Communities across Scotland are being asked to help steer the future of their town centres post-coronavirus in a new national survey.
The move comes as an expert review group was formed by the Scottish Government to appraise the current town centre action plan, which was published in 2013, and aims to gather views from a wide range of people.
Professor Leigh Sparks, deputy principal and professor of retail studies at the University of Stirling, is chairing the group that will undertake the review, which will include consultation exercises with the general public and other stakeholders. It will report later this year.
READ MORE: Scots urged to back shop local campaign in bid to help fuel the economy
Aileen Campbell, Scottish Communities Secretary, said diverse views from urban, town, rural and island communities must be heard if town centres are to be revitalised and renewed following Covid-19.
Ms Campbell said the pandemic “has changed the way we all live, work and shop”, adding: “By nurturing connections between local producers and retailers and their communities we enhance the wellbeing of our communities.”
Professor Sparks said on releasing the public survey: “Scotland is a nation of towns. But towns aren’t just a series of buildings, streets and pavements.
“They are made up of people and local communities. As we begin the task of forging a new vision for towns it is crucial that the voices, views and ideas of local people are at its heart.
“The review group wants to hear from as many people as possible about their experiences and their ideas for the future.
“Local people aren’t just bystanders in our towns. Communities are the very lifeblood of our society. If we can put together a strategy that has community input and buy-in from the start, it is our hope that we can all share in the responsibility for its success.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel