In the Public Realm

Joyce Bridges English Heritage; Clr Angela Hooper LB Westminster; Sir Terry Farrell; Pat Brown of CLP; Susan Freeman; Oliver Goodwin; Ronald Hooberman

Lobbying for change

We were delighted to bring together a range of senior public and private sector influencers to debate the funding of public realm improvements. Representatives from Government, Transport for London (TfL) and developers presented differing perspectives on what could be done to meet the potential funding gap.

The event was chaired by Pat Brown, CEO of Central London Partnership. She highlighted changes in London, with local authorities and TfL now working together on major schemes. With the Olympics set to act as a catalyst to transform central London, she posed the question ‘how do we meet our aspirations to create a seamless public realm that excites, energises and rewards everybody who visits the capital?’

Sir Terry Farrell contended it is easier to invest in objects than space or place. It was fundamentally about ‘recycling city centres to create the new locations – places’. For example, the New West End Company is planning proactively for Oxford Street with the private sector taking the lead, in contrast to reactive public control. Projects like “Nash Ramblas” are raising expectations using branding and a visionary approach, but he warned of the difficulty in getting financial support. Private estates such as Grosvenor can take the longterm view on projects, as did their predecessors in Georgian and Victorian times.

Peter Hendy of TfL explained that his budgets are limited and new schemes require effective maintenance schemes. Much of the money available for public realm goes on maintenance and renewal. Nonetheless, urban design and public space are going up the agenda within TfL. The ownership split is a problem, even when it is all within the public sector, since each party may have different objectives.

Grosvenor’s Peter Vernon raised the question, ‘who pays for ongoing care and maintenance?’ Creating high quality public realm was the objective of the original developers of the Grosvenor Estate and remains important today. Much thought, effort and resources are needed to maintain public space with Paternoster Square, Canary Wharf and Paradise Street Liverpool providing good models for public realm investment. Huge effort goes into assembling land for these schemes, which often revert to fragmented holdings afterwards. We need a sustainable ownership model, which provides for continued investment in public realm; Business Improvement Districts could be an important step in this. Local authorities can recognise the uplift in land value from public realm investment and should be able to recoup this benefit through higher business rates. High quality public realm is a key differentiator for London, and critical to its future success. Those who benefit should pay, but this is difficult when the beneficiaries are fragmented. Local authorities need to play a leading role.

The presentations were followed by a useful discussion with contributions from Tony Travers, LSE, Clive Dutton, Birmingham City Council, James Andrew of Ameristar Casinos, Angela Hooper Chairman of Planning and Development, City of Westminster and Mike Hughes of Golfrate. ■

Susan Freeman
Telephone +44 (0)20 7440 7017
susan.freeman@mishcon.com