HIgh Street UK
Based on the success and experience gained from our regeneration programmes, the Civic Trust is piloting an innovative project. High Street harnesses the energies of local people to improve their town centres.
Great Malvern is the first town in the UK to take part in the UK to take part in the project, with residents, traders, councillors and local civic society working together to deliver the four themes of the programme. Local co-ordination, good design, promotion of the town and economic development are brought together to improve the town for all.
If you would like to find out more about High Street, please visit High St. UK is a new national town centre programme aimed at creating a momentum of activity at high street level. The programme focusses on town and city centres, the people that run them, the businesses that operate there, residents and consumers, the people that look to them to provide central services and the local economic systems they fit within. It is a collaborative venture between The Civic Trust and the New Economics Foundation.
Town centre management has increasingly focused on the perceptions of the national multiples. Smaller independent shops are closing at the rate of 2,000 a year, but a successful town centre relies on a blend of well known fascias and local independents. A strong local independent sector means that more money is retained within the local economy to support local growth in jobs and other opportunities. The power of major food stores to dominate a local centre is well known, but the techniques for developing and supporting the full complementary range of other facilities is less understood and rarely applied.
To learn more please visit http://www.highstreetuk.org.uk/