Localism

Memorandum from the Theatres Trust (LOCO 37)

Summary:

· The Theatres Trust Act 1976 states that The Theatres Trust exists to promote the better protection of theatres.

· The Trust believes that there are real benefits to be gained from place-making and working in partnership, with local councils and businesses preparing their own plans for improving planning and enterprise.

· The Trust considers that theatres operated currently in the public sector would be strengthened by working in partnership with those in commercial or voluntary sector ownership.

· The Theatres Trust believes that by entrusting local authorities and individuals within an organisation to obtain accurate information and use their experience to provide appropriate analysis, the local authorities will be able to deliver more effective and first-rate public service delivery.

· It is important that reduced public sector budgets focus on creating the right environment where localism can thrive, and that local people have affordable access to facilities that enable them to contribute positively to their communities.

· In the case of subsidised theatres and the arts, most capital funding is delivered through Lottery funding nationally provided by the Arts Council, the Big Lottery Fund and the Heritage Lottery Fund, and is delivered through a regional framework. There are clear opportunities to create a common framework for the distribution of public funds into capital projects that reduce the levels of time spent on administration.

· The expertise of bodies such as The Theatres Trust, should be designed into new systems to harness the expertise on behalf of the community.

· Local freedom to allocate funding should be informed by nationally applicable policies and guidance on heritage, architecture, planning, and arts and culture, and theatres from consultees such as The Theatres Trust.

Submission:

1) The Theatres Trust welcomes the opportunity to give evidence to The Communities and Local Government Committee inquiry into localism and the decentralisation of public services.

2) The Theatres Trust Act 1976 states that The Theatres Trust exists to promote the better protection of theatres. It currently delivers statutory planning advice on theatre buildings and theatre use through The Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2010 (DMPO), Articles 16&17, Schedule 5, Para (w), requires the Trust to be consulted by local authorities on planning applications which include ‘development involving any land on which there is a theatre.’ This applies to all theatre buildings, old and new, in current use, in other uses, or disused. It also includes ciné-variety buildings, structures that have been converted to theatre, circus buildings and performing art centres. .

3) The Theatres Trust also encourages applicants and developers to contact it at pre-application stages to receive advice that will identify any planning, design and environmental issues early on that could impact upon viable theatre use, or the potential for such use, and also on the integral design and strategic location of new theatres. In addition, the Trust works with local community groups and theatres advising them on ways in which they could take forward capital plans to secure the future of theatres in their area and ways in which they could be protected.

4) The Trust regards theatre provision as essential in creating and maintaining employment, enterprise and business start-ups in a local area. Cultural industries, in particular theatre, attract leisure spend from audiences, visitors and their communities. They are also places where people volunteer and feel part of their local community. Theatres are an example to others looking to achieve the aspirations of the ‘Big Society’ as many theatres actively engage with volunteers and rely on volunteers for their successful operation.

5) The vision for the coalition government’s ‘Big Society’ is one which empowers local people and communities, encouraging participation, decision making, volunteering, community organising, and involvement in local fundraising activities. This already happens in many theatres.

6) The Trust believes that there are real benefits to be gained from place-making and working in partnership. This is localism in action, with local councils and businesses preparing their own plans for improving planning and enterprise. Local Enterprise Partnerships will need to help generate more private sector jobs, and theatres are well placed to offer new opportunities for cultural and creative entrepreneurs and local businesses.

7) Decentralisation provides the opportunity to empower local communities and public sector employees to act to improve deficient or inefficient areas immediately without approval from central government. The Trust considers that theatres operated currently in the public sector would be strengthened by working in partnership with those in commercial or voluntary sector ownership. A number of cultural and leisure services currently operated by local authorities are also looking to establish trusts which will provide new opportunities for local involvement, management and decision making. It is important to recognise, however, that most theatres currently require public subsidy to provide equal access to local communities, particularly those who are excluded socially, economically or educationally. Decentralisation must be managed well to ensure that any actions continue to protect services to those most at risk of disengagement.

8) Another advantage of decentralisation is it allows managers of Local authority business areas to use their first hand local knowledge and experience to improve their areas. The Theatres Trust believes that by entrusting local authorities and individuals within an organisation to obtain accurate information and use their experience to provide appropriate analysis, the local authorities will be able to deliver more effective and first-rate public service delivery. For example new structures could be designed to release time from administration to focus on local delivery of arts and culture to local people.

9) However, there might be lack of uniformity and inconsistent procedures and decisions as each local authority will have the power to formulate its own policies, procedures and decisions without recourse or regulation. This is particularly the case in relation to planning and the historic environment. The Theatres Trust provides consistent expert advice and policies on theatres throughout the UK. It uses its knowledge and expertise with local authorities and operators to inform decision making that aims to enhance understanding and appreciation of theatre buildings and their use in local contexts. We would be happy to act as a voluntary partner or offer advice to local authorities planning new theatres.

