Community-led placemaking in practice

There is an increasing consensus that community-led placemaking is needed to strengthen our high streets.

“I will continue to stress the importance of empowering local places: the ‘Upside Down Government’ approach. I believe the best answers will be found by encouraging and trusting local initiatives. The message to local leaders is ‘you can do it – we are here to help’.” Sir John Timpson

“Bids should demonstrate the involvement of the wider community in articulating a shared vision, particularly those of young people. This includes shifting away from a culture of getting local community buy-in …to empower local people, organisations, businesses, and institutions to be active contributors and partners.” Future High Street Fund

“Each town centre should have a strategy produced in partnership at the local level, inclusive and representative of the community” Bill Grimsey

Community-led placemaking delivers sustainable positive impact and will almost certainly be a requirement of place-level funding bids moving forward.

But, how do you navigate the apathy, skills gaps and other barriers to participation within our high street communities and form local community-led partnerships that sustain interest, activity and impact long term?

We are helping Local Authorities build, support and empower Local Community-led Placemaking Partnerships that work.

We engage the high street change makers and stakeholders in each community, identifying Local Champions to empower while helping them to form constituted High Street Community Partnerships.

We oversee the development of evidence-based plans outlining the priority actions that can be taken immediately while beginning the process of putting longer-term plans into place. We provide tailored support necessary for delivering effective localised place-making activity.

Together, we deliver real change. We help make places discoverable. We provide unique insight. We optimise the customer journey. We productise the place offers. We communicate identity. We guide on measurement frameworks. We campaign online and offline to stimulate local footfall, high street sales and community based economic growth. We bring local high street communities together, enabling them to take ownership of success on their high streets.

We offer an intensive 4-month programme to accelerate activity and impact locally, creating strong foundations to build on moving forward and an evidence base of Community-Led Placemaking for future funding applications.

For places with existing constituted community-led partnerships or indeed, those that have completed our 4-month programme, we can provide ongoing support at a local level to ensure local partnerships and plans are both successful and sustainable.

Ongoing support is always bespoke to the needs of the partnership and can include mentoring local champions, skills development programmes, hands-on implementation work, KPI reporting on the impact of our collaborative activities and input into longer-term local growth planning.

Would you like more support in delivering community-led placemaking on your high streets?

Start by completing this short survey –

https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4950385/Local-Champion-Survey