Newport City Summit - We need more than blanket optimism or cynicism

A tale of two cities. Cllr Bob Bright and Simon Gibson sat next to each other during a Q&A at The Celtic Manor, but the distance between the two is greater than it looks.

Friday 7th October saw the second Newport City Summit at which Newport City Council and reNewport gave an update on Newport's regeneration plans. The message was very much about positivity and flag waving, but in reality, what we really saw here was 'the difficult second album' after the phenomenal success of February's first Summit.

Let me make one thing clear. NOBODY wants to see Newport's regeneration more than I do. I love Newport. I love the people, the culture, and the unique but hard to define 'something' that makes Newport special and different. If I didn't love Newport I would move elsewhere. But even if I won the Euromillions, my home would remain the city to which I will always belong.

There's a lot going on in Newport at the moment and there's certainly a feel that efforts are being made on a multitude of fronts. Some of these efforts I am a keen supporter of, and others I think are folly. For example, I found it difficult to play down my enthusiasm for the reNewport vision presented at the first Newport City Summit in February. I can't remember a time when Newport actually had a strategy or a vision, but reNewport at last presented a balanced and well researched vision I could really get behind.

Similarly, I'm a huge supporter of the Newport BID. This has the potential to transform the city centre and make it a more appealing environment for shoppers and business. I also am grateful that Admiral has chosen the city centre for its new office. The injection of several hundred workers at lunchtime has no doubt provided a considerable boost for local businesses. To be fair, I don't think I've heard a single word in opposition to Admiral arriving in the town, which underlines how much such a development is appreciated by all.

By contrast, I'm not a supporter of the Friars Walk development. In my opinion it's folly for the city to go into hock for £90 million to build a new shopping centre when what we really need is more industry and business to bring revenue IN to the area, instead of multinational retail chains taking yet more money OUT of the area.

Yet because I criticise things like the Friars Walk development I am considered by some an unwelcome and unhelpful cynic. I was even called 'relentlessly negative' by a contributor to the comments section on the South Wales Argus website recently (who obviously hadn't noticed those things for which I am a gushing advocate). I guess the mantra holds strong in Newport that 'you're either with us or against us' and we should all give 100% unswerving approval of everything that happens.

Newport is increasingly polarised in this way. Most people seem to sit in one of two camps. You are either unfailingly a supporter of everything that's going on (and by extension an unflinching supporter of Bob Bright's Labour led council), or you are cynically opposed to everything. Neither is helpful, but while having a balanced, pragmatic attitude where you have differing opinions on different aspects of the regeneration process makes far more sense, it clearly is a not popular approach.

So I went to the Newport City Summit in a mixed frame of mind. I could still taste the euphoria of February's Summit and the unveiling of the reNewport Report, but I suspected this time it would be more of a flag waving exercise for the council and less about reNewport. You may remember Bob Bright's comment at the time of the first Summit...

'We could all have written down those ideas.' Reaction of @NewportCouncil leader Bob Bright to @RE_NEWPORT report. But he didn't. No vision.
— Kevin Ward (@ArgusKevinWard) December 12, 2013

The second Summit agenda was issued in advance and showed that the event was indeed going to be more of an overall summary than the February event; giving an update on where Newport is with regards to all of the regeneration activity going on. It is of course vital that all regeneration efforts are viewed in relation to each other. Ideally, each should have a bearing on the direction of the others to be truly holistic. Sadly we don't appear to be at that level of organisation or strategic thinking, but it would be of huge benefit if we were. The regeneration programme still has a feel of separate projects happening at the same time with a hope that 'it all comes together'.

The Morning Session
The event kicked off with Councillor Bright giving a City Centre Regeneration Update, much of which centred on the Friar's Walk development. Mr Bright was followed by Simon Gibson, Chairman of the reNewport Task Force who gave a presentation on Driving Economic Growth for the City. These presentations were followed by a brief Q&A.

Both men can speak with authority and conviction, but Simon Gibson is particularly convincing and authoritative. Without wishing to sound like a fan boy (which I concede I might), Mr Gibson gave an impression of somebody who didn't have to be there, but who was because he is genuinely committed and believes in what he and his team are doing.

This was well illustrated when Mr Gibson addressed an earlier shouted comment from a protester about arms dealers and also a question about what the council was doing to help the under-privileged and homeless (there were only two protesters and they were half-hearted at best). Simon Gibson addressed both points with balance and care, even though they were clearly outside his remit, and he even went over to discuss the issues with the protesters during the break. I don't know what he said to them, but we heard nothing more from them throughout the rest of the day.

By contrast, Bob Bright was more guarded and defensive in nature. During the Q&A I asked for an update on the £90 million loan for the Friar's Walk development - when will the council start pulling down the loan, when will the city start paying the loan back, what kind of interest is due etc. Mr Bright said he wouldn't go into specifics, but assured the audience that no money had been drawn down yet. He also made a bullish claim that we can 'rest assured the council will be making a profit'. Let's hope that one doesn't come back to bite him on the backside.

