Twelve towns across East Suffolk are set to benefit from evidence-led investment in town centres following research undertaken by the People & Places Partnership.
Towns Initiative
The East Suffolk Towns Initiative (ESTI) will be the first phase in developing and delivering evidence-led investment in town centres. It is aimed at delivering economic development solutions following the People & Places town centre research. It will seek to support projects that come from the individual action plans that will be developed or from a number of towns collaborating to address the same economic issues or themes. Towns will be assisted by People & Places in this next phase through support for partnership development, action planning to prioritise projects and collaboration on common issues.
Twelve neighbouring towns
By working across twelve neighbouring towns in East Suffolk the initiative offers the advantage of both being able to compare issues and share solutions. The twelve towns are: Aldeburgh; Beccles; Bungay Felixstowe; Framlingham; Halesworth; Leiston; Lowestoft; Saxmundham; Woodbridge and Wickham Market village. People & Places piloted the the approach in East Suffolk with a survey of Southwold in 2017 that provided an evidence base for stakeholder engagement, the creation of a town centre strategy and successful funding bids.
Research-based
The fund will address the themes of business/enterprise and place/destination taken from the People & Places reports and subsequent action plans. The People & Places Partnership were commissioned in 2019 to help understand the issues being faced by East Suffolk’s town centres. The aim of the research was to help identify strategic priorities and initiatives for the towns and inform future partnership work between East Suffolk Council and local stakeholders.
Future support
People & Places are now working with East Suffolk Council to help stakeholders to work collaboratively and agree a prioritised action plan for evidence-led investment in town centres. The £128,000 funding initiative is set to come on-stream from March and will be evenly allocated across the 12 towns. In addition the District Council is undertaking a parking review across all of its towns and has plans to roll-out a Smart Towns initiative providing investment in businesses’ digital skills and infrastructure.
More information
Keep up-to-date with details of the East Suffolk Towns Initiative.
Watch the Talk of the Towns in East Suffolk video showcasing the ways the communities are already addressing the issues.
Read the latest thinking on Well-Connected Town Centres (coming soon)
