Bid to become a Portas Pilot
Mary Portas and the Local Government Minister, Grant Shapps, have launched a competition to choose 12 towns to become “Portas Pilots”, with the winners benefiting from a share of £1million to help turn around their “unloved and unused” high streets.
The cash incentive is offered to those towns that come up with the best High Street blueprints in a move that fulfils the first and last recommendations of Mary Portas’ High Streets Review, commissioned by the Prime Minister and published before Christmas.
Grant Shapps said:
“Our high streets have faced stiff competition from Internet shopping, and out-of-town shopping centres – leaving them underused, unloved and under-valued. The Internet is not going to go away, and so for our high streets to survive they need to offer something new and exciting.
“So today I’m offering a golden ticket to 12 town centres across the country to become “Portas Pilots” – areas with the vision and enthusiasm to breathe new life into what should be the beating heart of their communities, and they will get Mary’s and my support as they try out the ideas in her recent review.”
Taking forward the first recommendation from Mary Portas’s review, the 12 successful localities will create Town Teams, made up of the key players in their local community – such as the council, local landlords, shopkeepers and the local MP.
These teams will then benefit from the backing of the Minister, Whitehall and Mary Portas herself as they take forward the recommendations from the review and in their area. They will also receive a share of £1million.
Grant Shapps added:
“I want to see how these Town Teams plan to try new things, experiment and ensure that their high streets and parades become destinations for local people want to be. But these pilots are just the start. We want to learn their lessons and help communities across the country breathe new life into their own towns. Launching this competition now is a signal of our understanding that there’s no time to waste in driving forward these important measures.”
Mr Shapps will give the full Government response to the review by the Spring.
Successful bidders will need to demonstrate how they have the energy, enthusiasm and vision to make a real difference to their town centres and make them the hubs of their communities.
Areas will need to demonstrate how they plan to breathe new life into their high streets and shopping parades, but not just in a staid application form – Mr Shapps would also like to see their pitches to become Portas Pilots in short YouTube clips.
For details on exactly how your town can bid, please visit – http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/regeneration/portaspilotsprospectus
Further details:
We are looking for pilots areas with a transformational vision for their high street and the backing to make it a reality. The lead partner should be able to clearly articulate this vision and demonstrate strong support for it from the local community and a wide range of local partners. The bids will need to show:
- A mix of pilot areas from a variety of town centres and high streets including market towns, villages, large towns, new towns, coastal towns and suburban areas. We also want to ensure a good geographical spread, as well as areas with both high / low average income levels and high / low empty shop vacancy rates;
- Commitment: we are looking for bids to demonstrate maximum commitment to the town team approach.
- Potential for improvement: resources will be allocated on a value for money basis and therefore areas must be able to demonstrate their potential for improvement; and
- Innovation. Bidders are asked to provide an outline of what the key priorities for their pilot area will be. We are looking for the most innovative ideas and evidence of strong leadership that will have maximum impact and can be replicated elsewhere.
The recommendations of the Portas Review aim to:
* Get town centres running like businesses: by strengthening the management of high streets through new ‘Town Teams’, developing the Business Improvement District model and encouraging new markets;
* Get the basics right to allow businesses to flourish: by looking at how the business rate system could better support small businesses and independent retailers, encouraging affordable town centre car parking and looking at further opportunities to remove red tape on the high street;
* Level the playing field: by ensuring a strong town centre first approach in planning and encouraging large retailers to show their support for high streets;
* Define landlords’ roles and responsibilities: by looking at disincentives for landlords leaving properties vacant and empowering local authorities to step in when landlords are negligent; and
* Give communities a greater say: by greater inclusion of the high street in neighbourhood planning and councils using their new discretionary powers to give business rate concessions to new local businesses
Good afternoon,
I realise that we have missed the opportunity to apply to become a Portas Pilot. However, I began a company in July last year that is already built on many of the observations made by Ms. Portas in her Government report. It also demonstrates much of what is required to become a Portas Pilot.
I would like to know, the best way to contact Ms. Portas, to ask her for a ‘celebrity endorsement’ of our organisation. I must stress, we are not looking for financial support, we are looking for her to acknowledge our work.
Many thanks.
[...] of The Queen of Shops herself, Mary Portas has been drafted in to advise and boost local economy. The Portas Pilot Scheme is a new initiative to help failing towns by granting them the funds to bring it back to life. All [...]
Interesting how this scheme is ostensibly ‘transformational’ but it seems to me like it is defined in such a way that it will be already successful shopping centres who will benefit from the money and profile, not areas that really need it.
I am local-ish to Warwick – that I understand is a contender for this scheme, but I live in an area that has bonded over the persistent exclusion of that area from the roll out of scheme after scheme that points elsewhere – specifically at big business or wealthy areas or existing speciality premium areas or a combination of these. Each of these schemes ACTIVELY excludes areas that need help with managing the tenant mix or with competing with more successful areas nearby.
I am astonished that this is another one, like BID that will exclude areas that need help. Warwick is a high-income town centre with a HUGE tourist potential in the spring to summer, lpenty of money and, to be frank, many ‘businesses’ are vanity project selling things that the shopkeeper likes to have around them. Now, yes that needs help in one way, but is not the same as people whose livelihoods are reliant on a business that is persistently struggling because of poor tenant mix, bad planning decisions, dumping of unpopular projects (yes, you Janet Alty and your crazy Pigeon Cote next to the dentists and doctors!). etc.
PLease let there be another round so it can be focussed differently!
Mary Mary uncontrary
How does your high street grow?
No mobile shops or invisible cops
but good traders all in a row.
GO ON CHORLEY!!!
Choose Altrincham – please! So sad and such a wealthy area. Get it back to being individual boutiquey,crafty,one-off shops and make it a place we want to go to again.
We have obviously reached a watershed from which small trading businesses will sink or swim. It could be the time for a renaissance of the co-operative method of trading in which local traders trade not just their retail products but also information with other high street independent’s. If those groups then co-operated regionally an extremely powerful lobby would be formed, ‘ The Mary Portas Collaborative’? I know that groups such as the Rotary Club and Small Business Associations do exist but, they need a point of focus. A ‘spearhead’ if you like. Perhaps a small subscription would enable a bi-monthly publication expressly for independent traders so that every one was in the loop and working towards a common direction. At the moment they are just individual soldiers, united they could form a strong army that could win back the high street for its local people. Supermarkets are often referred to as if they are an almighty and unquenchable force; in reality they are usually one man employing staff – granted with a bulk buying power. But a united force of small shopkeepers could also bulk buy. United we stand divided we fall – is still a powerful motive.
Mary – I watched your bottom line with great interest. I believe that you have identified one of the major problems facing new & existing small businesses in the uk – supply – wether you are a manufacturer or retailer supply is paramount eg I recently after a hot weekend visited my local butcher after commenting that he must have been busy with people shopping for bbqs. He told me he couldn’t get stock because there are no local wholesalers anymore. You found that you had difficulty locating lace, my local veg market can’t supply english produce because of logistic problems. The power of the big retailers is such that direct buying as forced small Wholesalers to all but disapear and what suppliers there are c.b.a. to deal with small traders i would be delighted if something could be done to address this problem or must we become fatalistic & allow the demise of small business and the entrepreneurism it encourages,,,,
I had an independent book shop in Godalming High Street that was much loved. A chain book shop opened across the road with a post office in it. The book shop was happy to ride the years out on a very modest income and were committed to Godalming. The landlord put the rent up by an astronomical amount over night. They were unable to meet the new demands and had to close.
How is it possible for the landlords to have such power to strangle the life out of the High Street? It does not make sense. Many landlords seem to have little social responsibility. It should be managed and not left for landlords to do as they please. Don’t you agree?
[...] Click here to find out how your town can bid to become a Portas Pilot. [...]
An Ode to Lancing.
Between a town that is quiet and a town that is arty
Lies a hidden delight, like the shy one at a party
Its history is sound, stories already written
By the people of Lancing, the biggest village in Britain
There’s a big heart in the village that still beats so strong
The folk are passionate to put right what is wrong
Unique is this village with its wide, open beach
And the green rolling Downs that is all within reach
To give Lancing a boost would be really intelligent
For it’s the ONLY place with it’s own beach white elephant
Where Lancing is placed will be its salvation
For it alone offers, location, location, location!
I happened to read about this competition. Somehow I found this web, and was pleased to have read many comments. The one I liked the most is from Telboy; having said this, all are worth reading.
The common agreement is we all miss being able to shop are our local high street, or village convenience: we all miss our butchers, greengrocers, florists, cobblers, etc. I for one, as many others who have collaborated in this forum, try to purchase local produce as often as possible.
But the key point is: Why do we miss all that? Why do we miss our High Streets?…Who did this? Was it the Tescos? the Asdas? Sainburys? the Chancellor? some sheik? the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers?
The more I look into this, the more I conclude it was us. The British shopper. We did this and given half the chance, we will do it again. Mary, please be careful about this!
We feel aggrieved by the Tescopoly!, the fallacy of Morrisons Market Street is evident! Asda is happy to help…themselves!…etc, etc, etc.
Once the High Street of the lucky chosen are “refurbished”…who will top visiting the out of town / suburban supermarket? who will start buying local produce? buy at the local farm shop or milk from the milkman (so early in the morning, the poor chap)?…buying does not mean once or twice, but our weekly shopping, those £80 odd we spent at the superstore.
Perhaps the word unloved should be used to ourselves. We changed the smiling grocer, the Mr Jones and Mrs Smith for a big supermarket.
Once I thought of opening a small shop in my area, I have not forgotten the dream. But many friends call it the “fream”…how long for a Tescos to open next door (they come in small sizes, you know)…a cafe?, why not?, but once you get to the break even you will find surrounded by Costas…and the list goes.
Competition is not the problem, the problem is that my customers will leave me behind. When it comes to pockets or brands: loyalties are hard to maintain. Besides my council will do its best to kill me off. Expensive and difficult parking, planning laws, rates, unkempt roads, etc.
It is difficult to redeem the high street; but it can be done. It cannot be done by Mary or the government. As Michael Jackson said, “look at the mirror and make the change”.
Please be honest. Are you killing you local traders little by little?
A poem for Lancing, West Sussex….
I am invisible to most, people just walk on by,
But for those who can stop and just breath in and sigh,
I really have treasures, you may think this untrue
But jewels I possess and could share them with you.
The people who know me and live in my heart
know that with love, growth really could start.
Momentum is growing and new eyes can see
that although I’m unloved there is potential in me.
I may be forgotten, abandoned, laid bare
But with direction and focus, money and care
I will blossom, inspire and be a spring-board for you,
for your family and friends, for your futures, it’s true
I am beautifully placed between the Downs and the Sea
You could never be bored if you come live in me,
All I need is some time, some patience, affection
We could rise up and shine, we could be perfection.
How I long to be in Lancing,
‘Neath the lonely sea and sky:
I left my vest and socks there;
I wonder if they’re dry?
Dawlish is a scenic beachside town. Dawlish depends on tourism to survive. I would like Dawlish to be considered for the Portas funding as it is different to all over towns, home of the black swans, atmospheric railway, but the recent devlopment of a large Sainsburys on the edge of Dawlish means the high street shops are less popular with the locals, we need help from Mary to help get Dawlish back on track, almost all of our highstreet shops are indepent buisnesses that rely on local costumers.
In Dawlish we would all work togther and do anything it takes to help Dawlish. Dawlish’s main priority is somewheree safe for children and a family area as the community centre on Churchill Avenue(near our house)is to be knocked down to build houses we need somewhere like this closer to the town center that will last. Many people strongly believe that somewhere like this will be an extremly useful building for everyday life. Dawlish is also being built on alot, many roadworks and rennovations like Churchill Community Centre, this can make everyday life a struggle to get around, especially for people like us who live near the Community centre, the Centre will be ripped down and will become very loud near us. We really hope you consider Dawlish as part of the Portas Project as we really need your help
love living in Dawlish,but parking is difficult if one is not active.how about one of these little trains (like Jersey) from carpark down to the beach and back againwith several stopping places enroute.I think holiday makers would like a few bigger shops where they can shelter on cold damp days.This is why charity shops are popular folk can take their time looking around, before they buy.Street markets have the same effect….Keep the visitors in the town !!!
Well. That’s it. I have gone and done it. I don’t know what prompted me, especially as I was more disappointed at the end of it than I was at the start. But, job done.
