I am attending Formby Parish Council this evening. During the Public Forum item, which occurs near the start of every meeting, I'll be urging the Council to make a Bid for £100,000 to form a 'Town Team'.
This is one of the ideas suggested in the recent Mary Portas Report on the future of Town and Village High Streets. She writes:
Without highly competent, inspired and collaborative high street governance we are never going to get our high streets running effectively. I have called this group the “Town Team”. We need the belief and engagement of all the local stakeholders to create the sustainable high streets of the future
And she goes on to write:
a Town Team could include key landlords, large and small shopkeepers, council representatives with specific knowledge of planning and development, the mayor or MP, other local businesses and service providers, and local residents
Here's Mary Portas explaining her ideas at the time of the review's publication:
In my view Formby is well suited to make a Bid for Department of Communities and Local Government Funding. The Minister, Grant Shapps MP, explains in the short video below.
Why do I think Formby can and should make a bid. Firstly we match all of that's required of the bid, but secondly the existing network of retail, residential and other relevant organisations is already in place. Formby Parish Council simply has to lead this project. It's worth collaborating with all these groups to work on the future 'Village heart of our coastal Town'.
In last weeks edition of the Formby Times I talked about aspects of the Mary Portas Report. I want to thanks all of you who have expressed support for my ideas. I hope you will also support this initiative too.
