of our city’s historic environment.
The initial approach was a prime example of top-downism, but in preparing the report, grassroots organisations were properly engaged and listened to and were involved in the development of the final report.
However, little – if anything – from the report has been implemented, and you will be hard-pressed to track down a copy these days.
Yet the issues identified, and the report’s recommendations are just as relevant today. Indeed, given that we are now in the midst of a very visible heritage emergency involving crumbling buildings, fires, rogue ownership and general mismanagement, you could argue that it’s now even more important.
At the heart of the Heritage Commission report is the importance of community empowerment in respect of our city’s heritage and its regeneration.
Indeed, the report states that ‘it will be impossible to regenerate Stoke-ontrent until local people are engaged in the process’, that ‘community involvement in the city’s heritage is missing; the council cannot deliver this alone’, and that ‘the city council should take a positive and proactive approach to facilitating action by local community groups who are interested in preserving specific buildings and are willing to spend their own time working to do this.’
It was recommended that the city council addressed this through its ‘independence’ agenda, something else which has seemingly disappeared but would chime perfectly with the emerging DIY ethic to regeneration across the Potteries, something which is vital to our city’s future given the gutting of the public sector over the past decade or so, and the absence of private sector knights in shining armour.
If that is to happen, then communities and grassroots organisations need to be empowered and set free, or in the words of musician, writer and broadcaster John Robb – who visited Burslem last week – ‘government needs to get out of the way.’
That it hasn’t happened yet speaks volumes about the lack of trust in the people of the city from those that take decisions. It’s a huge institutional problem.
But it is this attitude and spirit that needs to be central to the response to the Potteries’ heritage emergency, and yet things seem to be heading in the opposite direction, with decisions on ‘solutions’ quite possibly already made, and with regional and national bodies being swept along for the ride.
Top-downism masquerading as leadership, and in the current context, it’s unlikely to end well.
The Heritage Congress could have been – and should be – a great start towards these ends, and a great opportunity to engage with and empower communities and organisations across the Potteries.
However, when you consider that some very good people who are passionate about our city, its culture and heritage and have been doing the doing for many years have been effectively excluded from the process, well, that tells a story.
The situation our city finds itself in in respect of its heritage is a grave one, and the task at hand to turn things around is daunting, and as such, we need all players to be playing.
It’s a classic non-political issue, yet the message seems to be ‘if you aren’t with us, you’re against us.’ That is incredibly sad.
As a result, we’re seeing yet more topdown policy making. It has to end.