Levelling up: placemaking at its heart

In February 2022, the British Government published a levelling policy paper “Levelling Up the UK” which laid out their 12 missions and the steps needed to level up the country. The report covered 4 areas to focus on in order to achieve their promises, as well as the effect on the current turbulent economic condition. In this report, Criticaleye partner Capita outline five practical placemaking steps to kickstart the levelling up journey.

These include regenerating town centres, maximising community benefits of property developments, tackling and prioritising digital inclusion, accelerating housing decarbonisation and creating thinking space for levelling up.

Key takeaways include:

• The proportion of online purchases as a total of retail sales remains above pre-pandemic levels: 26.3% in October 2021 compared with 20.2% in January 2020, clearly showing that different actions must be taken to regenerate the high-street.

• “Competitive socialising” which involves playing a sport or game, or undergoing a challenge while spending time with friends is a massively rising trend.

• More than two-thirds of people would improve their digital skills if they knew there was support available to help them if they needed it.