Date: 24/08/2010
People who live and work in Glossop will soon have their final opportunity of helping to shape the town's future development through the innovative Glossop Town Centre Design Strategy.
The third of three workshops to agree a vision for the town and surrounding area will take place at Glossopdale Community College on Wednesday, September 15 from 6pm to 9pm. Light refreshments will be served from 5.30pm.
As with the previous two sessions, this final workshop will be chaired by Cllr Tony Kemp, High Peak Borough Council's Executive Councillor for Regeneration, assisted by urban design consultants Gillespies, who will translate ideas into a document, called a Design and Place Making Strategy, that it is expected will be adopted by the Council for adoption as formal planning guidance that establishes design principles for the town.
The final event will build on ideas expressed during the June workshops and will also take account of public feedback on a display being staged in Bradbury Community House until Friday, September 10 to summarise the consultation findings so far.
As with its predecessors, next month's workshop will discuss potential future uses of iconic town centre buildings including the Town Hall and Market Hall.
Residents and businesses unable to visit the display or attend the final workshop can have their say by visiting www.highpeak.gov.uk and clicking the prominent link on the home page.
The link also offers access to a related survey asking shoppers what they think of Glossop's markets, how they would like them to improve and if they are satisfied with the range and quality of goods. Anyone unable to access the survey online should call Sarah Porru on 0845 129 7777 or send an e-mail to sarah.porru@highpeak.gov.uk. The markets consultation ends on Tuesday (August 31).
Cllr Kemp commented on the event: "In effect, what we're doing with the workshops and display is to ask local people to write the planning guidance themselves. This is still quite unusual in the UK but is being responded to very well by the people of Glossop, and I believe it is right we should encourage local democracy and decision making. In fact, nearly 150 people have attended the two workshops to date so they must agree with us!
"Glossop is a very special town, and any future development should reflect the ways in which the people who really care about the place want it to grow, as well as helping to make it a place that is attractive to visitors.
"We recognised from the start that the vision has to come from the people who live or work in Glossop, as they understand the place better than anyone else", he explained.