From one end of the High Street to the other I moved surreptitiously, ticking them off as I progressed. One, two, three, ah, there’s another one, four. Shops, not any old shops but the ones’ that have replaced those that used to be there and formed my familiarity with what shopping was once all about. Individuality.
Eight charity shops, nine take-away food shops, a betting shop, replacing the street corner bookies runner, computer games shop, Chinese medicine shop, fancy dress hire, shoe and clothing shops to suit every size and shape. But, hold on a minute; what’s that?
A single oasis of what used to be, amongst this myriad of consumptive consumerism, a fruit and vegetable shop. A greengrocer’s.
“Take this shilling and get me six pounds of potatoes” said my mum. “Shall I take the bag?” I asked. “It’s worn through, put them in your cap”. She was of course joking about the cap, I think, but serious about those organic soil covered potatoes at 2d a pound. That one remaining High Street greengrocers is a remnant of what shopping used to be about. During the war, a trip to the local nursery [not a place for child day care] to buy tomatoes off the vine or onions straight out of the ground, was a weekly matter of course.
Mr. Nursery, and any other food shop owner, would then take great pride in carefully placing the items into a brown paper bag and with a flourish, to amaze a young child, twist the corners of the bag to seal it.
Cereals could be bought straight from the sacks, lined up in colourful rows in front of the counter.
“A bit of dirt helps the constitution”, my Nan used to say, although I never knew what constitution meant. The Haberdasher would sell you a couple of buttons, the Ironmonger would gladly count out half a dozen brass screws as he passed the time of day, and the grocer would weigh out a quarter of a pound of aromatic tea and scoop it into yet another paper bag.
The Baker baked his own bread and thought that additives were the opposite of subtractions.
You could be carried home on that crusty smell of freshly baked bread in desperation for a dab of fresh butter, butter that had never been anywhere near a chemistry laboratory.
‘Polly’s Tea Rooms’ had no connection with a French Café and from the dribble inducing fare that Polly could provide her surname was definitely not Unsaturate.
But those shops and that way of shopping are gone now and gone forever.
Satisfying an undemanding customer was more important than market profit. Remember that old saying, the customer always comes first, well forget it, it’s history. Another phrase in common usage was, the pace of life. Forget that one as well, because, like battery reared chickens, we have all been lifted on to the conveyor belt of consumerism and it has nothing to do with living or life.
Speed and convenience are the new watchwords.
You can just image the high powered meeting to discuss a new product launch.
“We have devised this new means of food preparation and presentation and it’s all in a box.”
“What do you think of that idea.”
“Sounds like it should be flushed down the nearest convenience.”
“Brilliant, brilliant, we’ll call it convenience food.”
But, once the ball started to roll convenient was the last thing on their mind.
Cauliflower cheese! Six, separate pieces of packaging. Most of it impenetrable by hand. By the time you have fought your way through the most indestructible materials ever devised by man, you could be lying, exhausted and starving, on the kitchen floor.
Every day I am confronted with a new and arthritically exciting challenge. A screw-cap that doesn’t unscrew, without the aid of a special device. A ring-pull that is not strong enough to do the pulling and plastic wrapping stronger than a five pound note. The kitchen has become a tool-shop and I am now in the enviable position of having more tools than Black and Decker.
My most recent discovery reminded me of those long ago days when we would all pile on to the back of a lorry and trundle off hop-picking. As a young boy I could wander through a beautiful Kent orchard and pluck a succulent apple from the tree, [it wasn’t really scrumping, honest m’lord].
My supermarket version looked just as good but as I tried to bite into it my teeth slid off of its surface. Closer inspection, and holding it underneath hot tap water, revealed that it was coated with a glossy waterproof varnish, to protect it. From what, teeth?
Once you have bitten, cut, torn, and caused permanent damage to all of this user proofed packaging you have to dispose with it. Do it unwisely and the planet will be unfit to live on next week, so we are informed by those experts, the scientists. And yet, in the not too distant past, conservation was a way of life and a fully acceptable part of shopping. It was all wrapped up.
In environmentally friendly brown paper bags, with expertly twisted corners.
That is a joy to read thank you .
Telboy
I agree, if we had everything in the town e.g. butcher, baker, haberdashery, ironmongers, greengrocers etc we wouldn’t need to go to the supermarkets as much.
