Where

Milton Keynes and South Midlands, East of England, East Midlands and South East.

What

Milton Keynes and South Midlands have developed their own distinctive approach to culture and sport planning. They have created the Milton Keynes and South Midlands (MKSM) Culture Partnership and a cultural co-ordinator post.

The partnership was set up to secure a locally led approach to the cultural agenda.

The Living Spaces guide, which aimed to make sure that culture was part of the Milton Keynes and South Midlands (MKSM) growth agenda, was published in 2005.

Why

The MKSM pilot project was developed as a case study to demonstrate how culture could be embedded within the growth agenda of one of the designated growth areas. The work of the co-ordinator can be viewed as an action research project and exemplar of cross-regional partnership working.

The sub-regional context

The Living Spaces guide aimed to embed culture within the Milton Keynes and South Midlands (MKSM) growth agenda. It identified how culture could potentially contribute to people, places and prosperity as part of creating sustainable communities in Milton Keynes South Midlands.

People
The guide identified many benefits of culture for people in the area, which include giving groups at risk of exclusion a sense of belonging and cohesion as well as building social capital through the local community’s engagement with planning for culture and sport.

Places
The guide identified that high quality theatres, sports facilities, the natural environment, vibrant towns and communities in the sub-region are crucial to the promotion of Milton Keynes and South Midlands as desirable places in which to live, work and invest.  

Prosperity
The guide also recognised that Milton Keynes and South Midlands are important national locations for high technology design. This is particularly true of the automotive design industry which has strong links into the creative sector. The guide identified that the cultural and creative industries were a major growth sector within the region.

The sub region has a strong and developing tourism and visitor sector with a number of major visitor attractions, including Silverstone, Royal & Derngate & MK Theatre, Althorp House, the snow dome in Milton Keynes, Whipsnade Zoo and Woburn Safari Park.

How it was funded

The project received £90,000 funding from the Creating Cultural Opportunities ISB project and a further £100,000 from local authority cultural agency partners. It secured additional funding for the North Northamptonshire cultural tariff project from project partners.

How it was done

Milton Keynes and South Midlands (MKSM) Culture Partnership recognised that the task of embedding culture in the growth area had four components as set out below.

Developing a voice for culture
This was to be achieved by ensuring that cultural interests were firmly represented within the governance structure in the MKSM growth area. Following a review of the MKSM governance structures, culture is now being offered a seat in its own right on the Inter-Regional Board.  

The cultural co-ordinator sits alongside the MKSM executive team. The co-ordinator works with the local authorities, local strategic partnerships and local delivery vehicles to develop cultural champions within the sub region and secure recognition of culture within local governance structures.

There is a dedicated page for the sector on the MKSM website which promotes culture www.mksm.org.uk/culture

Integration of culture within local and sub regional strategy
The cultural co-ordinator has worked with the MKSM executive to ensure that cultural interests are fully represented within the MKSM Business Plan and sub regional strategy (this is similar to a Multi Area Agreement).  

The cultural co-ordinator ran a workshop for all local authorities to develop links between local cultural strategies and sustainable community plans. The co-ordinator has worked with:

• Each local strategic partnership and upper tier authorities to ensure that cultural objectives are embedded within local area agreements
• Each of the local delivery vehicles to identify a series of high profile cultural initiatives within each delivery plan
• Each local planning authority to develop a planning policy to support the cultural sector. The co-ordinator supported the North Northamptonshire pilot project for cultural tariffs and the formative work to develop a Community Trust in Milton Keynes for social infrastructure.  

Project delivery
The cultural co-ordinator has acted as project manager for a series of tangible projects. These have included:

• The Milton Keynes and South Midlands cultural and creative industries mapping project in partnership with Arts Council,
• The North Northamptonshire pilot study to develop the evidence base for culture. This will inform the development of a standard charge approach to planning for cultural infrastructure,
• Promotion of MKSM nationally through the Culture and Sport Planning Toolkit, MKSM Executive Team and Living Places (Priority) Partnership,
• Getting cultural groups involved in shaping the market square redevelopment of Northampton,
• Championing the concept and development of co-located facilities as part of the growth agenda, where cultural provision is combined with other statutory and non-statutory services. This allows for a more flexible approach to the cultural offer within a mixed use facility,  
• Making the most of opportunities presented by the 2012 Olympics for MKSM through cultural Olympiad projects and training camps.

The co-ordinator has also been responsible for the communications strategy which has informed partners about cultural developments in the sub region. This includes the publication of quarterly newsletters and updating the cultural section of the MKSM website. The co-ordinator has also developed the cultural content within the MKSM conference and placed articles in the general press and specialist publications.

