Tag Archives: BIDs

Season’s Greetings 2022

As Chair of Scotland’s Towns Partnership (STP) I get to put a Christmas message in the final bulletin of the year which goes out to members. This is an appropriate opportunity to reflect briefly on the last year generally and for STP … Continue reading

Posted in Bids Scotland, Christmas, Local Authorities, New Future for Scotland's Towns, NPF4, Scotland Loves Local, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Town Centres, Towns | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Retail Strategy for Scotland – Launch Day Questions to the Minister

As noted in my previous post, on the 24th March the Scottish Government published its Retail Strategy for Scotland and the Minister Tom Arthur MSP launched it in Parliament that afternoon.  The Strategy can be downloaded here and the Ministerial … Continue reading

Posted in BIDS, Bids Scotland, Consumer Change, High Streets, Independents, Local Authorities, Local Retailers, New Future for Scotland's Towns, Places, Public Policy, Retail Change, Retail leadership, Retail Policy, Retail Productivity, Retail Strategy, Retailers, Scotland, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scottish Government, Scottish Retailing, Small Shops, Strategy, Town Centres, Towns | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

St James Quarter – curating and change

Last week saw the opening of parts of the St James Quarter in Edinburgh.  Conceived a long time ago, and without any conception of the possibilities and impact of a global pandemic, the centre is in some ways of a … Continue reading

Posted in Aberdeen, BIDS, City Centres, Edinburgh, John Lewis Partnership, Pandemic, Retailers, Scotland, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scottish Retailing, Shopping Centres, St James Quarter, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

COVID-19: How Scotland’s Improvement Districts are supporting businesses and communities

In any normal year, we would be meeting at this time in Holyrood for the Annual Parliamentary Reception for the Cross Party Group on Towns and Town Centres. This of course is no normal year. The event is instead being … Continue reading

Posted in Bids Scotland, Covid19, Cross Party Group, Government, Local Authorities, Localisation, Scotland Loves Local, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

World Towns Leadership Summit, 15-16 June 2016, Edinburgh

This is a reblog from Scotland’s Towns Partnership, about what I think should be an important and interesting event in Edinburgh in June:   Join international town and urban leaders for a world first, taking place in Scotland in June … Continue reading

Posted in Government, Leadership, Places, Public Realm, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Social Inequality, Social Justice, Towns, Urban | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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 , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

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 , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

No (digital) place like home?

Over the last few years I have had several very interesting conversations with Simon Baldwin about the role of digital and social media in the development and maintenance of places, towns and BIDs. In response to my last post on … Continue reading

Posted in Communications, Digital, Home, Internet, Places, Scotland, Social media, Towns | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment