Sue Nicholas wrote:Well an Art Centre is not the solution.shops with character .The ones renovated many years ago The Green Room and Curiosity Shop.The Planning of shop frontages should be applied.Less fast food shops.Good quality clothes shops .Better transport links to the Town ..Chamber of commerce should encourage shops we need .A decent fish shop .
1. The vast majority of retail/hospitality premises in the town centre are not owned by the council so how do you propose private landlords are incentivised to firstly "renovate with character" & secondly attract quality tenants?
2. Yes DDC can have a proposal for shop frontages & types of tenants but that is likely to mean extra costs for landlords that will be passed on in rental terms thus disincentivising the sort of shops you want as their cash flow is generally patchy compared to high volume businesses like take aways & cafes.
3. Whilst bus services are deregulated & outside local authority/democratic control market/commercial forces will dictate the routes, service frequency etc offered.
4. CoCs have little power to influence the types of tenants, especially given the level of private landlords..
There is nothing wrong with a creative centre provided it is focused on the locals & their needs & wants & has a robust business plan to ensure it does not need additional public funds to allow it to function.
What the town centre absolutely needs is a proper neighbourhood plan that is adopted by the council, proper co-operation with the residents of the town & a single body representing the interests of the town centre.
There needs to be a recognition that in this post Covid world shopping patterns have changed & that this impacts the form & function of town centres, with them needing to transform into a socialising/meeting/entertainment rather than shopping venue .