I purposefully went to one of our local greengrocers today to buy the veggies loose, using our hessian/jute bag, as I want to support local businesses, where I can, time permitting. I try to avoid packaging as much as possible, but it’s hard in this disposable/throw-away society.
Bring back the Great in Britain!
Pam
Shelly, I love your poem
I’ve decided to add another to the list. You never know, maybe a Portas Review book of poems will be publised?!?!
Here’s one I made earlier for Gosport:
Love your high streets… Love Gosport
What ever happened to Gosport?
A great naval town of Hampshire
With Matlows buzzing to have a good time
Enjoying the women and beer
Why don’t people come to Gosport?
For a cup of tea & some cake
To visit the great twice weekly market
Explosion, some subs and swan lake
Let’s hope we win the Portas bid
To breathe life back into our towns
Then trippers will visit New Gosport
Bustling with people, jobs and pounds
People will then want our Gosport
And a slice of great Gosport Jack
We’ll promise you a good time and some fun
Then you’ll really want to come back
Come on let us support Gosport
But also Dover, Dawlish and Lancing
Let’s get the Great back in Britain
And love our great country and sing
Good luck everyone in all your bids.
Pam
HIGH STREET DOORWAYS
The chill winter wind scours the
shop door ice-stoned steel hard bed,
seeking night-time retail sleepers
who on this day have not been fed.
The counter tills are keen to ring
the wealthy shoppers’ debit cost,
but the night-time open doorways
are queues for those of profit lost.
Huddled in refuse cardboard box,
newspaper print rubbed linen sheet;
they are homeless un-wanted ghosts
condemned to haunt the ghostly street.
In daylight hours pavement public weave,
avoiding hungry beggar tug
at cashmere silk lined sleeve
Step men are easily recognised
as rough coated hollow eyed,
proffing the ‘homeless’ magazine
to seek a gentle touch of pride.
They drink from cans of bitter beer
to sweeten thoughts of unknown fear.
As night cape cloaks the streets once more,
they rush back home to ’welcome’ mat
to keyless door and Stone bed flat
Cold bound in sickened weakest frame;
they exist though no man can
hear their given Christian name.
Born as every human must
vagrant shadows longing for a crust.
Dreaming of warm woollen blanket
on a full-sprung mattressed bed.
Greatest prayer their cold lips make,
to be discovered cold, and dead.
Thank you from Lancing and good luck to all the places you mentioned. We all did our best.
Down in south devon there’s a place down at heel
A town by the sea sadly lacking appeal.
Whatever its past, it’s now far from its prime
Looking sad and neglected such a shame, such a crime.
Investment is needed and input too
So we’re so hoping Mary there’ll be big help from you.
Holidaymakers it needs to survive (but the town needs updating in order to thrive).
Once eulogised by John Betjeman in his poem “Dawlish” the town, like so many others, has lapsed into decay. But Dawlish has such potential for regeneration. The natural resouces which once made this town a vibrant sea-side resort are still there and with some creative thinking could be used again to restore that vibrancy. The sea, the beaches, the rail link, the south coast path, the open town centre with its brook and lawns (jaded now but with so much potential), the access into the surrounding hills. Exploit those resources, revitalise them and people will come; if people come local business will follow and Dawlish could once again become a thriving, bustling, vibrant resort.
DAWLISH. My childhood memories of our town is one of a bustling, friendly and diverse seaside destination. Locals and visitors alike would enjoy the many independent shops, in between spending time on the lovely beaches or in the lovely park.
Fast forward 30 years, and we still have the beaches and we still have the park, but we don’t have the High Street. The local independent shops, those that haven’t yet been converted into charity shops, struggle gainfully on but desperately need Mary’s help to return DAWLISH to being the thriving, yet charming, seaside town that it once was.
DAWLISH is famous for it’s Black Swans. However at the moment the town is an ugly duckling that needs Mary’s time and enthusiasm to help turn it into a beautiful swan.
1. Pam Jones says:
April 6, 2012 at 4:57 am
Hi Mary
Having been a follower of the great ‘Sirs’, John Harvey-Jones and Gerry Robinson, I have put you in my category of greats. I have been an avid fan since I first saw ‘Mary Queen of Shops’ in 2007, and think what you have done wonders for Britain, particularly with ‘Kinky Knickers’ and the team behind it, and hope that you will continue to move this country forward. It’s fantastic.
