Date: 13/04/2010
It is anticipated that at the next meeting of High Peak Borough's Executive the Council's Regeneration officers will be given approval to appoint designers who will plan the repair and restoration of Glossop Market Hall and Town Hall within the framework of a wider strategy being developed to protect and revitalise the town's historic core.
A report to the Executive on Tuesday, April 20 recommends that the Council proceeds with essential repairs to the Town Hall while at the same time carrying out restoration work to reveal the original 19th Century cast iron structure of the Market Hall by removing the 1970s false ceiling.
Funding is already in place for the Market Hall restoration from the Heritage Lottery Fund but must get underway before 2012 to comply with Lottery rules.
However, the Executive believed that a more extensive and ambitious approach was needed to secure the future vibrancy of the town centre and asked officers to develop proposals for a Design and Place Making Strategy similar to the one recently adopted as a supplementary planning document for Buxton. Thus the report that will be considered goes on to recommend that the Council looks way beyond the immediate repair and restoration works. It proposes that the long-term future of the Town Hall and Market Hall is examined through a major public consultation exercise that will enable the development of a wide-ranging regeneration strategy for Glossop.
The strategy will not only guide consideration of future planning applications but also enable a co-ordinated approach to regeneration and the development of the town centre. In addition, such a strategy will greatly assist with any future bids for external funding that may be made by the Council.
The strategy would be shaped by an extensive public consultation exercise that will use the innovative "Enquiry by Design" approach in which specialist consultants work alongside officers to manage a series of workshops that it is hoped will be attended by many residents and representatives of the various organisations involved with the town.