Developing a strategy for a town that allows for holistic and integrated approaches to regeneration is a major challenge. Members of the Town Centres and Local High Streets learning network identified 'Whole Town Centre Strategies' as a priority area for support. In response, the learning network - in partnership with Business Improvement Districts Scotland - held an event in Glasgow on October 29 looking at the development and implementation of Whole Town Centre Strategies.
- Mhairi Donaghy (EKOS) presented findings from a scoping exercise which looked at whole town centre strategies currently being developed across Scotland
- Phil Prentice and Daniel McKendry (East Renfrewshire Council) talked about the Barrhead and Neilston experiences
- Nick Brown (NB Planning) outlined the Aberdeenshire Towns Partnership experience and introduced the Sustaining Small Expanding Towns Toolkit (SusSET)
- Phil Turner (Chair of the European Council for the Village and Small Town (ECOVAST)) provided a European perspective
Delegates attending the event also had the option to attend a session called 'Beyond the immediate future - Visioning what Scotland's towns could become'. This challenging and thought provoking session built on some of the key issues emerging from the day and aimed to form a picture of Scotland's towns in the future.
A learning point summarising the main points from the event will be available soon.
In the meantime, read some of the delegates thoughts from the event on the online forum [if you don't already have a password, you'll need to register].