By Dr Julian Zarb*
When we eventually start to reopen our High Streets we must be sure that this is a process which belongs to all the key stakeholders – the local authority, the local businesses and the local community. We want the High Street to reflect the local community, to be a social as well as a cultural hub for people not simply a commercial centre that lacks the personality and the identity of that locality.
As a member of the High Streets Task Force my role will be to listen and not just to hear stakeholders; I will have to ensure that all stakeholders take real ownership of the plan to re-open the High street – THEIR High Street, not mine, not the HSTF’s High Street, but the High Street that the local community feels they can identify with. A few weeks ago I was watching an interesting time-series on BBC 2 about the life and the demise of the corner shop. We need to look at the corner shop, not simply as a convenience metro shop but as a point of contact for locals, somewhere where they can meet a familiar face, talk to them and get real personal service and hospitality again. High Streets are about this local environment and in this next article I will share with you the process that I have designed after some ten years of research on the implementation of an Integrated Approach to Planning (Figure 1).
Continue reading “Reopening the High Street with an Integrated Model”