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Living Places, a powerful new partnership of cultural bodies and Government departments, yesterday launched an eight point action plan to bring the benefits of culture and sport to communities.

Culture and sport are key elements in creating communities which people are proud to call their home. Living Places will help realise people’s aspirations by helping house builders, planners and all those helping to shape communities build in culture and sport from the start.

Gerry Sutcliffe MP, Minister for Sport, said:
“Culture and sport are engaging and powerful instruments for building places that are vibrant and exciting - where people will choose to live. Good design that builds on local history creates character. Playing football in the park, joining a library and watching a local play reinforce our sense of community. Living Places shows how these sporting and cultural elements can be combined to build desirable communities in the Thames Gateway and beyond.”

Sarah Weir, Executive Director, Arts Council England, London said:
“The millions of homes built over the next fifteen years will be our legacy to future generations. Planners, local authorities and house builders tell us that culture and sport are important for creating interesting new communities. But people are confused about putting these tools into practice. To help them, Living Places will provide a wealth of experience and guidance from across the cultural sector through one single gateway.”

Richard Simmons, chief executive of CABE, said:
“High quality design is the basis for successful and sustainable places, and provides a strong framework for sport and culture to thrive. Without high quality design, new places will fail. Sadly, while there are some excellent examples of good practice, too many new developments don’t meet these high standards. By combining expertise and resources, Living Places equips us with the tools to ensure that new developments really do become places with their own identity and community.”

The Living Places eight point action plan is as follows

1.Living Places will create a single portal for evidence and best practice. A new website at www.living-places.org.uk will include an archive of research, evidence and case studies to encourage wider adoption of culture and sport as tools to meet sustainable communities goals.

2.Living Places will create a Culture Planning Toolkit, a step by step online guide to help sustainable community practitioners integrate culture and sport into their work.

3.Living Places will produce guidance for communities, to help people bring appropriate cultural and sporting infrastructure and activities into their own areas.

4.Living Places will commission new research to improve the base of evidence that shows culture and sport have widespread benefits beyond their intrinsic values.

5.Living Places members will back the efforts of local and regional practitioners with expertise and resources and will ensure investments are better aligned towards common goals.

6.Living Places will explore ways to provide training and skills to sustainable communities practitioners who want to use culture and sport in their work.

7.Living Places will focus first on five priority places that will help members understand the role of culture within communities of varying scales. The places identified are: Thames Gateway, The South West region, Corby, Partnership for Urban South Hampshire (PUSH), and Pennine Lancashire.

8.Living Places will encourage greater and wider participation in culture through a range of programmes across the country.

Living Places members include Arts Council England, CABE, English Heritage, Museums, Libraries and Archives Partnership, the Regional Cultural Consortiums, Sport England, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

To download the Living Places prospectus click here

For further information, contact:

Jon Bennett
Linstock Communications
T: 020 7089 2081
E: jon@linstockcommunications.com

Elliot Frankal
Linstock Communications
T: 020 7089 2085
E: elliot@linstockcommunications.com

Notes to editors:

1. The case for culture and sport, some facts and figures:Culture and sport work in many ways to help build cohesive, empowered and active communities.~

Culture and sport bring people together.

They help people get to know each other through shared and complementary interests. Research shows that people taking part in cultural activities are 20 per cent more likely to know ‘many people’ in their neighbourhood, and 60 per cent more likely to believe ‘many of their neighbours can be trusted’.

Results from Taking Part survey, Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS), 2006.

Culture and sport help develop identity and a sense of place.

Well designed communities, with a distinctive character, provide places that residents can be proud of and where they can bond. Angell Town in Brixton, South London, has won several awards; most recently a Building for Life Gold Award in 2006. Started by residents, it is an outstanding example of how community-led design can transform a run-down, unpopular estate into well-liked housing with a sense of place. Similarly, in the new housing development of Whiteley in Winchester new residents worked with a sculptor on iconic street furniture to help the community form a sense of identity.

Images available

Culture and sport make places more attractive.

Communities thrive in well-designed environments that incorporate accessible green space and a distinctive public realm. 97 per cent of people believe that parks and green spaces help to create a nicer place for them to live and 82 per cent believe that high quality green parks and spaces encourage people and businesses to locate in a town.

Figures from the Park Life Report, Green Space, June 2007

Culture and sport make us healthier and happier.

They encourage people to be active and do the things they enjoy. This increases personal, physical and mental wellbeing. A recent Manchester Metropolitan University research study found that painting, dance, music and storytelling can measurably increase our psychological well-being and lower levels of anxiety and depression.

From the Invest to Save: Arts in Health Programme - a 3-year HM Treasury funded project in partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University, Arts Council England, North West and the Department of Health, North West Public Health Group

Culture and sport enhance people’s skills and help generate prosperity.

Culture and sport make a major contribution to UK employment, especially in the growing creative industries that now account for 8 per cent of the UK’s GDP. Sport-related activity accounts for more than £ 9.8 billion in gross value added to the UK. Access to knowledge through libraries and other facilities unlocks potential and stimulates learning and enterprise.

Figures from Creative Partnerships, Study of the Impact of Creative Partnerships on the Cultural and Creative Economy

Culture and sport help build safer communities.

They offer a focus for social interaction and harness the energy of young people who might otherwise turn to anti-social behaviour. In North Solihull, the NS Fusion project runs a programme of sporting activities aimed at young people at risk of anti-social behaviour. As of April 2007, it attracted around 200 participants per week and provided access to training for 20 long-term unemployed New Deal trainees. In one locality, West Midlands Police noticed an 11 per cent reduction in total recorded crime after a local activity session was introduced.