I have read the Portas Review, one Friday morning at 3am, prior to putting in a letter to support the Gosport Borough Council bid to seek funding from the government in response to the review, with the possibility of being part of the Town Team.
I think the review was very comprehensive, thorough, and the recommendations are what this country needs to put the Great back in Britain. Coming from the Midlands, and now living on the South Coast (where good old fashioned markets are sparce), I believe that markets are a big factor in bringing the pizazz back into Blighty, and allowing us ‘to breathe economic and community life back into our towns… to see our high streets bustling with people, services and jobs.’
This country was and is full of great people, with great ideas and skills, but with a recession these are not being utilised to their full potential. However, having a pair of rose tinted spectacles, but also an analytical mind (as an accountant) I do believe it’s possible. We just have to do our bit where we can. The more people that make a difference the more great the country becomes.
Love Your Country
Kind regards
Pam
PS Sorry the first one didn’t save that I did earlier this morning
Dawlish is a gem of a town, but our shops are struggling to compete. We are in danger of losing our last butcher and greengrocer because of a new Sainsbury on the edge of town. Our deli closed recently. Yet another charity shop (the town’s 7th) is preparing to open. The town has a lot to offer but is suffering from lack of investment over the last 20 odd years. Some of our retailers have lovely attractive shops and are doing a good job of promoting themselves, but others need help to see what they need to do! There is huge public support within the town for regeneration and the local Chamber of Trade is enthusiastic. I would love to see Dawlish win the bid.
Lancing Regeneration fb has fantastic support in the community and this week we have had a massive 937 hits on our page hope one of them is you Mary ,a Community such as this with so much energy & ambition to change LANCING needs the “Icing on the cake” and that is to become a Mary Portas Pilot.
BRM Solicitors as a Chesterfield Champion and having given written endorsement in support of Chesterfield’s bid to become a Portas Pilot town are excited by the opportunities presented by the Portas Pilot Scheme. Chesterfield is a town which has many great things going for it, but in the past has suffered from an image problem.
If the town’s bid is succesful, it will bolster other development projects we have going on and help the continuing efforts to move us on from the “old fashioned market town” it is often (and unfairly) seen as.
[...] Visit the Mary Portas website for the Portas Pilot homepage. [...]
Penrith.Cumbria.
The real concerns and problems are not being addressed. Small market towns are easy meat to large supermarkets who run rings around them and their councils firstly destroying the structure of the town over a 5 year period. In Penrith it started with making parking almost impossible and indeed a criminal offence. The council have closed the one main town car park, built another further away from the town centre, now opened and charged for by Sainsburys which is tantamount to blackmail, at charges local people will not pay. So they do not shop in Penrith and who can blame them. Over 1,000 people who work in the town can not afford to park in Sainsbury’s and still have to park in local streets, miles from their offices. The council have their own FREE car park.
If you park in Penrith on a Sunday you will also get another £30 ticket.
From a town with three small supermarkets we now have 6 large ones and two more planned. All on the outskirts of the town leaving the centre empty and un inviting and without parking.
We also need a council of professional men and women who understand business and have been out of Penrith and even Cumbria!
Penrith is, it could be argued, the most expensive town in the UK to park in and when you get here all the individual shops have closed down. So the real problems need addressing. Pouring money into an area does not address the problem. Getting professionals in to run the town is what is needed and doesn’t cost a fortune. It isn’t rocket science…..
if you can’t park, you can’t shop!
I have been talking to local independent shopkeepers since I heard about the Mary Portas project and the one thing they all appear to have a common opinion about is their local Councillors. And that opinion is exclusively negative. I think that this could be the root of most of the problems encountered by towns. No one, it seems, has ever done a survey on what the role of actually being a Councillor is. They are voted in on a political agenda but, do they have the capabilities to actually assess what are the vital ingredients for making a good sustainable community or, are they just out to look after number one? I think that Mary should look more closely at the abilities of a council before taking their word based upon the dereliction of the facades. The local people and shopkeepers should have a much stronger input into the decision making process by Councillors with the ability to reject what they see as a negative committment.
