Input wanted for major project

4:00pm Sunday 29th July 2012 in Local By Emily Roberts, Chief Reporter

Councillor Ranil Jayawardena Councillor Ranil Jayawardena

HELP us to spend £100,000 on boosting Top of The Town – that’s the message to residents and traders from Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council .

The borough council has been given funding from The High Street Innovation Fund – a £10million cash injection package announced by Housing and Local Government minister Grant Shapps. The cash boost is designed to help struggling high streets.

The council plans to use its slice of the fund to revitalise Top of The Town – and leaders are keen to hear how you think the money should be spent. The £100,000 will be used in the first phase of a project to improve Top of The Town, with the aim of bringing it up to a better standard in line with Festival Place and The Malls , which was refurbished last year.

A shortlist of proposed projects has been set out, before a full consultation is held to gain feedback about what improvements can be made. The shortlist of possible ideas are to:

 

  • subsidise business rates, targeted at specific business types 
  • encourage space above shops to be converted into flats to encourage footfall and ‘life’ in quieter areas of the town 
  • update and refurbish vacant shops to encourage letting 
  • offer free Wi-Fi for the town centre, parks and Basing View
  • develop small scale environmental improvements to Top of The Town such as a cover for the market or street furniture.

 

The council will implement a number of consultation methods, including meetings, using Linked-in, distributing leaflets to traders in Top of The Town, and holding an online survey.

Leaders are also interested in hearing wider feedback about the town centre, not just suggestions of how to use the fund. Councillor Ranil Jayawardena , deputy leader and Cabinet member for strategy and commissioning at the borough council, said: “It’s important that we begin the project to revitalise Top of The Town, which will be a long-term project, and this is the first phase.

“If you compare The Malls, there’s a huge improvement there, and I want to see the same sort of improvement so that Top of The Town becomes a place where people want to shop.

“I think the focus of the town has shifted closer to the railway station with the improvements we have seen at Festival Place and The Malls, but the time has come for us to revitalise Top of The Town, bring it up to standard and make it a place to be proud of.”

Cllr Jayawardena said the council wants to look at various areas, including Church Street and Wote Street. He added: “We want to group these all together so we don’t just do piecemeal improvements.”

Cllr Jayawardena said the council needs to be “bolder” by thinking of the long-term future of Top of The Town. He added: “Do we want to broaden accessibility by bringing traffic back to the Top of The Town or make it cultural?”

He added any project has to “deliver economic benefits”. He said: “There is a vibrant nightlife, with bars and restaurants, but we need to help bring more vitality to the area during the day. “I’m looking forward to hearing ideas from people across the borough, as well as encouraging local businesses to work with us on a bold vision for revitalising the town centre in the years ahead.”

Comments(19)

Mr_Kipling says...
6:05pm Sun 29 Jul 12

"subsidise business rates"

Look at that, Council already looking for ways to pocket the money.

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ThomasPaine says...
6:41pm Sun 29 Jul 12

The Borough Council spent nearly £6million on the Malls, and they are offering £100,000 for the top of town.

I don't think £100k will stretch that far in realising the ambitions of the Councillor. I hope this is not just lip service, to what is an area of the town that needs a lot more than £100k invested in it?

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deepinsight says...
8:27am Mon 30 Jul 12

"encourage space above shops to be converted into flats to encourage footfall and ‘life’ in quieter areas of the town".

I don't think that the TOTT could be described as quiet, especially between 20:00 and 03:00 as it's generally full of drunken people screeching, shouting, swearing or slashing....

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Cynical Reader says...
12:40pm Mon 30 Jul 12

All they have to do is move Poundstretcher, Poundtime and Primark up there. Job done.
Unfortunately, this would kill The Malls.

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jbee37 says...
1:07pm Mon 30 Jul 12

If it's anything like the Malls, it'll be a disaster. Subsidised rates will only attract pound shops and the like.

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LozLozza says...
3:22pm Mon 30 Jul 12

"encourage space above shops to be converted into flats to encourage footfall and ‘life’ in quieter areas of the town"

no thank you. the top of town is the most thriving part of basingstoke for creativity and the arts.

building flats - in the top of town - will result in the same problems for venues which have had flats built around them. they lose their music licenses. they have their trading hours restricted. they existed quite happily before flats got built next to them. no thank you.

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jondave says...
8:12pm Mon 30 Jul 12

I presume you people moaning all have your houses up for sale, or have served notice on leases and are actively looking to move away? LOL! No money for a town - people moan, money offered for a town - people moan, people asked for opinions - people moan. What a bunch of losers you are!

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jazzdude says...
9:59am Tue 31 Jul 12

No @jondave they are not losers they are expressing their opinions as invited. At least they bothered. And flats in a town centre, what a waste of space. 100K is nowhere near enough. We need more purpose built live music venues.

