Presentation by Steven Tolson at Start Small, Think Big: Localising change conference, Newcastle, April 17th, 2013

1. Provocation 3
Sharing the delivery
of places with many
partners
Steven Tolson

2. Learning from the Past
“For his different purposes man needs many
different structures, both small ones and large
ones.... For constructive work, the principle task is
always the restoration of some kind of balance.
Today we suffer from an almost universal idolatry
of giantism. It is therefore necessary to insist on
the virtues of smallness..”
EF Schumacher: Small is Beautiful – A Study
of Economics as if People Mattered 1973

3. Jimmy Reid’s Rectorial Address 28 April 1972
"the greatest speech since President Lincoln’s Gettysburg address”
New York Times
“…Let me right at the outset define what I
mean by alienation. It is the cry of men who
feel themselves the victims of blind economic
forces beyond their control.
It's the frustration of ordinary people
excluded from the processes of decision
making. The feeling of despair and
hopelessness that pervades people who feel
with justification that they have no real say
in shaping or determining their own
destinies....”

4. An Asset Based Approach
Assets are the resources or strengths that
empower individuals and communities to make
the most of life.
They include:
- knowledge, skills and experience of people
- strength of local associations
- support of institutions
- the economy
- buildings and infrastructure

5. Community Empowerment & Renewal Bill
Aim - strengthen community participation, unlock
enterprising community development & community
renewal. Ideas:
• Extend community right to buy (Urban Scotland)
• Give people a greater say in local decisions
• Give right to challenge public service delivery if it doesn’t
meet needs
• Give local authorities powers to deal with empty homes &
buildings
• Amend allotments legislation to support grow-your-own
projects
• Explore how existing legislation can be used to allow Local
Authority and RSL tenants to manage their housing.

6. Delivering Places to Live
10 Propositions for transforming Placemaking in Scotland
Professor Stuart Gulliver & Steven Tolson

7. Place Really Does Matter!
• Place is about People, it is a “public good”
• Place is not a fractured ensemble of out of tune “bits and pieces”
(collaboration)
• Places need orchestrating to connect things (leadership)
• Place is an intrinsic component of national economic performance
• Place is not just about a Master Planning Process

8. Scottish Government’s Council of Economic
Advisers, First Annual Report, 2008
“Too much development in Scotland is a missed
opportunity and of mediocre or indifferent quality.
There are a few examples of new or regenerated
places which are well thought out, some fine new
buildings and smaller projects that are to be
welcomed but they are the exception rather than the
rule.
The ultimate test of an effective planning system is
the maintenance and creation of places where people
want to be. We need to rise to that challenge”

9. Blockage Issues
• Economic Performance –
- Corporations globally active
- local small companies inactive
- polarisation of funds to big players
(risk and preference for quick return)
• Demand - Underlying consumer demand
for property but unable to be realised
due to lack of equity.

10. Demographic Issues
• Household formation 2.91 persons in 1971 to
2.35 persons in 2011. (ONS)
• Large increase in 1 person households 17% in
1971 to 31% in 2011 (ONS) with greatest
increase in age band 16-59yrs
• By 2033 Scottish population of over 60s set
to increase by 50% (1.4m). An increase of
148% of people over 90 in same period.

11. Supply Side Blockages
• There is little development taking place (housing
production less than 50% pre 2008).
• New housing land supply is predominated by large sites
many held by large builders who control when, where and
how production occurs.
• New housing supply is based on numbers with mismatch
between dwelling size supply and household size (2.35
persons in GB) and sub-sector requirements (young and
older age groups). In Scotland 41% of all dwellings built
since 1982 have been in a detached form.
• Development finance polarised in favour of large builders
with robust balance sheets.

12. There is a mismatch of Housing
Supply with Household Compostition
The recession has brought a change in product
supply. Supply has different characteristics
in Scotland compared to England.
Scotland still has around 1/3rd of new build
houses in detached form and flat production
has broadley halved. In England detached
supply is between 10% and 20% with flats
accounting for more than 1/3rd of supply

13. % English House Types
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Year
%
Detached Houses
Detached Bungalows
Semi Detached Houses
Terraced Houses
Attached Bungalows
Flats and Maisonettes
NHBC New Homes Statistics Review Q1 2012
Does supply match
what is needed in
England?

14. % Scottish House Types
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Year
%
Detached Houses
Detached Bungalows
Semi Detached Houses
Terraced Houses
Attached Bungalows
Flats and Maisonettes
NHBC New Homes Statistics Review Q1 2012
Does supply match
what is needed in
Scotland?

15. The role of the State
• State is short on resources – “A State of Retreat”
• Pressure to get cash in for assets – sell to highest
bidder
• Public stimulus funding is small and short term (shovel
ready) and struggling to change market conditions.
• Public sector lacks confidence due to risk aversion.
• Public sector tied to rigid approaches and literal
translation of procurement rules.
• Due to risk transfer there is a lack of
investment, development skills and [municipal]
entrepreneurial action

16. The Role of the Council is
much more than front line services
• Legislator and Policy maker
• Investor (not developer)
• Promoter & Participator – Leading role not “bit part”
“to improve economic competitiveness and ensure
that local people secure the public service they
deserve, while at the same time having access to
the wealth that competitiveness should be
bringing”
Sir Howard Bernstein – CEO Manchester & a Municipal Entrepreneur

17. Why more involvement
from the State?
• Switch from Grant to Loan culture – can’t just hand
over the money so Spruce/Jessica could work
• State has best covenant for borrowing money –
private sector is struggling
• State still controls significant property assets –
currently worth low value so why not work them and
get production activity?
• State should control investment for the public rather
than individual interest –Scottish FuturesTrust’s
initiatives working for Health Centre / Education /
Housing investment. Join these activities and assets
together to achieve Place Investment.

