Creating a Forward Framework for town centre revitalisation provides communities with a template for determining the ‘how’ and the ‘what’ of transforming their high streets. This video presentation gives an overview of creating a Forward Framework for town centre revitalisation using the East Suffolk town of Bungay as an example. Below are links to all…
As plans unfold for progressively re-opening our town & city centres, we consider the necessary first steps to recovery through first learning about what has changed. We do this by pulling together available evidence from national surveys of how business practices and customer perceptions have changed during the initial crisis phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. …
The spread of Coronavirus is adding greatly to the already testing times for our town centres. Times when the role as community hub and the connections created through responsive customer service are being thoroughly tested. The early signs are that amongst the confusion, businesses and community groups are coming together and responding with resolve and…
Amongst all the other challenges facing our town and city centres, can we afford to care about greening High Streets? As ATCM’s Chief Executive, Ojay MacDonald promised in his introduction to this week’s conference titled Green High Street 2050: A Climate Emergency, its a topic that poses more questions than answers. Questions about greening High…
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…
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…
Reviving historic town centres and their role is not simply about a short-term injection of cash to restore heritage shopfronts or salvage a single historic building for re-use. Reflecting on Historic England and the Government’s £95 million investment in high street heritage action zones across 69 towns and cities, we consider the nuanced and integrated…
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…
East Suffolk Council is working with the People & Places Partnership to deliver a ground-breaking study aimed at understanding the future for East Suffolk towns. The first phase of this ambitious study is completed and has involved gathering key data, interviewing customers and surveying all town centre businesses in 12 East Suffolk communities. This provides…