We shouldn't let 'levelling up' be a letdown, it's a call to action

I wasn't alone at feeling frustration and a little anger at the government's Levelling Up White Paper. In my cover piece for Big Issue in the North I tried to use the space (of a week) to be more reflective. I also tried to place the story in real places and people's experiences of how it will impact their lives and ambitions, not just in economic theory and datasets.

I went on a tour of Morecambe, Manchester, Middlesbrough and then my home patch of Marple. Not quite Medici Florence as the overblown commentary around the White Paper tried to evoke. And yes, I spent a lot of time thinking about the seismic commitment Germany made to 'levelling up' the East, just as I was reminded that it was three years to the day that I was staying in a concrete former commie hotel block in Berlin enjoying Europe's most dynamic and exciting city.

There have been some instructive chats around what people can meaningfully do to arrest decline in their towns, villages and cities. At a workshop with the consistently fascinating People's Powerhouse, we got somewhere on this. For me, the starting point needs to be how we think of land and buildings. There is an irreversible decline in retail. No amount of High Street task forces, funds and pump-priming will arrest that.

The ability of communities to come together to co-create spaces and assets that make a tangible difference to their lives could and should be incentivised. Sometimes that power is unleashed defensively, like saving a football club, or a library, or a park. But exploring ways to use culture, sport, amenities and public services in a more unifying way seems far more transformative than some of the other ideas on offer.