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Category Archives: town centre first
Scottish Planner December 2020:A Future for Town & City Centres
A few months ago Craig McLaren (@RTPIScotland) asked me to contribute a short piece to a special issue of Scottish Planner. I readily agreed and am delighted that it has now been published. I cover the things you might expect … Continue reading
Posted in 20 Minute Neighbourhood, Cities, Dumfries, Government, High Streets, Local Authorities, Place Standard, Places, Planning, Policy, Proactive Planning, Public Policy, Regeneration, Scotland, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Scottish Planner, Simplified Planning Zones, Town & Country PLanning, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Action Plan Review Group, town centre first, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized
Tagged 20 Minute Neighbourhoods, Fuiture Towns, High Streets, Planning, Scotland, Scottish Planner, TCAP Review, town centre first, Town Centres, Town Planning
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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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Scotland’s Towns – a decade of learning (hopefully)
As this post is published (3 April) I am presenting at an event held to formally launch Scotland’s Town Centre Boost Fund of £50m. The Town Centre Fund has been set up by Scottish Government and COSLA and aims “to … Continue reading
Posted in Government, High Streets, Place Standard, Places, Regeneration, Retail Change, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Town Centre Action Plan, town centre first, Town Centre Living, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, Understanding Welsh Places, USP
Tagged BIDs, COSLA, High Streets, National Review of Town Centres, Place Principle, Scotland, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Towns, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Towh Centre Boost Fund, Town Centre Action plan, Town Centres, USP
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An Aide-Memoire for Towns
Guest Blog by Matthew Hopkinson In December 2018 I decided that to try to help Towns better understand the challenges they face; there should be something that could be an easy reference document. This came about from completing day one … Continue reading
Shops opening and expanding, queues outside: the High Street picture that’s not making the national news
I recently had an exchange with Iain Nicholson around media coverage of the high street. it followed my recent diatribe about data. I have known Iain for a few years and admired the work he has been doing in towns … Continue reading
Posted in Car Parking, Consumers, Creative Places, Government, High Streets, Independents, Local Retailers, Localisation, Oxfordshire, Places, Planning, Policy, Producers, Record stores, Retail Diversity, Retail Economy, Retailers, Small Shops, Small Towns, Spaces, town centre first, Town Centres, Towns, Vacancies
Tagged #indie, #morethanretail, Authors, Car Parking, Comics, Diversity, independents, Oxford Etsy, Oxfordshire, Planning, Positive Places, Rates, Records, Shops, town centre first, Town Centres, Town Teams, Vacancies
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Unlocking the Potential of Scotland’s Towns
For most in Scotland, November 9th will probably be recalled as the day President Trump became a reality. The irony that that day was the 27th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall will not be lost on some … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Creative Places, Digital, Fife, Government, High Streets, Places, Planning, Proactive Planning, Regeneration, Retail Change, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Small Towns, Town Centre Action Plan, town centre first, Town Centre Living, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, WTLS16
Tagged Community, Connectivity, Creative, Democracy, Digital, Governance, Places, Proactive Planning, Regeneration, Scotland's Towns, Scotland's Towns Conference, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Town Centre Living
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From the Scottish Government’s National Review of Town Centres to the World Towns Summit
Downloadable versions of this post are available here (word) and here (pdf). The attraction of many international delegates to the inaugural World Towns Summit in Edinburgh in June 2016 was eloquent testimony to the perception that Scotland has led the … Continue reading
Posted in Bids Scotland, Charrettes, Community, Cross Party Group, Development Trusts, Government, High Streets, Place Standard, Places, Planning, Policy, Proactive Planning, Regeneration, Retail Change, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Town Centre Action Plan, town centre first, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Understanding Scottish Places, USP, World Towns Framework, WTLS16
Tagged Bids Scotland, Cross Party Group, Development Trusts, National Review of Town Centres, Places, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Town Centre Action plan, Town Centres, Understanding Scottish Places, World Towns Leadership Summit
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