#ViewsOnComms: public relations, places and life in the South West
Anyone who’s worked in PR within government knows the drill when it comes to big announcements like the Prime Minister’s housing speech today.
The announcement to proposed changes to the dry-but-much-maligned area of planning policy followed some familiar and well-executed steps.
Continue reading “Four thoughts on the government’s housing story”
Without putting too fine a point on it, developers’ reputations have had a challenging year.
I’ve been to a few public meetings lately where they’ve been criticised. It’s always been like this, especially when people don’t want development in their areas.
But it feels like the volume and tone of criticism has changed over the last year, as a growing range of issues has hit the mainstream. Land banking, executive pay, leasehold concerns, viability assessments and worries about the green belt are all in the headlines.
Continue reading “Reputation matters: how developers can build trust in their work”
This Christmas was a good moment to reflect on what happened in 2017 and make plans for the year ahead.
Unusually for us, we haven’t travelled beyond Bristol this Christmas. Spending the festive break in Somerset provided an opportunity to really think about these things, as well as spend time with family and friends.
The last 12 months have been a hell of a time for me; memorable, challenging and exciting. It was a bit stop-start, with the snap general election disrupting projects whilst providing a new level of uncertainty for a government already absorbed by Brexit. Anyone remember ‘strong and stable’? It didn’t go well when the PM visited the South West and was a new low point for drab, one-way political campaigning in this country. It all feels like a different era now.
Continue reading “New year, new hopes and engagement approaches”
The West of England’s devolution deal was rubber stamped last night after months of discussion by local leaders.
The agreement unlocks around £1bn in investment in housing, transport and skills. Most people would regard these as important issues that should be locally controlled.
Despite this and the welcome statements that will follow, last night’s response to the news seemed muted.
Councillors in Bristol expressed concerns that the 2,000 responses the recent consultation generated should have been much higher.
The Bristol Post reported these concerns alongside the question: does anyone care?
With all that’s happened since June, it’s easy to forget that there’s a big decision ahead about how the West of England runs its affairs.
The devolution deal for ‘greater Bristol’ won’t set most people’s pulses racing. But ask those who live and work here what’s important to them and many will say housing, transport, education, jobs or a combination of the above. As it happens, the West of England’s deal is geared towards addressing all of these issues.
On the table is £1bn to invest over 30 years in housing, transport and skills. Post #EUref, when ‘taking back control’ swayed views about our country’s future, handing responsibility for these issues to local areas seems an obvious step.
It’s probably worth five minutes’ of everyone’s time in the scheme of things.
Continue reading “Talking about our devolution: what people told us about the deal”
My blog on jargon in UK housing generated a great response and was my most popular post of last year.
I’ve not had time until recently to follow through on my promise to turn the feedback into an online resource. Today’s Twitter discussions about the importance of having a shared narrative and housing ‘owning our future’ (or #OOF) makes this a timely post.
Continue reading “Owning our future: why dropping jargon matters”