Cotgrave: regenerating a Nottinghamshire coalfield town

Background

Cotgrave is approximately six miles south east of Nottingham. The local colliery closed in 1993, following a decade or more in which production had been scaled back. Since then, Cotgrave has become increasingly disadvantaged, particularly in relation to other areas of Rushcliffe, the generally affluent borough within which Cotgrave is situated.

Cotgrave has benefited from various regeneration initiatives since the colliery closed, including Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) funding and support from the National Coalfields Programme (NCP). In 2008, the East Midlands Development Agency (emda) put forward a planning application for a housing development on the colliery site, which was refused by Rushcliffe Borough Council, principally on the grounds that it was insufficiently linked to proposals to regenerate Cotgrave town centre. This refusal was symptomatic of wider tensions that had characterised relations between local partners over recent years, and the lack of a clear and agreed strategy to guide the future development of the town.

Following establishment of the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) in December 2008, the HCA East Midlands Team suggested that the HCA Skills and Knowledge Team might move things forward in Cotgrave by undertaking partnership and capacity building support with local partners. The Leadership of Place programme developed by the Skills and Knowledge Team in collaboration with the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies (CURS) at the University of Birmingham was felt appropriate. The programme aims to improve the effectiveness of local partnership approaches and place leadership, bringing stakeholders together around a common vision for their place and suggesting approaches and structures through which this vision might be achieved.

Project

In practice, the nature of an individual Leadership of Place project is highly dependent on the context and conditions of the local area in which it is being delivered. For Cotgrave, the main objectives were to facilitate a more coherent, ‘whole place’ approach to local housing growth and regeneration, supporting the development of a shared vision and strategic direction for the town in which the colliery site development acted as a catalyst for town centre regeneration. In seeking to move beyond embedded cultures and behaviours, the ultimate aim was to build trust and relationships to underpin a more collaborative approach to local place-making.

The project was delivered between September 2009 and September 2010, with around £10,000 in funding from the Skills and Knowledge Team. It was led by the Director of Consultancy at CURS, alongside the HCA Skills and Knowledge and East Midlands Teams, and the Coalfields Regeneration Trust (CRT). The HCA’s Advisory Team for Large Applications (ATLAS) also helped to progress the colliery site application by facilitating the Planning Performance Agreement (PPA) process.

The target group for the project comprised all the local partners involved in determining the future direction of housing and regeneration activity in Cotgrave. The principal beneficiaries were Cotgrave Town Council (the Clerk and Council members) and senior officers from Rushcliffe Borough Council, alongside the Regeneration Directorate at emda.

Initially, the project sought to engage this target group by identifying key gatekeepers who might unlock things, and subsequently involving ‘the right people at the right time’. Rather than bringing all the partners together at an early stage, initial meetings were undertaken on a bilateral basis, followed by smaller group work and finally larger sessions.

The project commenced with desk research and one-to-one interviews, intended to identify the principal issues and challenges facing Cotgrave, and the key stakeholders involved. A facilitated Town Plan event brought the relevant partners and local community together to coalesce thinking around a common vision for Cotgrave, and to underpin development of a new Strategic Board to guide future strategy and delivery in the town. Subsequently, a number of workshops, events and meetings were delivered in order to build leadership capabilities, address skills and capacity gaps, and increase the effectiveness of local activity. This work included the delivery of training to Town Council members, and the provision of ongoing bespoke support to the Chief Executive of Rushcliffe Borough Council, particularly around developing appropriate governance structures for the Strategic Board.

Impact

The project brought significant skills and knowledge benefits to its target group, including the development of technical knowledge around planning processes:
‘the planning process is hard to understand – there is lots of guidance, and it is contradictory, hard to dovetail. The project helped to clear away all the rubbish, helped you to get from A to B.’

Beyond individual skills and capacity development, the project focused on the collective leadership base, and the pool of skills and knowledge that was available across the wider group of partners. This is a central aspect of the Leadership of Place model, which seeks to draw upon combined strengths rather than relying on one individual leader to have all the necessary skill sets.

The project achieved its aim to build stronger local partnerships, address historical tensions between those involved, and bring people together around a common vision for the town:
‘we realised that one development can’t work without the other – we all have to work together to achieve the desired outcomes.’

