living places news
living places news keeps you up to date with the latest developments with the programme and the place making agenda.
Email Helen Cooper with any items of news you have for these pages.
March 2010
Our place, your place: Taunton
The regeneration of Taunton has been the focus for Taunton’s empty shop project this week. Our Place, Your Place: Taunton is hosting a series of talks and activities from 8 to 13 March looking at what has been achieved to date and what they can look forward to in the future.
The Project Taunton delivery team was established almost five years ago to manage the regeneration of the town centre. In that time exceptional progress has been made - in fact Taunton is one of the quickest regeneration schemes in the country. But it’s not all about speed. The team is also making sure that the improvements are of the highest quality and that they are sustainable – so it doesn’t all have to be re-done in 30 years time.
See the full press releases on the project:
5 Years On
Heritage Week
Talk Walk Flyer
First Day
Green Week
February 2010
Funding announced for first wave eco-towns to deliver new green facilities
Housing Minister John Healey has this week announced a share of £60m for each of the first four pioneering eco-towns. The cash is a major boost for the country’s biggest ever green home building programme and will fund over 600 new eco-show homes as well as community facilities and green transport initiatives.
Among the innovative community projects are plans to create an “eco-station” from a converted military fire station in Hampshire, which will provide training facilities and display local and natural history. In Cornwall, a multi-functional community hub will be provided, in partnership with the Eden Centre, offering educational projects and showcasing new technologies.
More detail on these and other projects below.
- A new community hall will be developed at North West Bicester, featuring modern off site construction methods and delivering attractive useable space that will be efficient to run and low-impact on the environment.
- A new Education Centre at Rackheath, near Norwich, will encourage people of all ages to learn about sustainable living. And, through an award of £200,000 match funding from DCSF, the Centre will work with schools on behaviour change and making the most of the school’s sustainability.
- A multi-functional community hub, to be run jointly with the Eden Project, will offer community education projects and be a showcase for new environmental technologies, local materials and resources in St Austell, Cornwall. The hub, which will attain ‘Bream Excellent’ rating, will be a showcase for environmental technologies and low carbon innovation, such as a “phase change board”, which absorbs heat during the day and then releases it overnight.
- An ‘eco-station’ will be created out of a dis-used military fire station in Whitehill-Bordon, Hampshire, for exhibitions and community use, run from a biomass powered boiler that will also have the potential to power up to 25 homes. This eco station will provide community and training facilities and offer information on local and natural history. New eco-show homes will also be built nearby as part of an international architectural competition.
For more details see:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1459501
'Pop Art' transforms Blackburn town centre
An empty interior design store in Blackburn town centre received a new lease of life when artists took over on Monday February 1st.
The former Waterloo Pavilion shop has been transformed into a drop-in style learning centre operated by artists and other groups who will run workshops and events for local people.
The six week Project Our Place scheme (POP) is part of the national Living Places initiative to promote the use of culture and sport in regenerating towns and cities and was set up by the Museums and Libraries Archive Council (MLA).
Living Places Chair Roy Clare said: “The Our Place project is all about creating new opportunities for local people and bringing new life to town centres.
“We want the Blackburn shop to do just that by inspiring the confidence, creativity and curiosity of everyone who walks through the door.”
People visiting the former Waterloo Pavilion store over the next six weeks will get the chance to try their hand at something new - drawing, painting, writing poetry, playing a musical instrument or dancing.
The £50,000 Our Place project, funded by the Government’s Transformational Fund, is one of three distinct schemes planned to breathe new life in to empty Blackburn shops.
The weekend was the highlight of the first week with students from Blackburn college visiting the shop on Friday - they left very positive comments, about the space, ambiance and the creative activities. On Saturday there were at least 102 visitors. The majority were young people who stayed for a considerable amount of time and were interested in more information about the planned sessions for the forthcoming weeks.
December 2009
Second Wave of Eco-towns Proposed
Housing Minister John Healey has today announced proposals for a second wave of world leading eco-towns and pledged to double the money to a total of £10m to support councils in developing their plans.
In July, Mr Healey announced that four locations had met the tough standards to become eco-towns. Today, the Housing Minister announced that a further nine local authorities are considering plans to develop new communities to eco-town standards.
These major new developments will need to meet the pioneering green standards set out in the eco-towns planning policy statement published in July. Proposals for sustainable developments need to include 5,000 homes and demonstrate innovative ideas for how jobs, schools and services are delivered in low carbon ways that will help in the UK respond to climate change.
Healey is backing the expressions of interest from nine local authorities with up to £10 million. The potential second wave eco-town proposals are:
- Schemes at Shoreham Harbour in West Sussex and Northstowe in Cambridgeshire, where there is an opportunity to redesign elements of the existing projects to meet even higher sustainability standards.
