At the People & Places Partnership we are pleased to announce the release of an updated post-COVID 19 version of the revitalising town centres toolkit prepared for the Local Government Association (LGA).
Launch of revised toolkit
The revised revitalising town centres toolkit supplements the original handbook for local leaders on how to approach the revitalisation of town and city centres. The updated toolkit provides guidance on responding to the immediate challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic alongside delivering long-term impacts to revitalise town and city centres. It uses broad principles and includes practical case studies that can be adapted to meet local needs.
Informed by national networks
The updating of the toolkit by Chris Wade (aka @man_about_towns) has been informed by an urgency in the development and sharing of good practice by local government and place management networks. This has included the LGA’s own extensive representation of all councils across England and the District Councils’ Network. Chris has also benefited from tuning in to discussions of policy and practice as part of the Association of Town Centre Management’s (ATCM) national Advisory Council and participation in webinars on post-COVID 19 recovery planning as a Fellow of the Institute of Place Management (IPM). The toolkit uses a methodology adapted from the IPM’s national post-COVID 19 recovery framework to help define the steps to recovery and backed by the Government’s High Streets Task Force.
Related advice and guidance
You can access the LGA’s updated town centres on-line toolkit prepared by People & Places to assist in planning for post-COVID-19 recovery of your town and city centre.
You can still download a copy of the original, succinct handbook on revitalising town centres: a handbook for council leadership to read alongside the toolkit.
A free, downloadable checklist for managing town centre streets and public spaces in 2020 is also available along with the government’s Welcome Back Fund guidance that gives details of eligible activity and the grant application process.
Keep up-to-date through our changing places resources page that includes the tracking of national trends and guidance on the lockdown roadmap’s greenlights and bottlenecks.
Case studies
Find out about Selby’s route to recovery and revitalisation using the revitalising town centres toolkit developed by People & Places nationally for the Local Government Association.
Learn to understand how returning customers are voting with their feet through our work with Proximity Futures to track footfall in town centres such as Nuneaton and Loughborough.
Read practical case studies about how Leamington Spa, Oxford and East Suffolk towns such as Southwold have welcomed customers back to town in a safe and warm way.
Learn about Colchester’s experience as the first town in the country that is piloting the innovative Park Active scheme as a more sustainable route into town centres.
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