Adrian Pascu-Tulbure: The culture of low expectations is ruining our high streets

Cllr Adrian Pascu-Tulbure is deputy leader of the Conservative opposition in Hammersmith and Fulham

Yookay aesthetics. Scuzz Nation. The holy trinity of fried chicken shops, eerily empty barbers, and second-hand phone stores. It’s practically impossible not to have witnessed change – not just on our high streets, but in the way that people have started talking about them.

The fact that this is being greeted with faux outrage by the Left proves how valid, and valuable, this debate is. To the New Statesman, this is the language of “cackling satirists of the right”. A few days ago, Private Eye spoofed criticism of London as the breathless burblings of a “Professor Matt Goodwhinge”. Meanwhile, in relation to the Looking for Growth Group’s recent scrubbing of graffiti from Tube carriages, the TfL Commissioner speculated it might be a case of “people creating graffiti and then removing it”.

This issue was out in full force last week in a local debate on the state of Uxbridge Road in west London. Earlier this year, 2,500 residents, angered at the extent of criminality and decay on this major high street and the lack of engagement by the local Labour administration in Hammersmith and Fulham, submitted a petition calling to “Fix Uxbridge Road: No More Neglect, No More Crime”.

The petition noted that under Labour, the area “visibly deteriorated due to neglected shopfronts, derelict flats above businesses, and inconsistent Council oversight”, which allowed crime and antisocial behaviour to thrive. Importantly, signatories to the petition “have raised these concerns relentlessly over 2.5 years through emails, conversations with Council officers, and community reports. Yet visible change remains minimal”.

Labour tried to get ahead of the problem and set out its own vision. It was pure lanyard-ese: the Council, we learn, “recognises the unique character and identity” of the road and resolves to “deliver enhancements that improve safety, cleanliness, and vibrancy while protecting the identity and diversity that make Uxbridge Road a place to be proud of” “in a way that complements the unique character of the street’s business offer”. Alongside the basics (clean the pavements, remove graffiti, declutter street furniture – that is, what a council should be doing anyway), the headline move is getting local artists to paint jaunty “street art” on derelict shutters. Policing will continue to be spearheaded by a combination of CCTV (not all of which, it turns out, is connected to the system) and the local law enforcement team – nice enough people but with no power of arrest.

Nowhere is there mention of anything resembling a serious attempt to tackle crime, aggressive begging, or public drug use, issues that have sadly plagued the street for years. Far less was there consideration of improving the aesthetics of the area, or debate about what business activities might be more or less desirable. Instead, the Conservatives’ efforts to champion the concerns of residents were airily dismissed as “doing down” the area, with one cabinet member explaining that there were “many different visions” for the road, without considering whether there were any particular visions that might be better or worse. To criticise, after all, is vulgar, even a little bit bigoted.

I get it, in a way. It’s uncomfortable to criticise areas that are “vibrant”. Because any criticism comes with baggage. What does he really mean? Accusations of dog whistles, gentrification, and social exclusion are never very far away.

But this is political territory we should defend. One can note there is a difference between vibrancy and criminality, and that diversity is not invariably a strength. It is reasonable to argue that, even if something is “unique”, that statement does not signify whether that uniqueness is a good or a bad thing. And it is not beyond the pale to make value judgements about the desirability of certain activities, even if they are legal.

It is, to my mind, a symptom of Labour’s culture of low expectations that multicultural areas are too often treated in a patronising way that fails to distinguish between what is good and what is not.

Skating around problems staring them in the face, left-leaning politicians and commentators refuse to call out what is unacceptable. Some, eager to secure good-boy points, defend the vision of kebab-and-moped-and-spare-any-change Britain as pleasingly “gritty” – one in the eye for the snobs that prefer John Lewis. Even when they choose to live in such areas, they do so from a perspective of privilege, with enough social, cultural and – it must be said – physical capital to insulate themselves, not considering what life would feel like if you were, say, a frail older woman.

There is, though, a potential Conservative vision for our declining high streets. It includes a zero-tolerance approach to drug use, begging, and antisocial behaviour; well-enforced and high-quality design guidelines for shopfronts and targeted incentives to businesses making visual improvements to their premises; and a full-hearted promotion of independent stores that add real value to the community. Clean It Up. Chase quality. Choose excellence.

I believe this vision should also embrace variety, because different cultures, blended well, can and should be a source of enjoyment. Finally – while of course protecting the needs of residents – we should also be embracing the concept of high streets that are fun. Replacing the Yookay aesthetic with a Hyacinth Bouquet aesthetic would be two steps forward, one step back.

Most importantly, we shouldn’t be afraid of saying “we can do better”. The flip side of celebrating excellence is rejecting what is substandard. A programme of “Clean It Up” will irritate the seeking-to-be-offended crowd. But that may well be a price worth paying if we are to win back hearts and minds in our towns and cities.

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