Written evidence submitted by the Theatres
Trust (LOCO 37)
SUMMARY
¾ The
Theatres Trust Act 1976 states that The Theatres Trust exists
to promote the better protection of theatres.
¾ 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.
¾ 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.
¾ 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.
¾ 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.
¾ 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.
¾ The
expertise of bodies such as The Theatres Trust, should be designed
into new systems to harness the expertise on behalf of the community.
¾ 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
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