Southampton City Council secondment

Joseph Owen

"Levelling up is a key — if not the key — political agenda of the current UK government and Boris Johnson’s premiership. As a domestic policy programme, Levelling Up aims to spread opportunity and prosperity to all regions of the UK, addressing regional imbalances in social mobility and people’s life chances. This ambition seeks to move the focus of public and private investment away from London and the Southeast, areas historically identified as being more productive and affluent than the rest of the country.

"While its city boundaries fall within this demarcated Greater Southeast geography, Southampton has significant areas of need and deprivation that still require — in the language of the political moment — “levelling up”. So, in the context of the national Levelling Up agenda and its corresponding policy programme, I was asked to work within Southampton City Council and provide a report that negotiated difficult, sometimes competing, questions about Southampton’s identity, topography, economy, health outcomes, and social disparities. Indeed, “levelling up” within the city is probably more crucial than emphasising its relative status within the country.

"To provide a Levelling Up narrative for the city, my report examined four overlapping agendas: the 2025 City of Culture bid, the Greener City strategy, some area-based regeneration projects, and Coastal Communities recovery. These agendas, which sit at various stages of development within the Council, could be deployed to support bids for forthcoming funding opportunities. The four agendas could also form part of a long-term approach to narrowing inequalities, developing skills and regenerating urban areas. These priorities thus extend beyond the temporary expediencies of current political discussions.

"My report included a literature review of scholarly, media, and government sources, which established the national context of Levelling Up. Stakeholder discussions with local authority officers and academics located the work within the Council and wider policy priorities for Southampton. Data comparison between Southampton and its statistical neighbours gathered Levelling Up metrics and indicators, identified in the Levelling Up white paper’s 12 “national missions”. The conclusions were drawn from critical evaluation of materials and collaborative discussion with the Council’s Policy and Strategy team, including points on how:

• Internal coordination must be strengthened between departments and teams within the Council to meet the challenges of Levelling Up
• Councillors, Cabinet Members and MPs must be encouraged to support — formally and informally — ‘levelling up’ bids and strategies
• Many key Levelling Up themes can benefit from cross-authority collaboration
• The broad objective to improve culture in cities addresses wider challenges, but the cultural sector must be sufficiently resourced and supported
• Attaching concepts of culture and pride to the Levelling Up agenda invites a more sustained engagement and discussion
• Civic pride must be understood as more than a set of nebulous metrics if the policy aim is to offer interventions in relatively deprived and unhealthy areas
• Community organisations need to have the knowledge, skills and confidence to make effective bids, strengthen relationships with local authorities, and develop project pipelines to respond to time-sensitive ‘levelling up’ deadlines

"I massively enjoyed my time at the Council and was struck by the ceaseless effort, intelligence and commitment of many officers. The relationships I built in my time there have helped me to rethink climate and nature strategies from my “Greenprint” secondment and influenced my current work as a research fellow on the AHRC-funded grant, “Feeling Towns”. This latter project helps local and central government — and national bodies such as Historic England — to create, embed and evaluate strategies for civic pride.

"I would like to put on record my thanks to the excellent Policy and Strategy Team, where I was based throughout the placement. Romilly, Stephen, Harriet, Lisa, Sian and Josh were indispensable guides to the world of local government. I would never have heard of the term “horizon scanning” without them. We have since strengthened connections between the University and the Council by sharing institutional access with our officer colleagues. I would also like to thank Mike Harris, now Chief Executive of Southampton City Council, for his direction on the project. It’s probably fair to say I played a key part in his promotion, and I wish him well." 

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