[...] Portas, working with the government, has launched a competition to choose 12 towns to become “Portas Pilots” in 2012. The chosen towns will benefit from a share of £1million to help turn things around for [...]
Help me please to find an answer….
Where can I read the list of which towns have been selected?
Mary, Please help Lancing in West Sussex. A truly amazing village which needs a great high street to help it flourish. Currently full of charity shops and empty shops, when really it could be filled with surf shops, cafes and gift shops. It has so much potential – sea and countryside. Please uncover this diamond in the rough. Pick Lancing and the team of Lancing regeneration will support you all the way.
Just when I think every body has said their thing about Lancing another angel comes along x
oh but our Council are spencing further £20 million regenerating their own High Street for the the 3rd time mmmm!!!
I think what Mary is doing for this country is great. I wish there was more people like Mary out there who are passionate about promoting local industry and putting this great country of ours back on the map.
I myself run a small business producing handcrafted leather items which I hand make in my work shop, I have now designed a label to go on all my hand made items proudly promoting ‘Made in the UK’….I am taking a leaf out of Mary’s book and have been inspired by her drive and I hope what little I can do too to help by supporting other local crafts peolpe and UK businesses and ensuring all my leather & wood are maunfactured in the UK . We should all be supporting the UK and not just from the bottom
Pontiac almost used the name “Banshee” before the name “Firebird” was chosen, untill someone looked up the definition of Banshee, and found that it came from Irish folklore, and was the name of a hagish fairy who wailed outside of a house warning of a family member’s impending doom.
[...] Well! after sterling efforts from Francesca Johnson, Carole Hart Fletcher and several other members of the Business Forum we succeeded in submitting our application for Portas Pilot Town status with about 9 hours to spare!! more information here: Portas Scheme Pilot [...]
It’s really a great and useful piece of information. I am satisfied that you shared this useful information with us. Please keep us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Mary,
Thank you so much for commenting. Your project has really helped our business community all work as one so even if we do not get funding (hope we do though!) a positive development has already been achieved. I really hope you do get to visit Dartmouth to see for yourself how we need your support. Fx
Please Mary, come to LANCING in West Sussex. What has the potential to be a bustling seaside village providing for and attracting more residents whilst bring in visitors with money to spend, is currently neglected, run down, full of empty shops and feeling unloved. But that could change with your help!
Its location should be to die for – between south downs and sea, its size should be perfect – large enough to provide the space for everyone but small enough to grow into a real community, where even small amounts of your help are going to go a long way and have a big impact.
Please help LANCING !
Thank you Max I am glad others see how good it could be x
Hi Mary
Love the programme(s). What you are aiming to achieve is absolutely marvellous.
Please consider Dover as a Pilot site. I have a vested interest of course. I have my own social enterprise community cafe, Nosh and Natter Limited, which aims to eradicate social exclusion/isolation and bring about community cohesion, to those aged 18+. We provide free benefit, debt and housing advice to our customers too. The project is staffed by volunteers who may be unemployed (especially 18-24 year olds) or those wishing to return to the work place after raising a family, etc. We aim to become financially self sufficient so we can eventually offer paid employment. The project is meant to run 365 days per year and there can be more than one Nosh and Natter in any location so it thereby becomes a health initiative as well. All project monies are spent in the local area so local traders benefit from us being in business too. We just need a permanent home.
I have carried out two very successful pilot runs (UnLtd. Level 1 Award Winner) so know the service is needed and wanted, but trying to now find reasonably priced/cost effective premises is proving to be an absolute nightmare. I have tried everything myself, but need some extra help.
I hope you will consider Dover as a Pilot town.
Best wishes
Deborah Nicholson Boulares
Last Night Lancing Regeneration Commnunity Group, won our first funding of £15.000 00 from Adur District Councils Pot of Gold fund.The bid was for funding a Sensory Garden on a bare concrete corner in LANCING.It will be a Art space, it will be a quite space, a place that you can take your children,or sit on your own and admire the diverse uses of what was a concrete corner, I am going to take a box of 48 weetabix some milk/sugar spoons etc and share breakfast with people who want to join me,its going to be that sort of magical space.it is the first and the beginning of LANCINGS Regeneration You might just catch some of our elderly residents nodding of on a bench some afternoons if so sit and remember that they were your age once.LANCING ROCKS .