Local partners highlighted the importance of soft outcomes around increased confidence and trust, and the way the project helped to secure buy-in to a collective approach by increasing empathy and understanding amongst those involved:
‘the area that’s moved forward the most is building relationships, understanding what other people think we’re doing.’

More generally, for one of the beneficiaries, the project ‘helped us with our thinking’, with the benefits sufficiently embedded to influence much of her organisation’s work around planning and regeneration. The project has encouraged Cotgrave Town Council members to adopt a broader approach to local strategy development, and to think about their role within the wider institutional and delivery context – for example, around how they might exert their influence to maximum effect.

Ultimately, the project is likely to have a significant impact in terms of improving conditions for local people in and around the town. Rushcliffe Borough Council approved the colliery site planning application in November 2010 – although the application might have gone through without the project, it would have been less beneficial in overall terms, and would have presented a less holistic vision for the regeneration of Cotgrave.

The project helped to bring the colliery site plan and the town centre masterplan together; via the Section 106 agreement, it will contribute to securing maximum investment from the chosen developer in town centre improvements, as well as providing employment and skills opportunities for local people:
‘the town centre will function in the way it needs to, rather than being a grotty place to go.’

Lessons Learned

Some of the key factors behind the success of the Cotgrave project are highlighted below, along with some areas where things might have worked better.

• Investing in the development of generic skills such as strategic thinking and leadership brought significant benefits to local partners. The project enhanced trust and confidence amongst those involved, contributing to improved partnership working.
• A key first step was to bring partners together around a shared vision for Cotgrave. The project helped to develop consensus around common objectives and desired outcomes for local regeneration, an essential grounding for subsequent decisions over how best the agreed vision might be achieved.
• For relatively limited financial input, significant local outcomes are being achieved. In particular, by helping to ensure that maximum benefit is derived from regeneration of the colliery site and town centre, and reducing the risk to the HCA’s £8 million investment, the project represents good value for money.
• The Leadership of Place model is highly sustainable, following a ‘task and finish’ approach that leaves a significant legacy for partners to take forward. In addition to the legacy of improved skills, capacity and collaboration, the Strategic Board that has been set up in Cotgrave should become a key vehicle for guiding future regeneration activity.
• The success of Leadership of Place is premised upon a strong understanding of the local context, in terms of historical inheritance, local leadership relations, the strengths and weaknesses of the local economy, and the value of key community assets. The approach must be tailored to local needs, and respond flexibly to the different dynamics at work.
• The lead facilitator was an ‘outsider’ who had not been immersed in Cotgrave’s prior history and partnership dynamics; this independence put her in a strong position to engage senior personnel and move them forward. The facilitator’s personality, skills and experience were a central factor in ensuring success.
• In part, the success of the Town Plan event was down to the way it brought together all of the key delivery partners to consult with community members in a co-ordinated manner. However, wider engagement with the local community could have been improved, both by moderating the language used to make it more suitable for a lay audience, and by drawing more centrally on one of the partners involved who had a strong and pre-established relationship with community representatives. There would also have been benefit in providing more regular progress updates, both to key stakeholders and community members.
• The emerging agenda around localism and the Big Society will vest greater powers in the hands of local authorities and their partners, voluntary and community sector organisations, and community members. Initiatives like Leadership of Place could play a central role in building new leadership models for local areas and communities, and in addressing the skills and capacity issues that are likely to become apparent as these policies unfold.
• Leadership of Place could also make a significant contribution to maximising the effectiveness of the HCA’s Local Investment Planning process, by addressing skills, capacity and partnership issues amongst local partners.

Reference

Fiona Hooton
T: 0115 852 6929
E: fiona.hooton@hca.gsi.gov.uk

Lisa Trickett
Director of Consultancy
Centre for Urban and Regional Studies (CURS)
JG Smith Building
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham. B15 2TT
T: 0121 414 5029
E: l.trickett@bham.ac.uk

Other useful links

HCA Leadership of Place web page
HCA Leadership of Place in the Knowledge-based Economy research web page
CURS Leadership of Place web page
Cotgrave Town Council