18. Place Making is
Investment not Development
• Development is a short term process (in
and out)
• Investment is long term (stay in and have
a stake)
• Investment has financial, human and
physical capital all needing to be
collectively managed.
Well maintained Social Housing Gardens

19. Place Making Leadership
We need informed leadership to:
- Listen – “A wise old Owl sat on an oak, the more he saw
the less he spoke, the less he spoke the more he
heard, why aren’t we like that wise old bird?”
- Promote Vision, Planning and Implementation – “municipal
entrepreneur” (Howard Bernstein – CEO Manchester)
- Bind things together to get a coalition of support – get
people out of their silos and find “marriage value”
- Create certainty, clarity confidence and credibility –
“what is said will be done” [put it into action]
- Avoid a risk aversion culture [nothing will be done]

20. Collaboration -“Bridge Spanning”
Vertical management hierarchy
Horizontal between functions
Stakeholder customers, producers etc
Demographic communities and people from
diverse groups

21. Delivery: Not Paint by Numbers
• We have Written Policy
• We have Written Rules
• We have Written Procedures & Processes
BUT THERE IS A DELIVERY BLOCK!
Need to
• be informed on how market can be shaped / flexed
• generate conditions for creative and innovative solutions.
Don’t default to formulaic approach
• encourage a common sense approach
• co-operate and collaborate to stimulate solutions and avoid a
“paint by numbers” approach.
• adopt a “can do” culture

22. BIG Players
Corporate Players with
Corporate Funds
TOO BIG TO FAIL
SMALL Players
SMEs and Third Sector with
Micro Finance
TOO SMALL TO SUCCEED
We have to get things going
There’s a need to change attitudes and
behaviours and re-learn how to re-shape
the market – especially stimulating small

23. PUBLIC ASSETS
Set property rules and framework
REGULATION
Set planning policy & rules
STATE & COMMUNITY
INVESTMENT
Set Master Plan
Framework & Infrastructure
Power of European Place Making Delivery
A way to stimulate the Small

24. A Delivery Model by
Multi Participation
• A response to Delivering Better Places
• A response to public policy
• An opportunity to utilise public assets
• Invest and exploit public covenant
• Collaborate with Institutional Player to
match long term investment and merge
skills
• Get benefits from BIG and SMALL

25. Development and Investment of Place
The State
Long
Term Investor
The Developer
Short
Term Investor
The Citizen
Long
Term Investor
Infrastructure
Works
-Serviced Site
Purchase
-Development
Charges
-Tax
- Rental Income
The Products
The
Place
Stewardship
Site Assembly
© S Tolson September 2012

26. Collaboration in Action
A
Local Asset Backed
Vehicle
for Place Investment

27. Place Investor & Delivery Elements
• Macro
The State (land assets) and Investor
(investment funds) create the Place
Framework
• Micro
Multi Developers fill in the framework a
Plot Based Approach

28. Long Term Place Investor
An active Joint Venture
1. Public investor seeks financial long term return
and social & economic benefits
2.Private investor seeks a financial return
State participation
• brings covenant strength
• lowers risk
• improves access to funds
• increases value.

29. The Investment Activity
MACRO INPUTS
• Long term Place Framework
• Infrastructure & Services – Hard & Soft
• Energy Provider – Income generating
• Income Generating Uses - Property
(Stable Income generation = Long term Finance)

30. Development by Multi Players
MICRO INPUTS – Plot Based
• Corporate – House Builders
• Non corporate SME / Social Enterprise etc
• Co-operatives – formal co-op or partnership
• Individual Self Build / Custom Build
• Housing Associations - affordable
 Create variety, choice and competition and better social balance
 Lower equity inputs allows greater developer access
 Spreads Risk amongst many participants
 Speeds up delivery through many participants

31. Two Tiered Approach to Project Delivery
1. Infrastructure Investment (Long term – Place Making)
2. Block Development by multi Players – (Short term build but long term occupancy)

32. Public
Sector
Partner
Private
Sector
Partner
Public Land
Assets
Public Sector
Loans
• PWLB
• TIFs
• Jessica
Joint
Venture
Place
Investor Equity
Cash Match for
Assets
Multi Developer
Delivery
Developer Agreements
Developer
“A”
Volume
Builder
Developer
“B”
Commercial
Developer
Developer
“C”
Housing
Cooperative
Developer
“D”
Housing
Association
Developer
“E”
Self Build
External
Private Debt
Funders
© S Tolson September 2012

33. Steven Tolson
7 Park Avenue
Stirling
FK8 2QR
07753720347
stevenjtolson@gmail.com