Local Government Association

For your town and city centres to be distinguished from the functionality of retail parks or shopping online, it is important to collaborate with communities, emphasise their cultural character and create a collective place brand. This will be increasingly important as part of a phased re-opening and celebration of communities as part of post-COVID 19 recovery.

If your council is in tune with local customer demands it can play a vital role in kickstarting a renewal of business performance and revival in collective town centre performance. More than ever, in recovering from the COVID-19 crisis, there is a need to work with business groups in collectively ensuring that town and city centres are safe and welcoming places.

Turning around a town or city centre is a complex and long-term venture and experience shows that it requires resources and leadership and should not be left to chance. The COVID-19 crisis has created new and broader ways of working in partnerships across town and city centres that it will be important to build on.

Improving a town centre without first investigating the issues is like baking a cake without knowing the ingredients. The COVID-19 pandemic has added to the list of ingredients that we need to understand as part of a successful recovery.

Maximising the impact of town centre revitalisation will involve a council working with partners in ways that both add value and overcome the complexities involved. COVID-19 recovery planning provides the opportunity to build on new relationship formed in the initial crisis stage.

It is essential to involve and engage with communities to spread the workload, improve perceptions about a town centre and promote its increased use. The COVID-19 crisis has emphasised the value of such effective engagement and coordination with stakeholder groups across towns.