THE recently-appointed chair of the council’s urban generation company said the organisation “must be up for challenge and scrutiny”.

Lord Bob Kerslake, former head of the civil service, said BCP FuturePlaces can have a “very positive” impact across the conurbation but stressed it must work for the whole council.

FuturePlaces was founded in June 2021 with the aim of leading the council’s regeneration ambitions.

Seventeen months on and residents are still waiting to see the company’s first full set of plans.

Lord Kerslake’s appointment last month was hailed by council leaders, who are backing the arms-length firm to drive forward improvements at pace.

The FuturePlaces chair said he believes the company can make “quite a lot of difference”, highlighting the success he has seen from his similar roles in Barking and Dagenham, and Stockport.

“My sense is that the area of BCP, which is a fantastic area, has got a lot going for it and people are very proud of the places they live and they are places people are very attached to,” Lord Kerslake told the Daily Echo.

“What is the task then? I think there is a combination of things.

“Clearly there are still opportunities for development regeneration. Things that could be done better than they are at the moment, could look better, work better and that’s some buildings that were built in that 1960s and 1970s period, some transport that doesn’t quite work and even though it is quite an economically buoyant area of the country there is still issues of jobs and pockets of areas in genuine need and deprivation.

“Add to that real housing challenges, affordability of the housing.

“Whilst it is a great area there are still things that can and should be better and I think our role in BCP is to help accelerate that process, to make things happen in a way that is faster and more effective.

“I particularly like the commitment to stewardship in the model. It looks to make sure whatever we do has long-term lasting improvement. It is all about patient investment and long-term betterment.

“All of that adds up to a really interesting and exciting opportunity for me and the area.”

Lord Kerslake said he sees his role and that of other board members, which includes yet-to-be appointed non-executive directors, as three fold: oversight and governance of the company, expertise and experience from leading projects and championing the company and the area.

Many questions have been asked about how FuturePlaces will be held to account by councillors and how it is funded.

Lord Kerslake said the organisation has to have support from across the whole council.

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He said: “It can’t and shouldn’t ever be seen in any way as the product of one political party. We must work to the council and ensure that we are addressing the priorities they have. You kind of agree those priorities through the business plan, so you set out your proposals for the year ahead.”

“Whilst we are arms length, I am absolutely clear in my mind that we need to stay close to the council,” Lord Kerslake added.

“We need to work closely with the members and the officers of the council and we need to be absolutely sure what we are working on are the priorities of the council.

“We need to be transparent in what we are doing as well. I want to make a virtue of that.

“I have worked in local government; I have a huge amount of time for local government, and I want to be a trusted partner really.”

FuturePlaces is currently being funded through an £8million working capital loan from the council.

This would be be repaid by the company charging the council for improved projects and then in turn clearing the loan.

The financial struggles facing BCP Council are well documented and Lord Kerslake said local government across the board was facing “really tough times financially”.

He said the loan arrangement meant FuturePlaces would not take money from other council services.

“Our aim in due course is to capitalise the expenditure and then charge it out to projects,” Lord Kerslake said.

“It is has been set up in a way really not to have any direct cost at the expense of other projects and I think that is the right way to go. That has been the model in Barking and Dagenham.

“Even though that is the case, I am very aware of the context for the council and we will make very sure that we spend the money well. Even though it isn’t competing for other council resources, there is an obligation in these straitened times to make sure the money is spent well.”

On the subject of scrutiny, he said: “I am a passionate believer in open government. I am passionate believer in we should be held to account if we are spending public money.

“We must be up for challenge and scrutiny, that is part of deal.”

Lord Kerslake has organised a meeting with all councillors and he has also appeared before a council scrutiny meeting this week.

He said the FuturePlaces team needed to balance working on the larger longer-term projects and some shorter term schemes “where we can show and demonstrate that we are making progress.”

Asked how far the urban regeneration company can go in delivering transformation across the conurbation, Lord Kerslake said: “I think it can go quite a long way and we can achieve a lot. Success for me is that people say this is a place I have always loved and now it is even better.

“If they get to that point, they’ve tackled some of the things that didn’t quite work and they’ve made it an even better place than it is already.”