It’s Grim Up North, or is it? I found it not so grim when I visited Barnsley. Barnsley is the Council of the Year 2023, mainly on the back of the rejuvenation of their town centre, so I travelled to find ideas and hoped to learn from their success.
As a deprived former mining town that has seen its central government funding cut by 50% since 2010, Barnsley has its challenges. Industries such as linen, glass making, textiles and a large coal mining industry, have gone, though the local culture is still rooted in its industrial heritage.
The Labour controlled council led a major town centre regeneration. They have worked with the local hospital to deliver the first Community Diagnostic Centre, created a digital campus to support business development, used a pioneering model to support community engagement and have launched a future strategy: Barnsley 2030. They have a strapline: Barnsley – the place of possibilities.
Kathy McArdle, Service Director for Regeneration, showed us the possibilities, starting with their very traditional Town Hall which is now only used for meetings, holding the Barnsley archives and a fantastic museum dedicated to the history of the town and its people called Experience Barnsley.
In Ipswich, we also have a traditional Town Hall. No longer used as office space, it has the Ipswich Registrar Office, King Street Cinema (a community-based two screen cinema specialising in independent films) and Moments coffee shop (supporting St Elizabeth Hospice). There will soon be a replacement for Little Waitrose and there are a couple of other interesting organisations likely to set up in the Town Hall in the near future.
Ipswich Museum is currently closed until 2025 for a £9M refurbishment. It’s unlikely to be renamed Experience Ipswich, although a major aim is to tell a strong, coherent story representing the history of Ipswich and its place in Suffolk, the UK and the world.
We next visited the Digital Media Centre. It’s a place for anyone with a digital or creative business idea to start and grow their company. It provides collaboration space for companies wanting to do more with technology in their own business. In Ipswich we do have The Innovation Labs at the University of Suffolk (ILABS) and Innovation Hubs at Adastral Park but I think we could do more to grow our digital sector.
The big part of Barnsley regeneration is The Glass Works, an impressive open space surrounded by a cinema, library, food & drink outlets, shopping, Market Kitchen of 12 food outlets with 500 seats, including outdoor seating and an NHS Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC). The CDC offers testing and screening services in a convenient central location, in a fresh and modern environment. 92% of attendees then go on to spend money nearby, which is good for boosting the town centre.
The Glass Works is not just about shops, it has other things to attract people. Things that people can’t get from Amazon: Food & Drink, cinema, library, health screening, a great open space and events. The Cornhill needs to become this place for Ipswich.
As a final cherry on the cake, I was shown the site of the new Northern Academy for Vocal Excellence. Who knew that Barnsley Youth Choir is one of the top five youth choirs in the world? Hundreds of people ages 4-24 are involved. Raising expectation gives people pride in their place.
If Barnsley is the place of possibilities then Ipswich is the place of potential. We need to make our potential a reality and make Ipswich a place to be proud of.