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Intersection Between Health and Wealth
A Manifesto for a Mission Critical Town Centre Renaissance
Download a copy here
Following months of consultation, ATCM is launching its UK Manifesto for Town Centres. The manifesto sets out a roadmap for the radical transformation of town centres to bring about a renaissance.
The manifesto is centred around four key themes to support renewal:
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Creating world class stewardship
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Delivering a built environment for the 21st century
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Securing a whole society approach to health & wellbeing
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Liberating high street enterprise and investment
The mix of recommendations are geared towards embracing a number of agendas above and beyond direct support for high street businesses. Instead it focusses on both the health and wealth of the UK, outlining how town centres can make their contribution to both by tackling issues such as crime, ASB, wellbeing, housing and climate. They are not just a wish list for government to implement, but require a partnership approach with actions across all levels.
Funding Place Management Takes Centre Stage
A huge concern for ATCM is the financial pressure on public services and the place management industry. Its why our manifesto states that there is no choice but to increase funding for those public services that can directly impact growth such as town centre management, economic development, and planning. We also believe that, by modernising existing BID regulations and providing clean legislation for Property Owner BIDs, we can boost investment from the private sector in regeneration.
Ending Fragmentation
There is another structural challenge that undermines town centres – fragmented ownership. Building on our success in lobbying for the High Street Accelerators pilot in England, and building on the work of organisations such as the British Property Federation and Architecture 00, we are recommending the creation of High Street Trusts. These would allow property owners the ability to pool their assets together in a town and to work with partners such as local authorities, BIDs and the local community to develop a comprehensive and robust partnership vehicle that helps bridge the gap between ambitious, strategic visioning and effective, operational delivery for town centres.
