The People & Places Partnership is working with Ware Town Council and local partners in planning for the welcome back to Ware of its residents, regular customers and prospective visitors. The Welcome back to Ware planning process aims to aid the town centre’s immediate post-COVID recovery and provide a firm foundation for its long-term revitalisation. This page provides access to up-to-date resources created as part of this work, as well as links to related guidance.
Engaging with local stakeholders
The process began in January 2022 with workshops with key community stakeholder groups, alongside a review of existing strategies that impact on Ware town centre. Such stakeholder engagement will be central in planning for the recovery in Ware town centre. This short video gives an introduction to the proposed welcome back to Ware process for the recovery & transformation of the town centre. There is also a downloadable pdf version of the introducory presentation on the welcome back to Ware proposals.
The next step will be an on-street survey of the business mix and access issues. This will be followed by on-line customer and business surveys to gauge the perceptions of these two sets of stakeholders that use the town centre.
Surveying business & customers
The next step involved the creation and publication of surveys for individual local businesses and town centre customers, in conjunction with Ware Town Council, East Herts Council, Ware Town Centre Steering Group and Ware Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group. Consideration is also been given to possible next steps for developing a lasting partnership to help improve the town centre. A video outlining initial findings gives an indications of local priorities and next steps.
National guidance on town centre recovery
This work to Welcome back to Ware is using the approach developed by People & Places for the Local Government Association’s revitalising town centres toolkit. This toolkit includes practical guidance on post-COVID 19 recovery planning including a case study on People & Places’ support for reopening & revitalising Selby town centre and reopening East Suffolk’s towns.
Find out more about the Shared Prosperity Fund and the opportunities it provides for sharing prosperity across our towns and cities, including how to get hold of our free guide on the Shared Prosperity Fund & its opportunities for communities, place & local business.
