Last Friday, 13^th June, Folkestone launched its first Triennial arts festival, featuring 23 internationally renowned contemporary artists including Tracey Emin and Mark Wallinger.

The artworks have been installed in different locations around the town, and 6 will remain as permanent pieces of public art.

The Triennial has been acclaimed by the arts media, and reported with interest in the news – both national and local. But this is an event that policy makers should also regard with interest, as it is evidence of how local ambition and vision can support the regeneration of a town.

The idea of arts and the creative industries being used to bring new life to a community is not new. This was important to the regeneration of Temple Bar in Dublin, and has been developed successfully in other European cities – notably Münster in Germany, which is in part a model for the project in Folkestone.

The lesson that has been learned from the experience of others is that major events have to be integrated into the life of the community, and help to create opportunities for all. In the last year in Folkestone a new Academy school and a University Centre, both specialising in creative arts have opened. The Creative Foundation, led by former SAGA Chairman Roger De Haan, has created a new ‘Creative Quarter’ by redeveloping 80 buildings in the old town near the harbour, to provide accommodation for artists and new businesses in the creative industries. They are offered rents below market rates, and the Quarter currently houses more than 150 tenants. There are plans for further expansion in the next few years. Creativity in Folkestone is not just to be something brought in from outside, for the benefit of visitors. It has been linked to jobs, training and business opportunities that can benefit everyone.

Roger De Haan has been the driving force behind much of this change, as well as ambitious plans for the redevelopment of the whole of the Folkestone harbour. But this pressure for change has been supported by a close working partnership with local government, community action groups and local business.

The policy challenge here should be to consider how it can be made easier and more attractive for entrepreneurs, business leaders, and property companies to work with local government to bring new life to communities, and how local government can be incentivised to take a proactive and creative approach to revitalising the commercial life of their towns, cities and rural areas.

We want more power for local communities and for decisions to be made closer to the people, but that should not just be an end in itself.

The objective for more community leadership should be to heighten the quality and ambition of local plans and decisions.