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Author: Leigh Sparks
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April 2020 – Some tidying up and corrections in the Journal Article section
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Category Archives: BIDS
Scotland’s Towns Conference 2019
One of the now established features of Scotland’s Towns Partnership and Scotland’s Towns Week is the Annual Conference. For many years it has been located in the Central Belt, but for 2019 it relocated to Aberdeen. There are many good … Continue reading
Posted in Aberdeen, Amsterdam, BIDS, Bids Scotland, Consumer Change, Cork, Creative Places, Development Trusts, Healthy Ageing, High Streets, Local Authorities, Localisation, Place Standard, Places, Policy, Public Realm, Retail Change, Retail Policy, Retailers, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Scottish Retailing, Small Towns, Streetscapes, Town Centre Action Plan, town centre first, Town Centre Living, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, Urban
Tagged Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Bids Scotland, Cork, Healthy Places, Localisation, Place Standard, Places, Planning, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Towns, Scotland's Towns Conference, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scotland's Towns Week
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Towns and Town Centres in Scotland: reflections six years on from Fraser
I was recently asked to do a 10 minute reflection on the state of towns and town centres in Scotland and the work that has derived from the Fraser Review (the National Review of Town Centres) and from Scotland’s Towns Partnership. … Continue reading
Posted in BIDS, Bids Scotland, Consumer Change, Consumer Lifestyle, Creative Places, Development Trusts, Government, High Streets, Internet shopping, Local Authorities, Mary Portas, Online Retailing, Place Standard, Places, Planning, Policy, Rates, Regeneration, Reinvention, Rents, Retail Change, Retail Policy, Retailers, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Tax, TCRF, Town Centre Action Plan, town centre first, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, Understanding Scottish Places
Tagged Digital tax, Fraser review, Place Standard, Portas, Rates, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Town Centre Action plan, Town Centre Review, Understanding Scottish Places, VAT
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“Destination High Street – Restoring Vibrancy to Scotland’s Towns”
The invitation from the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland (AHSS) and the Scottish Civic Trust was to present a keynote address to their conference on ‘Destination High Street’. As both Professor of Retail Studies and Chair, Scotland’s Towns Partnership I … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, BIDS, Buildings, Community, Community Development, Consumer Change, Consumer Lifestyle, Creative Places, Design, Development Trusts, Environmental Quality, Government, High Streets, Historic Shops, Internet shopping, Local Retailers, Online Retailing, Places, Public Realm, Rates, Retail Change, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Small Towns, Social Inequality, Streets, Streetscapes, Tax, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Living, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Understanding Scottish Places, Urban
Tagged Community, Consumers, Digital, Heritage, High Street, National Review of Town Centres, Places, Rates, Retailing, Scotland, Scotland's Town Centres, Scotland's Towns, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Tax, Town Centres, Understanding Scottish Places
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Trading Places: our Town and Country Planning Columns
In 2012 Anne Findlay and I attempted to take over from Professor Cliff Guy who had provided the Trading Places columns in Town and Country Planning for 12 years. In the subsequent 6 years we have produced 23 columns, but … Continue reading
Posted in Academics, Alcohol, BIDS, Bill Grimsey, Bookmakers, Consumer Change, Consumers, Farm Shops, Food Retailing, Government, High Streets, Internet shopping, Mary Portas, Places, Planning, Pop-Up Shops, Proactive Planning, Rates, Resilience, Retail Change, Retail Parks, Retail Planning, Retail Policy, Social Inequality, Town & Country PLanning, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Uncategorized
Tagged BIDs, Bookmakers, Business rates, Consumer change, Farm Shops, High Streets, Obesity, Planning, Pop-Up Shops, Rates, Retail, Retail Change, retail parks, Retail Planning, TCPA, Town and Country Planning, Town Centres
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World Towns Leadership Summit 2016
The next two days will see almost 200 delegates from across the world and the UK assemble in Edinburgh for the inaugural World Towns Leadership Summit. Stemming from an initial idea from the International Downtown Association, picked up by the … Continue reading
Posted in ATCM, BIDS, Bids Scotland, Downtown, Government, IDA, Leadership, Places, Policy, Public Realm, Relationships, Scotland, Scottish Government, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Urban, World Towns Agreement, WTLS16
Tagged Edinburgh, Places, Scotland, Scotland's Towns Partnership, towns, Urban, World Towns Agreement, World Towns Leadership Summit
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East Kilbride and the Forth Road Bridge
Yes, I was a geographer, and I am fully aware that the Forth Road Bridge does not go through East Kilbride! Most recently of course the Forth Road Bridge has not been connecting anything or anywhere. Without belittling the impact … Continue reading
Posted in BIDS, Can Do Towns, Carnegie UK Trust, Closure, Consumer Choice, East Kilbride, Fife, Forth Road Bridge, Local Retailers, New Towns, Places, Relationships, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Review, Towns
Tagged BIDs, East Kilbride, Fife, Forth Road Bridge, History, Local Retailing, New Towns, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Town Centre Action plan, towns
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Social Spaces and Places
A number of my colleagues have at times questioned why I bother with this retail blog or engage with Twitter. They tend to view such activity as essentially pointless or potentially taking them away from their research and other activity. … Continue reading
Posted in Academics, BIDS, Community, Community Co-operatives, Community Development, Cooperatives, Development Trusts, High Streets, Places, Regeneration, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, USP
Tagged BIDs, Co-operatives, Cooperative Movement, High Streets, Places, Retailing, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Town Centres, towns
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Making Things Happen in Towns
In retrospect it was a shame that the first Scotland’s Towns Partnership Roadshow was held in Galashiels earlier this week. Not of course, because it was Galashiels, but rather because the re-opening of the Borders Railway is still a few … Continue reading
Posted in BIDS, Charrettes, Community, Development Trusts, Places, Regeneration, Relationships, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centres, Towns, Towns Typology, Understanding Scottish Places
Tagged Business Improvement Districts, Charrettes, Community, Engagement, Scotland's Town Centres, Scotland's Towns Partnership, towns, Understanding Scottish Places
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Town Centre Action Plan – One Year On
At the Scotland’s Towns Partnership Conference in Inverness last November, I extracted a pledge/promise (but most definitely not a vow) from the Towns Minister Derek Mackay to, one year on, reflect on progress against his Town Centre Action Plan (TCAP). … Continue reading
Posted in BIDS, Government, High Streets, Local Data Company, Planning, Public Realm, Rates, Regeneration, Rents, Retail Planning, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns
Tagged BIDs, Debate, Digital, Fraser review, Government, Scotland's Towns, Scotland's Towns Conference, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Town Centre Action plan
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Business Improvement Districts: Recent Successes in Scotland
The closing weeks of June saw three successful ballots for Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in Scotland and further local endorsement and expansion of the “BIDs family” across the country. 18th June: Dunfermline Delivers welcomes a reaffirmation from its local business … Continue reading