10) It is the Trust’s view that Total Place was an approach to ‘public value’ that included both improvement and innovation as well as guarding the value and cost to the local individual by each public service. Total Place was also an attempt to bring all of the contributors to public value together in one place. We were however concerned that Total Place did not include cultural provision sufficiently in its planning or delivery and any future schemes should be designed to ensure culture, arts and the historic built environment are fully integrated.

11) Within the concept of localism there is the potential to save money, however consideration needs to be given to the level to which economies of scale start to be lost in the delivery of services when they are more locally provided. In light of the need to reduce public spending the Trust is witnessing, in contrast, that as local authorities are planning cuts they are looking to combine services across boundaries with other authorities in areas such as planning and culture, resulting in less focus on local delivery, not more.

12) Total Place considered what local individuals wanted from a local authority and focussed on the connections between different players. It totalled up all public sector spending in a single area in order to identify and eliminate wasteful overlaps. This is to be welcomed, but in an environment where public spending is being reduced if localism means more power in the hands of local people in relation to how decisions are made, there is a risk that this approach will affect the budgets available for arts and cultural infrastructure and buildings, in particular where projects are being delivered to support work with the more vulnerable members of our society. It has been demonstrated that arts activities help young people to become more responsible citizens and are less likely to engage in anti-social activities. It is important that reduced public sector budgets focus on creating the right environment where localism can thrive, and that local people have affordable access to facilities that enable them to contribute positively to their communities.

13) There has been a movement to try to make public services more citizen-focused, in particular, with Local Area Agreements (LAAs) for example, but in the Trust’s opinion, there is still a great deal to do to tackle the wider cultural and structural issues.

14) In terms of impact, a major assumption of decentralisation is that by transferring responsibilities of managing funds and personnel from central government to local authorities, the delivery of services will improve. It is also assumed that by making the local authorities directly responsible for commercially delivered service provision, the local authority will be more active in mobilising local resources in order to finance their programmes. Consideration has to be given to the risks of increasing costs in areas where economies of scale are in place to keep costs down, particularly in light of reductions in the levels of private and public sector funding at the local level. In the case of subsidised theatres and the arts, most capital funding is delivered through Lottery funding nationally provided by the Arts Council, the Big Lottery Fund and the Heritage Lottery Fund, and is delivered through a regional framework. Local authorities have already chosen how they would allocate their funds to arts and culture according to local priorities and until recently worked with their regional development agency to secure investment for local cultural projects that were of regional economic significance. We anticipate Lottery funding increasing post 2012 and we welcome this. The Trust’s concern is that the availability of regional funding is currently uncertain. However, and wherever it is managed, the overall cost of managing these funds should be reduced where at all possible and levels of administration and monitoring should be designed so that they are simple to manage and not an onerous burden on recipients. There are clear opportunities to create a common framework for the distribution of public funds into capital projects that reduce the levels of time spent on administration. The Theatres Trust would be happy to advise further.

15) Therefore, the main action of decentralisation should be to increase opportunities for local communities to question the accountability and use of funds and enable them to be able to easily and directly access resources that will support their own development. However, this needs to be balanced with provision of a framework and opportunities for local organisations and individuals to be able to work jointly with each other to ensure that duplication is avoided. This can be achieved through the devolution of process to the local authorities, giving them, for example, the ability to structure local government administration, and design and organise logistics of infrastructure and service provision which mobilises the involvement of local people and community based organisations and businesses.

16) However, it is also at the local level where systems of environmental management and control become complex, and rigour is needed to achieve sustainable regeneration and development. The expertise of bodies such as The Theatres Trust, should be designed into new systems to harness that expertise on behalf of the community, for example, in the case of the Trust, when work is taking place to existing theatres and on planning for new theatres. Integrating advice from statutory consultees, such as The Theatres Trust will help to empower local people and local authorities to manage their resources efficiently and help them to manage building and operational costs more efficiently.

17) Adequate financing and clear delineation of administrative roles we believe is essential to decentralisation models. For example, local authorities that are likely to inherit new responsibilities may not be able to maintain the level of service previously provided. Local freedom to allocate funding should be informed by nationally applicable policies and guidance on heritage, architecture, planning, and arts and culture, and theatres from consultees such as The Theatres Trust. By using and extending the Trust’s expertise, and by being able to share its knowledge and experience on theatres with local authorities further, the decentralisation of funds could be a catalyst for collaborative working in the theatre and arts sector, distributing funds more transparently, effectively and efficiently to get the best possible outcomes for theatre and local citizens.

October 2010