Economic challenges and cultural regeneration in four South East coastal towns

Major Findings

How can this research assist local partnerships to sustain themselves in the face of significant upheavals and continuing great financial stringency? What are the important messages for local government, delivery partnerships, cultural agencies, higher education and for the cultural and creative community? In each of the four towns, the local civic, cultural and educational leadership can take steps better to identify and make use of local strengths and opportunities to support the continued role of culture and education through challenging times.

Cultural vitality

Cultural vitality is as important as business vitality. Each of the coastal towns was looking to develop its own combination of cultural activity for its residents and programmes, events and places which can attract visitors and tourists. This works best through investment in the quality of programmes and on local distinctiveness. Giving residents and visitors the best possible experience is essential. On the coast as in many places, local civic and business leadership recognise that places with vibrant creative and cultural communities help attract and retain talented people and companies across the whole local economy.

Culture, creativity and higher education play a substantial role in place-making. Higher education investment and activity can be harnessed effectively to local regeneration and development processes. Cultural talent, activity and infrastructure are already helping to raise the profile of the place and individuals’ aspirations in towns like Folkestone. Cultural, educational and civic bodies need to work together effectively to make their towns work better.

Scale and locality

Some culture- and education-led regeneration programmes have large scale projects at their heart. Where this is the case, all partners involved need to do whatever they can to ensure that they are sustainable, and bring the benefits that investment of scale demands. However, there is equal, though different value in encouraging small-scale, autonomous, artist-driven and community-led projects as well as seasonal and occasional activity. The range of artists’ studios, galleries, cafes, small music venues and other arts projects help build a rich offer in Margate: Turner Contemporary requires a critical and successful mass of such venues and businesses for its own survival and sustainability as much as it offers these smaller enterprises the benefits of a major attraction.

Events and fixed-term programmes enable local agencies to test markets and ideas. Seasonal events and festivals intensify local cultural experience, and provide the kinds of high-quality programme which small coastal towns could not sustain year round.

Ownership, leadership and autonomy are determining factors in seeing projects from idea to actuality, and into the long-term success. Portsmouth’s Love Albert Road is just one example of recognising and supporting local champions, and supporting effective grassroots and locally driven, community and business facing regeneration. This approach can provide locally embedded, cost-effective ways of generating commitment and change.

Independence of means

The leadership and delivery role of the Creative Foundation and the Roger De Haan Charitable Trust demonstrate the strength of the social enterprise model, where it is using commercial disciplines in sustainable and socially focused development programmes, and in particular where it can develop an asset-based approach to culture and education-led regeneration. The case of Butlins in Bognor Regis shows the potential of enriching and complementing the investment in high-quality culture and/or education with commercial leisure attractions. In any event, the prognosis for the reduction in public sector funding is both challenge and opportunity: projects will need to work out how best to survive with reduced, little or no dependency on public sector funding.

The long view

You don’t turn around a failing seaside town in a few years. The data shows how little relative change has been experienced between these four towns and regional and national benchmarks through the years that preceded the recession. These places are still haunted by embedded poverty. Decades of poverty and low self-esteem take more than a few time-limited projects to remedy.

The long view also commends early and sustained action. The Creative Foundation manages its charitably owned properties on 125-year leases. Early and continued commitment should help secure the value of new projects and investment, paving the way – for example as Turner Contemporary is doing – for new venues and attractions by investing in programmes and capacity building activity and pre-opening programmes. The universities of Chichester and Portsmouth demonstrate a similar sustained commitment to their home places.