Our new Talk of the Towns in East Suffolk video demonstrates two points that are key to revitalising town centres across the country: firstly, it is necessary to seek to understand and tackle a range of inter-related issues; secondly there is a lot to be learnt from how and what other towns are achieving to address…
Talk of the Town; where ideas are shared & inspiration found! It’s always a joy through ‘The Talk of the Town’ to share the ideas shaping places and seek inspiration from the people making changes. This time from across 12 East Suffolk communities where we have been working throughout this year and as our first…
This week I visited five West Midlands town centres in five hours. The kind of perspective on places that I am lucky to enjoy in my job (though usually divided by days not hours). Always an opportunity for joining-up town centre thinking. Town Centre Task Force This time I was accompanied on the visits by…
Sitting in a Camden café on route to day 2 of the @ATCMUK town centres’ #summerschool19, seems a great place to reflect on lessons learnt about engaging the #futureconsumer. lesson 1: Consumers, creators & citizens Great to hear this broader focus from the outset including first presentation from Kids Insights. Anything else and we haven’t…
Dated policies and an unfair tax regime must be reformed to create an environment that will allow high streets and town centres to flourish in the future. That is the message from the High Streets and Town Centres in 2030 report published by the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee in February. Locally-led strategies The…
The Government chose to coincide the unveiling of its £675million Future High Streets Fund with the start of the Boxing Day sales. Let’s hope together they bring short and long-term good news for our town centres! The Government’s stated objective for the Future High Streets Fund is to help renew and reshape town centres and high…
New customers will visit a business because they have heard about the quality of its products or the attractiveness of the place where it is based. Working across 10 Derbyshire towns, the People & Places Partnership are looking to help combine these selling points. People & Places are working with Eventful Places on behalf of…
This case study reviews the process of creating talented town teams over four years in six Pembrokeshire communities led by Pembrokeshire County Council. In 2012 Pembrokeshire County Council conducted a review of its town centres, focusing on: issues and challenges; impacts of council services; opportunities for regeneration and potential for improvement. Moving away from conventional…
The Grimsey Review 2 of the vanishing High Street offers a well-worked plan. Grimsey rightly parks key issues around planning, property and business rates firmly at central Government’s door. The rest of the document is essentially pitched at local authorities where local leaders are better placed to care, concentrate and respond to issues on their doorstep. …
In publishing his second review of an alternative future for the high street this summer, Bill Grimsey’s gift to Government is a well-worked plan. The frustration is that so was his team’s first review in 2013! The issue in taking forward Grimsey’s gift to Government, is that he and his team are assuming that central…