Selaine Saxby, MP for North Devon, has worked with Onward before and brought deputy director, Adam Hawksbee, to Barnstaple to speak to businesses as part of their overall report.
Ms Saxby said:
“Levelling up in practice is not just a case of spending money. What you do with it, where it is directed and how it helps are of course the most important things.
At the end of last summer Adam Hawksbee from Onward, a respected think tank visited Barnstaple as part of their research into what levelling up should look like and their report, as always, provides a welcome blueprint that I know will hold weight in government. Will Tanner, who I know well, the former director of Onward is indeed now the Prime Minister’s Deputy Chief of Staff and Neil O’Brien MP, Minister for Primary Care and Public Health, formerly Minister for Levelling up, who visited Barnstaple last summer founded the think tank. I have helped with some of their papers myself on coastal communities and active travel.
While the report concentrates on other localities to highlight their findings, there is a lot that is relevant to North Devon and encouragingly, where we have received government support it appears to be in some of the right areas. Safer Streets funding, Future High Streets funding, support for sport and leisure facilities at the leisure centre and the Ilfracombe Watersports centre and indeed direct support for our theatres and the backing of Arts Council England. It may not always feel like it but these areas alone add up to millions in direct investment into North Devon.
This week it was good to spend time with Levelling Up Secretary of State, Michael Gove, discussing how to level up coastal communities. There is more to do of course, but the report highlights local leadership and collaboration being key to the way forward, be that local councils or community groups, but certainly the council supporting community projects that engender pride in their area and often bring in much needed revenues.
Given this and the good work that North Devon Council’s economic development team is doing, why on earth have we allowed so many barriers, both bureaucratic and financial to get in the way of Ilfracombe hosting the universally popular ‘Birdman’ event this year? This failure has made national news and is the exact opposite of what local councils should be doing. I do not want to be overly party political but the opposition running North Devon Council were quick to attack when we sadly did not receive yet more government support through our levelling up bid, yet all along they were failing the community in Ilfracombe for the sake of a few grand. It may be too late for Birdman 2023 and I do understand that other events will be taking place, but we need to ensure a big splash for 2024.”
Adam Hawksbee, Onward said:
"Our trip to Barnstaple, facilitated by Selaine Saxby, revealed that many of the common barriers to levelling up can be found in the south west. Antisocial behaviour in the town centre was raised by business leaders as a real problem, along with high housing costs. But there were promising signs of progress - like investments in the Pannier Market and town centre."
Levelling Up Locally (ukonward.com)
Please find the full report attached below
