As the New Year dawns, Newcastle United are riding high in the Premier League, heading into the festive season firmly ensconced in the heady heights of 3rd place, and inhabiting one of the coveted Champions League spots. Under new ownership, the club's ambitions and self-belief are clear, and the team's delivery on the pitch is a direct statement of intent. Not only do we have a Premier League club, we have a Premier League, nay Champions League, city, and we need to match that ambition, drive and determination with how we approach the future of the city centre.
Over the past few years, we have become accustomed to our daily lives being overshadowed by national and international events. Unsurprisingly, these have justifiably demanded our attention, making local concerns seem far less pressing. But as we look ahead to 2023 and the start of a new year, we need to recalibrate and remind ourselves of what is important locally, and what we can do to positively influence where we live and work.
We know that challenging times lie ahead, but we can’t lose sight of what’s important for Newcastle and the wider North East. 2023 marks my 15th year at NE1. In that time, we have had three Governments and six Prime Ministers. But for all these changes, it is collaboration, common purpose and local action that have yielded the greatest results.
We shouldn’t allow economic decisions made centrally to get in the way of local priorities. Instead, we need to recognise that we are masters of our own destiny. Decisions we make locally can make the biggest difference to people’s lives.
Whenever we ask businesses and the general public for their priorities for the city centre, responses fall into three main categories: cleaner, greener and safer. This is why these have been central to our city centre delivery since NE1 was created in 2009.
While it may sound clichéd to say they ‘love the jobs we hate’, NE1’s Rapid Response Clean Team get tremendous job satisfaction working across the city centre, collecting over 900 bin bags of rubbish every month. They respond to more than 600 rapid response cleaning jobs each month and complete over 50 graffiti removals. Jet washing pavements, removing broken glass and other sharps, working hard in all weathers. They take real pride in the city, how it looks and how people experience it.
NE1’s Street Rangers, are another highly visible presence on the streets of the city and play a major part in improving safety and security in Newcastle. Since launching the city centre Business Crime Reduction Partnership early in 2022, our Street Rangers have received over 600 reports from businesses, 167 involved the police, and four included weapons. Of the retail crime reported, NE1’s Street Rangers have an astonishing 80% recovery rate. Having ‘boots on the ground’ really does make a difference and plays an influential role in tackling the problems of retail crime and anti-social behaviour in the city, making Newcastle a better place to work, live and visit.
All of NE1’s efforts in these areas are in addition to those statutory services provided by the council and police and, whilst they have a significant positive impact on the city centre, we are under no illusions; they are not a silver bullet. The investment made by Newcastle City Council and Northumbria Police is vitally important in delivering a city that we want to live, work and socialise in.
Newcastle City Council recently unveiled £25 million in cuts, which set off alarm bells in the city. Increasing cost pressures on the city council and the police are worrying, and reinforce the need to keep our priorities in focus.
In Newcastle, we are right to expect and demand high standards. By demonstrating low tolerance for low level crime and antisocial behaviour we encourage people to take pride in their city and encourage a sense of ownership and community cohesion, with the state, businesses, and residents all working together in pursuit of the same goal. A welcoming, well maintained, and safe environment will encourage people to spend time in the city centre.
We can’t afford to get distracted from this goal of getting the basics right, because if we do, the consequences will be dire and will be felt all too quickly. We need and want the city centre to be cleaner, greener, and safer and we have great teams in place to deliver this. We will continue to work with our partners to ensure that we provide complimentary support where it is needed most.
Working in close partnership with businesses and the statutory authorities across Newcastle has helped transform the city over the past 14 years. We can’t let this be a casualty of the next round of budget cuts happening nationally or locally, we need to work together in partnership to continue our successes. This was one of the key reasons NE1 was set up 14 years ago. Emerging from the last economic downturn, we ensured that the business’ voice was heard at a national and local level.
A reputation hard fought is easily lost and this is true of any city. We have made huge strides over the past fourteen years, and it is crucial that we don’t lose sight of just how far we’ve come. We also need to be relentlessly ambitious, and not accepting of the status quo, focussing on getting the basics right, and planning for future success.
We have great cause for celebration, there is huge investment being made in the city by the public and private sector. People can visibly see the city being reshaped with old buildings coming down and new ones going up, creating jobs and opportunities for local people, but this investment needs to be matched in the public realm, our civic space. This is where people interact with and experience our city.
We know challenging times lie ahead but we need to hold our nerve and not get distracted. Newcastle is a Premier League city, and we need to keep it this way.