1 SMALL TOWNS TASK GROUP Ian Lindley Director of Planning and Economic Development Scottish Borders Council Chair of Small Towns Task Group May 2007

2 ORIGINS OF SMALL TOWNS TASK GROUP Small Towns Conference held in September 2004 at Tweed Horizons, Newtown St Boswells, Melrose.

3 KEY FINDINGS FROM CONFERENCE (1) Challenges and issues facing small towns: economic – fragility; social – services/social exclusion; physical – town centres; infrastructure needs and connectivity.

4 KEY FINDINGS FROM CONFERENCE (2) Backlog of investment - fragile and vulnerable. Learn from MTI and Europe. Need evidence based survey for Scotland. Need Scottish Executive support / commitment / resources. Engage with communities.

5 SMALL TOWNS TASK GROUP MEMBERSHIP From May local authorities. Administered by Scottish Borders Council on behalf of the South of Scotland Alliance, with support of COSLA.

6 PROCESS Used: Small Towns conference findings. Literature review. Scottish Parliament’s Inquiry into Accessible Rural Areas evidence. Small Towns Task Group members – example surveys. Meetings with VisitScotland / Communities Scotland / Scottish Enterprise National / Highlands & Islands Enterprise.

7 SURVEY COVERAGE 20 local authorities. 33 towns. 298,192 population.

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9 SURVEY FINDINGS OVERVIEW (1) 4 different types of towns – commuter influenced, industrial (including fishing), rural market towns and island towns. National issue - much common ground. Policy gap between city and remote rural. Major resource constraints.

10 SURVEY FINDINGS OVERVIEW (2) Important part of Scottish population and culture. Important contributor to national economy. Small towns have inherent strengths, opportunities and energies. Towns want to be ‘real communities.’ Proactive approach to sustain, regenerate and seize opportunities. Develop, with the Scottish Executive, a focused policy framework.

11 STRATEGIC AIMS OF POLICY FRAMEWORK (1) Policy continuum - cities / remote rural areas. Improve small towns contribution to national priorities. Enhance cross-cutting portfolios coordination. National agencies to contribute to small towns and community planning.

12 STRATEGIC AIMS OF POLICY FRAMEWORK (2) Better engage community interests / release latent social capital. Make best use of existing national funds. Provide a robust database / network for exchange of best practice and further develop / maintain policy framework.

13 RECOMMENDATIONS (1): SMALL TOWNS POLICY STATUS Policy framework should enable flexible approach for all towns below city status. Significant public sector resource requirement at national level. Clarification of role re city or metro regions. The Scottish Executive should address this cross-cutting issue.

14 RECOMMENDATIONS (2): NATIONAL PRIORITIES Improve support for small private retail outlets. Improve incentives to attract private sector investment. Develop proposals for changes to fiscal regime to encourage private sector investment. Improve integration of public / private sector infrastructure investment in development areas.

15 RECOMMENDATIONS (3): NATIONAL PRIORITIES Support proactive work under SPP8. With Scottish Executive better align / share common data between departments and environmental protection agencies. Develop / use building condition survey national template and proactively address physical deterioration.

16 RECOMMENDATIONS (6): WHOLE TOWN STRATEGIES Community planning partnerships to engage agencies and stakeholders. Complement / integrate community planning with other statutory planning processes. Coordinate service planning, investment / delivery by public agencies. Identify local needs, community interests / business opportunities.

17 RECOMMENDATIONS (5): WHOLE TOWN STRATEGIES Clarify role of towns in their rural hinterland / city region / regional contexts. Identify opportunities for co-operative / joint working between towns. Focus resource delivery on communities - reduce resource duplication. Develop, facilitate and release local skills / capacities of stakeholders. Enable collective community, business sector and public agency action.

18 RECOMMENDATIONS (4): ROLE OF NATIONAL AGENCIES Review regeneration activities of Scottish LECs. Review regeneration role of Communities Scotland. Ensure Regeneration Outcome Agreement addresses town regeneration. Explore opportunities / lessons learned from Highlands and Islands Enterprise. Better engage VisitScotland with small towns.

19 RECOMMENDATIONS (7): RESEARCH Share best practice / agree performance standards. Establish independent research resource. Undertake comparative / longitudinal analysis of major retail developments. Improve understanding / recognition of small towns in city-regions. Improve data on current / forecasted tourism spends in small towns. Develop / implement national template - nation-wide systematic buildings and public realm condition survey.

20 THE WAY FORWARD (1) Audit Scotland Community Planning okay between agencies. Not reaching communities. CPPs weak / direction less. Poor community engagement. Talking shops.

21 THE WAY FORWARD (2) CPPs to engage communities –Social, economic, environmental / physical ‘Healthchecks’. CPP strategic vision and sub groups for specific interests. Need carrot to engage / make a difference.

22 THE WAY FORWARD (3) Need Scottish Executive / Minister role in small towns –Recognition of value in economy, society, environment. Need resources to engage communities and enable change. Create Small Towns Fund £90M as carrot – additionality welcomed.

23 THE WAY FORWARD (4) CPPs to select two priority towns for action. Direct Scottish Executive agencies to release funds for local activity in priority towns. –Staff time and funds (but will retain their national agenda). CPP / agencies / local authorities work up “Whole Town Plans”.

24 THE WAY FORWARD (5) Whole Town Plans Social, economic, environmental, physical – holistic. Direct spends, enabling, support, leverage. Outcomes based on “Healthchecks” analysis and Whole Town Plan vision. Delivery over 4 years. SMART outcomes. Scottish Executive assesses bids and bid outcomes against Healthcheck data and Whole Town Vision.

25 THE WAY FORWARD (6) Outcomes: Agency and community engagement. CPPs invigorated. Capitalise on and develop local skills, knowledge, experience and capacity. Greater involvement in locally elected organisations. Develop community pride. Subsidiarity / localism. More sustainable local communities. Demonstrates links between community engagement and sustainable development. Unites People and Place …

26... PEOPLE AND PLACE THE MISSING LINKS?

27 WEB LINK TO SCOTTISH SMALL TOWN REPORT townsvillages/index.html