Purpose

To set out the work that had been undertaken by the Place Leaders Partnership to develop a Place Strategy for Middlesbrough and to seek the Council’s commitment to playing a full role in its delivery.

Decision

ORDERED that Executive:

1. Note the work undertaken by the Place Leaders Partnership to develop a Place Strategy for Middlesbrough and endorsed the Council’s role in delivery.
2. Approve the town centre element of the Place Strategy as the Council’s Town Centre Strategy.
3. Approve the Investment Prospectus setting out the Council’s economic funding priorities required to deliver the Place and Town Centre Strategies.

Reasons for the decision

REASONS

Improving Middlesbrough required a collective, collaborative effort. The Place Leaders Partnership had drawn together several key organisations and businesses in the town, focused on working together to make Middlesbrough a better place. The partnership had determined that a subtle focus on younger people was the most effective way to improve the town for everyone’s benefit and had developed a strategy based on extensive engagement with young people to determine a clear way forward.

As a key member of the Place Leaders Partnership, it had been important that the Council committed to its role in delivering the strategy and continued to play its part in the collaborative effort of the partnership.

Adopting the accompanying direction for the Town Centre and Investment Prospectus would also have ensured that the Council was acting in a collaborative way and contributing proactively to the agreed, shared direction.  

Alternative options considered

OPTIONS

Do Nothing

Middlesbrough had continued to face challenges in almost every area, and the issues faced by many of its residents had continued to become more acute and complex. Although the efforts of the Council and other partner organisations would always have had some positive impact, not developing a collaborative and targeted strategy would have risked maintaining the current situation and potentially falling further behind other places taking a bolder approach. This option had been rejected as it would not have offered Middlesbrough the best chance of improving outcomes.

Develop a Council Led Strategy

It had been recognised that the Council did not have the same level of influence or resources that a partnership of the key organisations in the town would collectively possess. Developing a standalone Council Strategy would potentially have made a significant difference to the town, but it could not have been expected to achieve the same level of change that a collective, collaborative strategy would. The joint working potential with a partnership strategy was much greater, as was the likely impact of multiple organisations acting in the same direction. This option had therefore been rejected.

Develop a Fully Comprehensive Partnership Strategy

There were two areas where the strategy could have been expanded: by extending the scope to cover every aspect of life in Middlesbrough, or by not focusing on younger people and ensuring that all people were considered equally. These options had been rejected as a strategy that tried to cover every aspect of life in Middlesbrough would inevitably have been less focused and potentially unwieldy. Previous strategies attempting to cover every aspect had been prepared by partnerships seeking to influence every issue, but had lacked the focus necessary to enable a clear direction to be set. Such comprehensive strategies had tended to have limited impact. The approach of focusing directly on younger people had been agreed by the partnership to ensure that a different path was taken to previous iterations of strategies that again tried to address every issue for everyone and, as a result, lacked real impact or focus. By viewing the town through the eyes of younger people it had been anticipated that any improvements delivered by the strategy would ultimately benefit everyone.