The development of the cultural evidence base
The cultural co-ordinator made sure that a range of cultural tracking indicators were included within the MKSM Annual Monitoring Report. The indicators include:

• Percentage of adults participating in at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity sport and active recreation on three or more days of the week
• Access to sports facilities – percentage of people living within a 20 minute walk (in urban areas) or 20 minute drive (within rural areas) of at least three of the six listed sports facility types
• Number of grade 1 and 2* buildings (including scheduled structural monuments) on the Buildings at Risk Register
• Percentage of schools participating in museums services in MKSM
• Number of people employed (Full Time Equivalents) directly or indirectly in the tourist industry
• Number of creative businesses in the sub-region.
• Total turnover of creative businesses

Who leads and runs the project

The MKSM Culture Partnership is local government led and is chaired by Sue Grace, Head of Culture and Customer Services, Northamptonshire County Council. The partnership includes representation from upper tier authorities within the MKSM growth area, DCMS and the cultural agencies drawn from the South East, East of England and East Midlands regions. Regional Development Agencies and Government Offices attend meetings as observers.

The partnership is responsible for planning, the development of the cultural co-ordinator’s work programme and developing a business plan to secure the integration of culture within the growth agenda for MKSM.

The co-ordinator works with each local authority to make sure that sustainable communities’ strategies and Local Area Agreements (LAAs) have cultural objectives. The co-ordinator also works with each local planning authority and local delivery vehicle. The aim of this work was to ensure that cultural planning policy was developed within local development frameworks and that there were tangible projects within the delivery plans of each local delivery vehicle. 

How the project is evaluated

The cultural co-ordinator has been fully involved in creating a cultural opportunities steering group. Progress has been monitored using the tracking indicators within the MKSM monitoring report, reviewing the extent to which delivery vehicles and local planning policy have integrated the cultural agenda within local development frameworks.  

What the project achieved
Culture is firmly embedded in policy for Milton Keynes and South Midlands at a sub regional level, and in the MKSM business plan at local authority level. The co-ordinator has supported the development of cultural strategies, the integration of culture into community plans and LAAs. At a local level, the co-ordinator has helped include culture in the work of local delivery vehicles and supported the development of planning policy within local development frameworks.  

Projects currently in development include the Centre for Carnival Arts in Luton, the development of 50 metre swimming pools in Corby and Luton, the development of the NIRAH Environmental Visitor Centre, the development of new theatres in Aylesbury, Dunstable, Corby, Kettering and Bedford, and the development of Corby Cube as a major cultural complex in the Living Places priority area. Significant town centre regeneration projects are also taking place in a number of communities and each of these has cultural components within the public realm.

What happens next

The establishment of the cultural co-ordinator post has secured commitment to the cultural agenda within MKSM.

The skills needed to integrate culture within community planning and spatial planning agendas were not well developed within the cultural sector. The priority for future Living Spaces work will be to develop skills within the cultural sector which make the most of cultural contributions to sustainable communities. Skills also need to be developed within the planning and regeneration sectors so that professionals in these fields have a better understanding of culture's potential contribution.

This work is taking place within the MKSM governance structure which is one of the reasons why it has been successful in making the cultural voice heard within the mainstream development of MKSM.  

A community planning model has emerged from the work. This is cyclical and includes the following:

• Building the evidence base for culture, including the establishment of performance indicators
• Providing a voice for culture
• Nurturing champions for culture
• Integrating culture into strategy and policy
• Delivering tangible projects to put all this into practice    

The cultural co-ordinator was initially employed on a three year contract from December 2006. Partners have agreed to extend the project for a further year to August 2010. During this final year the future of the project will be reviewed. 

More information

MKSM Culture Task Group, Living Spaces: Culture and Sustainable Communities in Milton Keynes and the South Midlands. Guidance for Local Delivery Vehicles. Consultation Document

MKSM, October 2008, MKSM Business Plan 2008

Northamptonshire County Council Growth Management Team, November 2007, MKSM Sub-regional Strategy Annual Monitoring Report 2006/07, MKSM

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, March 2005, Milton Keynes & South Midlands Sub-Regional Strategy. Alterations to Regional Spatial Strategies covering the East of England, East Midlands and South East of England

Milton Keynes Council, September 2005, Social Infrastructure Planning Obligations SPD

Aylesbury Vale, 2004, Aylesbury Vale District Cultural Facilities Audit and Needs Assessment – Supplementary Planning Guidance

Milton Keynes South Midlands Culture Partnership

Milton Keynes and South Midlands Growth Area

Acknowledgements

Sincere thanks to Sue Grace of Northampton County Council, Charles Freeman of Culture South East and Shimul Haider (MKSM Cultural Co-ordinator) for their contribution.