- Five authorities and partnerships, covering ten locations in Taunton (Monkton Heathfield and Corneytrowe), Yeovil, Leeds City Region (Aire Valley, York North West, North Kirklees and Bradford-Shipley canal corridor), Lincoln (Lincoln Area and Gainsborough) and Coventry. In these locations, the concepts are still at an early stage but development work under the eco-towns PPS offers the possibility of creating an outstanding new community providing it is feasible and deliverable.
- Councils in Cornwall and the Sheffield City Region (Dearne Valley, South Yorkshire) want to use the eco-towns concept to carry out a broader survey of potential, test alternative options for development and then use the eco-town concept and standards to apply across their area.
Mr Healey said that the new proposals signalled “real and radical momentum to change and to re-think how we design our towns and homes for the future”, ahead of the climate change talks in Copenhagen.
In July, he said that £5m would be made available to help councils develop a second wave of proposals. Today, he gave another boost to councils and announced that a further £5m is available to fund low carbon demonstrator projects. He also announced a new ‘Eco Town Network’ would be set up in conjunction with the Town and Country Planning Association, acting as an eco workshop for councils to come together and share ideas.
Possible second wave bids are still at an early stage and will be subject to further, widespread consultation on proposals, before public consultation and local planning approval.
For more detail see: http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1399284
August 2009
Art in empty spaces: turning vacant spaces into creative places
Art in empty spaces, a £500,000 Arts Council initiative to help artists and arts organisations turn vacant high street shops into vibrant artistic places, is now open for applications.
Individuals and organisations are invited to apply for grants to support artistic activity that transforms empty retail units into creative spaces – anything from an art gallery to recording studios or family arts workshops – which the whole community can enjoy.
The programme, Art in empty spaces, is being run in partnership with the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG)’s scheme Looking after our town centres, which is investing £3 million to reinvigorate ailing town centres during the recession.
For more information see the Arts Council website.
The NSASP guidance notes on the use of temporary spaces as artists' studios may also be of interest.
Can we build culture into regeneration plans?
Yes we can!
Sir Peter Hall to kick off national discussion between planners and culture leaders as they come together for the first time to help shape stronger communities
Starting in London on October 1st, living places, the coalition of five leading national culture and sports agencies, is bringing together planners and policy makers responsible for sport and culture for the first time at a series of seminars in every region in England.
The seminars are designed to help them make the best use of the Culture and Sport Planning Toolkit, an essential piece of support which has been developed by living places to help ensure consistency and best practice in planning across the country.
Roy Clare, Chair of living places and Chief Executive of Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, said:
“These seminars are a great opportunity for planners and culture and sports policy makers to think and act in a joined up way and develop a shared vision for how we build new communities.
“There’s determination amongst living places partners to ensure that when we plan the roads and houses that make communities, we need to make culture and sports provision an essential ingredient too. The events offer us the chance to create a shared strategic sense of what can be achieved.”
The Culture and Sport Planning Toolkit events have been designed to help officers with lead responsibility for planning and policy development in culture, sport and regeneration:
- Play an increasingly important role in inputting culture and sports provision into local and regional strategic plans
- Make consistent approaches across regions to implementing new developments such as standard charging for museums, libraries and the arts
- Improve their capacity to map and prioritise culture and sports provision so it best meets the needs of local people.
Download the full press release.
Pennine Lancashire Talking Shop
Talking Shop is an art and regeneration project managed by Mid Pennine Arts (MPA), Pennine Lancashire’s strategic arts agency. MPA recognises the instrumental role shops and small businesses play in bringing local people together within the social hub of their neighbourhood. To help sustain and celebrate the role of the Shopkeeper, this exciting and innovative art project is raising the awareness that independent shops are the heart and soul of a community.
The launch of Talking Shop Pennine Lancashire – Volume I publication & the new Talking Shop website: www.lancashiretalkingshop.co.uk will be held as follows:
Date: Tuesday 8th September 2009
Time: 11:30 – 2:00 (including lunch and networking)
Venue: Empty shop unit, St John’s Arcade, Preston, PR1
For booking details, download the agenda.
July 2009
Minister Visits Priority Places
Gerry Sutcliffe, Minister for Sport, recently visited two Priority Places – Stratford in the Thames Gateway on 14th May, and Taunton in the South West on 11th June.
In Stratford the Minister viewed the Olympic site and surrounding areas, including Canning Town, from Holden Point Tower. He then visited a multi-sports facility for young people, and concluded the visit at Stratford Circus Arts Centre, where a range of live performances including circus skills, dance and music were staged. The strength of the Arts Centre's partnership with the FE college was apparent.
In Taunton he gained first hand experience of the relationship between the South West Priority Place Partnership and the Taunton Cultural Partnership/Consortium, visiting the Brewhouse Theatre, Taunton Pool, and the Somerset Cricket ground.
Read the Taunton Case study.
Read the Thames Gateway Case study.
