Local Government Association

For a partnership to evolve in its effectiveness, it is important to plan for constant progress through regular review and writing things down.

Funding and financial management oils the wheels of local revitalisation and needs to be considered in a number of ways by councils both directly and in how they support partnership development.

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.