As the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend approaches, I have recently met with Lord Parkinson, Minister for Arts and Culture, to discuss how councils are preparing for the celebrations. We have produced guidance for councils on how to take part in the events of the Platinum Jubilee Central Weekend 2022, and are working with the Big Jubilee Lunch and other charities to consolidate guidance on supporting street parties and road closures. 

As always, we anticipate significant media interest in how many street parties are being held and will be writing to council communications teams asking them to share, on a voluntary basis, how many are taking place in each council.

As I mentioned last month, the LGA has launched an independent Commission on Culture and Local Government to investigate the vital role of publicly funded culture in recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. This month we are launching our first call for councils and their local cultural sector partners to share case studies which demonstrate how locally funded culture can support Inclusive Economic Recovery. 

More information about how to get involved can be found in this bulletin.

Lastly, we are hearing considerable concerns about the impact of both the rise in energy costs and the squeeze on living standards on culture, tourism and sport services, as well as frontline colleagues working in these services. We are raising these issues with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), and with the Department Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) more generally. Please let us know if there are impacts on your community that we should be feeding in, or creative solutions that you have developed in response.

Do get in touch with the team if you would like to discuss any of our work at cts@local.gov.uk.