The reNewport project continues to impress and progress. But this doesn't surprise me. There is a strong and growing movement in Newport of people who are advocates of technology as Newport's future. The movement comprises a growing number of business who meet monthly under the banner of Digital Tuesday and strongly complements the reNewport project. They are very focussed and are asking the questions that need to be answered if Newport truly is to develop as a centre of technology and reap the considerable rewards on offer.

reNewport and Digital Tuesday have a very different feel to the other regeneration efforts, which invariably are Council-led. They feel more democratic, inclusive, focussed, and crucially, they take a more critically informed approach. This is in contrast to the other 'suck it and see' regeneration activities.

I don't get the feeling there is any ongoing assessment of regeneration plans from the Council, or any feeling that evidence has informed the tactics adopted. Even asking questions or volunteering comments is not welcome. But what successful venture has ever been completed with only unflinching optimism at its heart?

You can't open a shop and stand behind the counter with a welcoming a smile and expect success as a given. You need to constantly assess what you're doing - whether you have the right stock, whether you're getting the best price from suppliers, whether you're charging the right price to your customers, whether the shop layout works etc. It has to be an ongoing process. Similar analogies can be made for building a successful football team, putting a man on the moon, or indeed regenerating a city. But I don't see that with Newport's regeneration programme. I don't see much by way of open dialogue, I don't see any KPIs being set, I just see 'build it and hope' and an expectation that we must all go along with this approach. They decide, and we accept (and of course foot the bill for their gut instincts).

However, fortunately for the Council, events such as the Newport City Summit largely attract the faithful. It was noticeable that during the Q&A sessions at the Newport City Summit, instead of a forest of curious hands raised from audience members, we had just a few solitary questions. Most people had come to listen and learn, not to question. One must assume they are all happy, supportive and convinced that everything that is going on will lead to success. I truly hope they're right.

The Afternoon Session
After lunch the stage was given over to presentations by Ian Edwards, Chief Executive of Celtic Manor Resort who looked at The NATO Summit and its Legacy, and Ceri Doyle, Chief Executive of Newport City Homes who gave a presentation on Newport - Building the Story. These were also followed by a Q&A session.

I won't dwell on Mr Edwards' presentation. I've made my views known on the myth of a legacy for Newport from the NATO Summit. I don't believe there is one. Yes, it's been fabulous for the Celtic Manor and it's wonderful that the resort has now established itself firmly in the top division of global venues for major events.

But, as a good friend pointed out recently, the reality is given away in the name - Celtic Manor RESORT. The events it holds are largely self contained within the confined of the resort and claims of major trickle down benefits to the city are hugely overplayed. I like the idea of the new Conference Centre, but Mr Edwards' claim that it will generate 100,000 room nights for other local hotels in reality means it will generate room nights for multinational hotel chains, not locally owned businesses. So more Champagne for Paris Hilton, more zero hour minimum wage jobs for Newportonians. I don't call that regeneration sorry.

Neither can I share Mr Edwards obvious joy at seeing the world 'Newport' in tiny letters at the bottom of CNN coverage of the NATO Summit. The word on the screens of the world's TVs only name checked us, it did nothing to show who we are or what we have to offer beyond the confines of the Celtic Manor. In my role as PR consultant I would feel cheeky presenting that to a client as 'coverage gained'.

There are more major events coming to the Manor, including the International Investment Conference taking place 20 - 21 November which, for some bizarre reason, seems to be of interest to nobody in the city, even though this is EXACTLY the kind of event we should be looking to take advantage of. The Celtic Manor will also host the InterAction Council next year, which presumably people WILL get excited about because it includes a few famous names.

Ceri Doyle's final presentation was somewhat left field. A new arrival to the city, Ms Doyle was particularly interesting and open during the Q&A session when the host Roger Hiscott, himself a key figure in the Digital Tuesday movement, asked about her views of Newport before she came here. 'Somewhat lacking in ambition' may not be what we would want to hear, but I got the feeling that the room could sympathise.

But as Ms Doyle has obviously learned, as a city we DO have ambition, the big question is; are we going about it the right way to turn ambition into success?

Nobody appreciates the value of positive thinking more than me. But I wish more people saw the value of also viewing things critically and of ongoing reassessment of our course. I left the second Newport City Summit with a feeling that we are progressing down an expensive and unfamiliar road with our combined fingers crossed that it leads to verdant fields around the corner. It may do, it may not. But I'd rather be walking down that road putting my trust in a Ordinance Survey map instead of simply a cheery smile and an optimistic song.‏

reNEWPORT Report: Uncomfortable reading... for Bob Bright

December saw the publication of the report from reNEWPORT - a business development taskforce to the Welsh Government. The taskforce is a private sector group which, through consultation with the people of Newport, has arrived at a series of recommendations on how the city can be re-energised.

