BBC ‘Queen of Shops’ retial guru Mary Portas to transform Nelson?
Nelson town centre could become one of 12 towns transformed under recommendations from retail expert Mary Portas.
Last year, the retail adviser, who made her name in the BBC show “Mary Queen of Shops”, was asked by the Prime Minister to lead an independent review into the future of Britain’s high streets.
She came up with The Portas Review, a 28-point list of recommendations to turn round the fortunes of Britain’s town centres.
And now Local Government Minister Grant Shapps has launched the Portas Pilots competition, in which 12 towns, or cities, can bid for a share of £1m., to become Portas Pilot towns.
And there have been calls for a bid to be made on Nelson’s behalf.
Former Pendle Council leader and community campaigner Azhar Ali said: “Nelson has suffered over the years, despite millions being ploughed in to rescuing the plethora of empty shops and businesses, including the Pendle Rise Centre, which is currently in receivership.
“That’s why I’m calling on Pendle Council, including all its local partners and organisations like Regenerate Pennine Lancashire, to come together to submit a strong bid.
“I realise that £1m. isn’t a lot of money between 12 towns, but the national focus and specialist support and advice could help make an impact, over time.
“If successful, this will not be a panacea, but could bring a range of measures that could help bring a new offering to a town centre struggling to compete, as well as support existing businesses.”
County Coun. George Adam said: “I am going to lobby Lancashire County Council to throw its weight behind such a bid for Pendle.
“After all, we have been hammered recently, with jobs being taken out of Nelson and Colne, as well as numerous county buildings being left closed, and these are rapidly becoming eyesores.
“The least that the county council should do is to push hard to deliver for Nelson and Pendle.”
Chairman of Pendle Council’s Nelson Committee Coun. Nadeem Younis said: “We need to seize this opportunity with both hands, and compile a strong bid to ensure Pendle and Nelson can benefit from this offer from the Government.
“I have asked the chief executive to call an urgent meeting of the council’s directors and senior councillors, to ensure we submit a comprehensive and compelling case for our town centres to have a share of this regeneration money.”
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Friday 25 May 2012
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Comments
There are 4 comments to this article
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Blackpools Finest
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 03:15 PMYou cannot be serious.......to imagine anyone could change the centre for the better
Dr livingstone.
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 09:37 AMIt 'll transform the 'Retial Guru's' bank account, no doubt!
Kevin, Colne
Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 01:11 PMI read the Portas Review in full when it was published. The first half of the report is excellent and offers a cogent and incisive analysis of the profound forces at work in under-mining high streets. Where I take real issue with Portas is in the remedies she prescribes which with few exceptions are a mixture of wishful thinking, old and tired clichés and one or two ideas that strike me as simply half-baked. Let me give a couple of examples. Recommendation 5: "Make it easier for people to become market traders by removing unnecessary regulations so that anyone can trade on the high street unless there is a valid reason why not." In other words, increase the level of competition in the high street, which unless it is a trader selling something entirely different is bound to make life harder for those retailers that are now in situ. Recommendation 10 states: ‘Town teams should focus on making high streets accessible, attractive and safe’. Well, maybe Portas didn’t look very far but most local authorities have been doing this for years. Recommendation 15 calls for Secretary of State “exceptional sign off’ for all new out-of-town developments and with a requirement that all large new developments have an “affordable shops” quota. The first part of this recommendation is way, way too late – it’s shutting the stable door long after the horse has bolted. The rapid phase of out-of-town developments is long gone and the damge is done - that's in prat why high streets are declining. Secondly, how does one have “affordable shops” in large new developments, other than by some form of subsidy whether through taxation or iniquitous cross-subsidy from existing retailers (which will weaken them)? "Affordable" strikes me as another word for 'subsidised'. The more one reads and analyses Portas’ recommendations the less convincing they become, in my view. For sure, some towns may be able to make the Portas formula work, but as a general rule you cannot raise a town centre above the local economic demographic. Millions of pounds have been spent on Nelson town centre and the place is much improved, but as a retailing destination of choice the score is zero. Quite how another £83,000 as a Portas Pilot is going to bring about a transformation needs some proper explaining. I fear that once again what we have here is wishful thinking trumping serious thought, and a governing class that is intent on squandering our precious capital by throwing good money after bad.
soapboxboy
Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 11:39 AMExactly how do you spell 'retail'? Typical Burnley Express...
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