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AHSTONE says...
1:00pm Tue 31 Jul 12

Everyone is right, £100,000 is not a fortune, but it is a start. Maybe we should work with the consultation and see where it goes. We can moan and complain after. The biggest issue for the top of town now is the new double yellow lines that are being proposed. That will mean no stopping, loading or waiting in any of the car park yards of the top of town.
THEY GIVETH AND THEY TAKETH AWAY!!!

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Mr_Kipling says...
2:37pm Tue 31 Jul 12

@jondave Takes one to know one, and you're the biggest one of all! Oh the irony.......

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robertspet8 says...
3:55pm Tue 31 Jul 12

AHSTONE wrote:
Everyone is right, £100,000 is not a fortune, but it is a start. Maybe we should work with the consultation and see where it goes. We can moan and complain after. The biggest issue for the top of town now is the new double yellow lines that are being proposed. That will mean no stopping, loading or waiting in any of the car park yards of the top of town. THEY GIVETH AND THEY TAKETH AWAY!!!
I think you may have stumbled on a possible solution to revitalising the top of town during the day time. What the top of town needs will cost a lot more than £100k, which means money being spent by the owners of the premises or the council. Lets ignore the council for now and concentrate on what could encourage the owners to spend money on improving their establishments. Increased footfall and income maybe.
How about using the £100k to set up 'free' parking at the top of town?
When you enter the car park a ticket is issued and this can be exchanged for an exit token when the driver spends, say £5, in a participating establishment. Normal parking charges will apply for those not redeeming their tickets. Also normal charges and restrictions will apply in the evenings (don't want to do anything to encourage drink driving).
After 12 months, if the scheme has been a success, there will be annual fees for participating establishments. These fees will be proportionate to the benefit they have received, measured by number of tokens handed out by the establishment, the previous year.
If it fails then we have lost a £100k windfall and the scheme will be scrapped.
I am sure somebody can come up with a far better scheme and I hope my post will get people thinking for solutions rather than problems.

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Mr_Kipling says...
8:44pm Tue 31 Jul 12

I'd support the free parking/exchange for a token at £5 if The Post Office opted in.........

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robertspet8 says...
11:55am Wed 1 Aug 12

Mr_Kipling wrote:
I'd support the free parking/exchange for a token at £5 if The Post Office opted in.........
You have found the biggest flaw in my cunning plan - the majority of businesses at the top of town need to buy into the scheme for it to work. The first year wont be a probem but getting the fee for year two could be!

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Best_Name_Ever says...
12:49pm Wed 1 Aug 12

robertspet8 wrote:
Mr_Kipling wrote: I'd support the free parking/exchange for a token at £5 if The Post Office opted in.........
You have found the biggest flaw in my cunning plan - the majority of businesses at the top of town need to buy into the scheme for it to work. The first year wont be a probem but getting the fee for year two could be!
Still a very good idea!

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Mighty Antar says...
10:18am Fri 3 Aug 12

As its such a paltry sum in comparison to what has been spent on the Malls, spending it on infrastructure is unlikely to make any notable difference. Instead the council should use it to organise and promote a series of specialist markets. If you utilise Wote Street and Church Street as well as the Market Place, there is a lot of room. Vintage clothing, Arts & crafts, Antiques & bric a brac, Vintage cars or motorbikes, Hampshire produce, these things would start to attract people back to the area and it's only by attracting people to the area that any long term "revitalising" is going to occur.

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Andy Dowling - BDBC says...
10:38am Mon 6 Aug 12

Dear all, please remember to fill in the short survey on the council’s website, before 14th September, to ensure all your comments and ideas for the funding are captured www.basingstoke.gov.
uk/go/highstreet

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hdr2712 says...
8:01pm Tue 7 Aug 12

Why not dig up those boring paving slabs in front of the museum and make a garden in front with some shrubs, grass, flowers. The existing trees should be kept but its so boring and plain at the moment and I think a garden at the entrance to the museum would be much more appealing to the eye.

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Sam_Walker123456 says...
2:51pm Fri 10 Aug 12

hdr2712 wrote:
Why not dig up those boring paving slabs in front of the museum and make a garden in front with some shrubs, grass, flowers. The existing trees should be kept but its so boring and plain at the moment and I think a garden at the entrance to the museum would be much more appealing to the eye.
I like your idea but how can you say it is plain and still want to keep the plane trees?

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LouiseErvin says...
1:59pm Thu 16 Aug 12

robertspet8's suggestion sounds very good.

I wonder whether a regular event of some sort to spotlight businesses up this end of town could work? For example, Southampton's Bedford Place has a Christmas street party, with Father Christmas, live entertainment, street performers and period costumes to raise money for charity and promote the businesses in the area.

A very small amount of money (definitely not the whole £100k) would help this work and a committee of local businesses could lead the way so that there would be a real community buy-in.

I really don't think we need 'street furniture' and I don't think flats would work given the bars at this end of town.

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