To put the background of the report into some context, Newport has been on a downward spiral for some years. There are plenty of opinions about why, but nobody can deny that, since being granted city status, Newport has consistently failed to meet the accepted criteria of a successful modern city. Business, retail and good quality employment has been steadily receding, the city is getting (and feeling) poorer, it feels mismanaged, and nobody from the city's council appears capable of putting forward any serious suggestions on how to get out of the mess.

Perhaps the only truely ongoing positive is; that the people of Newport are becoming united and increasingly vocal in their concern about the rot that has set in.

On the face of it, in producing this report, the Welsh government has effectively tired of watching from the sidelines as the Capital's nearest neighbour is steered into further decline by a clueless council, and has sent in a team of people who actually know what they're talking about to work out what could and should be done to halt the decline, and crucially, to give Newport a future.

If you need an easy one line summary, the reNEWPORT report lays out what needs to be done to drag Newport into the 21st Century.

The report is extremely important. In living memory, there is one thing that Newport has been lacking  - Vision [an opinion recently shared by Argus reporter Maria Williams]. The report delivers a vision.

The thought process should be obvious. Vision is the goal. To achieve the goal you develop a strategy, and to deliver the strategy you develop the tactics. At every stage, every decision you make as a city must have an eye on delivering the strategy to achieve the goal.

Within the report there are some 'nice-to-haves' in amongst the 'need-to-haves', such as fluffy ambitions for Newport to become UK or European Culture Capital in 2021 (which will take a gargantuan effort), but the report is broad and encompasses everything from heritage, to technology, to culture, to infrastructure and makes a lot of very sensible real-world suggestions that could be kicked off immediately.

By contrast, for decades, and without a vision or direction, the city elders of Newport have failed to recognise that the world is changing and consequently have made an endless sequence of stumbling bad decisions that have worked to make the city poorly equipped for the 21st Century. Planning decisions have been made without a view to consequence, growth or integration, and the result is a disjointed city which is difficult to get around, unwelcoming for business, with no game plan for growth, and which works against its own best interests.

For many people, the most surprising aspect of the report will be that it builds very much on the idea of Newport as a technology hub. But it shouldn't really be that much of a surprise when you consider the city's modern history with regards to technology in both enterprise and education. After the decline of coal mining and heavy industry, technology has been the unsung quiet-man success story of the region.

Technology and communications is a wise choice for a vision. For the last year and a half I've worked with one of the UK's leading technology PR agencies (based in Chepstow), representing some of the biggest global players in the fields of telecomms infrastructure, cyber security, networking optimisation and the like. This is a very successful and lucrative industry sector which is, to a degree, reasonably well protected against the effects of recession that can be so devastating for other industries (such as retail). It generates well paid employment, and there is no reason why Newport could not make great strides as a technology hub as the report suggests.

The report's modern-world conclusions will not sit well with the council. Indeed, we learned as much when the 'leader' of Newport City Council, Bob Bright, hurriedly dismissed the reNEWPORT report with 'we could all have written down those ideas'. He might as well have included the words 'new-fangled' in his banal critique. You need to read the word 'leader' with the same cynicism that I wrote it because Bright is a man who is increasingly the weak link of this current council and who appears as out-of-touch with the ambitions and wishes of the people of Newport as he could possibly be. I don't know and have never met Mr Bright, but on witnessing his performance at the recent extra-special meeting to vote on the £90 million loan for Friars Walk (the same meeting that he begrudgingly offered apology through gritted teeth for the Chartist Mural fiasco), he struck me as a singularly humourless, unimaginative and unmodern man as you could not want leading your city, and his only leadership qualities appear to be of the party political variety.

Bob Bright's comments have been received with the contempt they deserve, both publicly through the media, on social media, and in informal conversations. Again, this serves simply to illustrate the degree to which communication is another of Bright's key weaknesses. When he keeps schtum, as he did with the mural, he gets it wrong, and when he speaks off the cuff without consideration he succeeds only in leaving a nasty taste in the mouth.

Newport does have a bright future, but not a Bob Bright future. It needs the Welsh government and the experts to set the vision and the strategy on how to deliver. Bob Bright's council - and to be fair every previous council that I ever have known in Newport - are not, and never have been qualified or competent to be at the helm of a city which needs to sail on to more verdant shores. Let's face it, the council has never known how to steer the ship out of the harbour, let alone chart a course to a brave new world. But the reality is that the tide has gone out and the Good Ship Newport is run aground on the mud.

'The City of Newport... On The Rise' report is perfectly timed, is comprehensive and is much needed. At the moment it stands as merely recommendation, but the tone suggests that, in the face of ongoing complacency by Newport, it might well become something more. Personally, I can't wait. Bring it on.

Bob Bright's Twitter profile pic. The face of a bright and positive future for Newport?