Culture and sport help build stronger communities.

They can be important factors in community cohesion by providing shared experiences for residents from different social and religious backgrounds. In Leicester, the Local Authority provides around £400,000 each year for 700 different cultural festivals. Such measures have helped Leicester score 5 per cent above the national average on an official measure of community cohesion5.

Best Value Performance Indicator, Audit Commission, 2006.

2 The case for culture and sport, some case studies

Heritage led regeneration in Great Yarmouth

Heritage-led regeneration is widely credited with returning a sense of confidence to Great Yarmouth. In employment terms, the investment has been responsible for creating over 191 new jobs and safeguarding a further 433.

The town was a favourite seaside destination for Victorian and Edwardian holidaymakers, but it fell into decline in the post-war period. By 1990, a third of Great Yarmouth’s listed buildings were found to be empty or neglected. Two of the wards within the town – Nelson and Regent – are among the most deprived wards in the UK.

The Borough Council’s strategy for the renaissance of the town involved restoring the neglected buildings while addressing issues facing the local community. Using £4.6m from the Heritage Lottery’s Townscape Heritage Initiative, which acted as a catalyst to leverage a further £18m of investment from the private sector, the local authority has so far grant-aided almost 90 historic buildings. Through a series of innovative partnerships with housing associations, a number of these have been used to address the shortage of affordable housing in the local market. The historic character of the town has not only been retained, but is also benefiting local people.

Building Community Cohesion in Durham

The School’s Out programme, run by Durham Education Authority’s Study Support Team offers a powerful example of how culture can contribute towards a more harmonious community.

Between 2000 and 2005, Schools Out used arts-based cultural projects during the summer months to engage young people who were not in education, employment or training. The programme focused on helping to break down prejudice and misunderstandings between young people from different geographical and ethnic communities.

One such project was The Ramayana, a two week programme designed to raise awareness and appreciation of Asian culture amongst the young people and families of Weardale, who have traditionally had little experience of other cultures. The 50 participants, aged 11–15, including eight with special educational needs, worked on the story of Rama and Sita from the Hindu epic.

Activities included drama, Bollywood dance, drumming, visual art and public performances. The Ramayana won a Stephen Lawrence Education Award for good practice in promoting race equality. Roseann Szomoru, a schooling co-ordinator at Bishop Auckland College who staged a music project describes a typical outcome:

“One of the young male participants – a loner with poor social skills and a record of truancy – turned up every day and played an active part. He also helped the younger children and those with special educational needs.”

In total the programme actively involved 191 young people who may otherwise have been at risk of committing anti-social behaviour.

Creating a more prosperous Nottingham

In East Nottingham the National Ice Centre has helped regenerate the old Lace Market and created around 250 jobs, including 72 full time positions. The ice rink has been a catalyst for the growth of mixed-use retail and leisure developments in the area and independent estimates suggest it has generated 30,000 overnight stays in the city.

Building a healthier Southampton

In Southampton, the Quays Swimming and Diving Complex opened in June 1999 at a cost of £9.9 million. It was funded by Southampton City Council, the Sports Lottery Fund and donations from Southampton Solent University.

It provides a new swimming facility, integrated with a fitness studio and health clinic for the local community. Attendance has remained high at the pool and the health clinic has benefited from its location within the leisure complex, recording over 3,000 visits per year. Over 800 patients attend the pool after direct referral from the GP. Research has found that discreet access to other services, including sexual health counseling, has helped reduce teenage pregnancy rates and heart disease mortality in the area. Now Sport England have produced an innovative set of design guidelines, called ‘Active Design’, to promote opportunities for sport and physical activity in the master planning of major new housing and mixed use development schemes. Urban designers, master planners and architects may find it helpful to visit this checklist at www.sportengland.org/planning_active_design

Delivering value for money in Whitechapel

Creating sustainable communities through culture can be a cost effective option and can in some cases almost pay for itself.

The award-winning Whitechapel Idea Store in London’s Tower Hamlets contains a modern library with free internet access, learning spaces, a community café and specialist rooms for teaching dance and complementary therapies. It has an award-winning design and has been highly-praised for its role in assisting community cohesion in one of the most diverse boroughs in Britain.

It cost more than £14m, but £12.4m (around 89%) was found from partnership funding or by better use of resources by the Local Authority. The success has been remarkable. Within a year of its September 2005 opening, the number of library visits in the area had increased by more than 300 per cent. Book borrowing went up 34 per cent.

The concept for the Idea Store came from the community itself in response to a consultation by Tower Hamlets Local Authority. Tower Hamlets took a number of steps to ensure the development proved a value-for-money investment.

These included:

Smart asset management

Tower Hamlets was able to justify the cost of the ambitious new library by reallocating resources from two less-well-performing libraries in the area. The disposal of these older buildings raised over £5.3m towards the total cost. Some doubts were raised in the local area about shutting the two older libraries. However, the new complex was opened before any closure, which allowed local residents to vote with their feet in favour of the new complex.

Maximising private investment

Local community members stressed their desire to base the new service in close proximity to local shops, and this allowed Tower Hamlets to sign a Section 106 Agreement with Sainsbury’s.

Aligning investment

The Idea Store houses a range of services including IT, Surestart facilities and educational spaces. This helped leverage in partnership funding from a number of external regeneration sources, including the London Development Agency and European Regional Development Fund.

Setting up an income stream

Tower Hamlets helped justify the overall cost of the project by putting in place a clear revenue stream. The Idea Store has established a partnership with the London Metropolitan University and the local further education college for the hire of classrooms and other spaces.