The PPP is dead! … Long live the PPP!
The Local Government Association (LGA) commissioned PRD and Newbridge Advisors to produce a new good practice guide, Public-Private Partnerships: Driving Growth, Building Resilience. The guide aims to support councils to plan and deliver better and more effective public-private partnerships (PPPs) that can deliver the investment, development, and services that are essential to boosting economic growth and recovery.
Against a backdrop of significant uncertainty and challenge resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and continued pressures on budgets, councils across the country are demonstrating ambition, agility, and incisiveness in delivering a greener and fairer economic recovery.
We really enjoyed the process of speaking with a range of expert practitioners to develop this guide, including local councils, council-owned ventures, investors and developers who were passionate about the approach and generous in sharing their lessons learned—both good and bad!
Whilst PPPs are undoubtedly challenging to deliver and not without their controversy, robust and well-coordinated partnerships present opportunities to bring together the resources, expertise, and powers available in ways that cannot be achieved by either sector in isolation. As such, councils are now rightly exploring how this investment could unlock a range of social, environmental, and economic benefits aligned to local and national priorities.
Friends of PRD will recognise many of the practices that we consider to be the hallmarks of effective delivery planning. The guide captures the key challenges, barriers and opportunities that exist when establishing and running successful partnerships. Drawing from on-the-ground experiences, we look at how approaches can be improved, where risk can be mitigated, and how good working practices can support resilient and effective delivery models.
Please get in touch if you want to know more and enjoy the guide!
By Daniel Partridge