I hope everyone who is looking to sign up to this opportunity thinks very hard about where their products come from and makes sure they are British creating jobs in the UK and putting money in peoples pockets to spend in their High Street or corner shop.
In 2007 I took the move to rescue a bit of British manufacturing taking over the remnants of Spur Shelving and Nicholl & Wood who had supplied DIY shops for years. Gosh has it been an uphill struggle, but we are here and beginning to take off thanks to support from Nadir Lalani of 99P Stores.
We have developed new lines including the low cost Zamba stock room shelving system and we are making Spur Wall Mounted Shelving in Devon having rescued the Brand.
We have many bays of clearance lines of shelving ideal for stock rooms for all sorts of retailers and would welcome the opportunity to support the High Street and support manufacturing in Devon.
LANCING west sussex lancing has the nicest beach a short walk to the downs we have our own train station with great links to bigger towns but its very neglected its run down needs a bit pf marys spark to sprouse things up make ppl want to come to visit lancing and make us all proud to live here
Aldershot town centre is appalling. One end of our town centre mall stands almost entirely empty, due I’m sure to the extortionate rent being charged by the centre management. Small retailers don’t stand a chance any more. Surely it would be a good thing to rent out empty shop units at peppercorn rents to small retailers and get our centres buzzing again.
Hi Gillian that sounds very much like Billingham Town Centre, we are apparently the cheapest place to shop, but one whole section of the town (where i had my used furniture shop) is totally empty, but our Town Centre has been privately owned since 2007 and not a lot has happened to it since, now our council is having to re-invest some of the money they got from the sale of the centre, i moved out 18 months ago and am now in a high street of sorts in the village where we have only 3 shops empty out of 50 but still struggling best of luck for the future
BURGESS HILL, WEST SUSSEX
This town should be one of Mary’s pilot towns. Small enough to bring everybody together but big enough to make it work. In between Crawley and Brighton it cant be bigger or better but could be different. The high street is full of coffee and sandwich shops, the council allowed 6 more changes of use for food in the last 12 months they all won’t survive. We are overun with charity shops and banks but lack major outlets to bring in the customers.
Burgess Hill used to be a thriving market town but the council have run it down. British market traders are only allowed in small numbers and not in the prime position and the rents are high. Market traders from France and Morocco come to the town in prime spots and RENT FREE with the tax payer picking up the bill, they then take their money back home to spend rather than spending it here.
PLEASE MARY come to Burgess Hill, you can make it happen here
Brilliant TV programme _Mary’s Bottom Line- how sad I must be. Please contact the folk at Kinky Knickers and ask them to rerearch men’s underwear. Jeremy Paxton wrote that he could no longer find undergarments which fitted in all the correct places. Despite not changing shape much over the last 10 years I cannot find briefs which fit at all well. I have tried most of the retail outlets in Dundee and wasted money. All of the products bought in recent years were manufactured abroad, I am sure many,many men would pay a little more for comfortable, fashionable, well-made underwear. To know that purchasing this product would also help keep UK people in a job would be brilliant. Well-done Mary -brilliant.
This is a very good point Ian. It is possible that some of those mens briefs manufactured abroad use a dye that can give a form of dhobi rash, rather like the problems that were recently discovered with the dyes used in furniture fabric manufacture. Destructive test examination on the safety of products was once something that we excelled at with our own products. But this no longer applies it seems. I, unfortunately, witnessed the destruction of the textile mills machinery, it was a sledgehammer riot. That machinery can never be reproduced because our metal casting industry was sold off to the lowest bidder. Even mens disposable paper briefs in an increasingly mobile world could be a start up industry – perhaps the mens version could be called Krinkly Knickers.
I have a 2006 Ford Explorer and am having trouble putting the car into gear after starting it. Sometimes i can move the gear shift after depressing the brake and at other times I have to try multiple times before I can shift into R or D. Is that a problem with the transmission? worried
Yep Jimmie, youve got a real problem there mate. Could be all those imported bits in the machinery. I could recommend a screwdriver but all those I now buy screw up easier than the screw, first time. I think there is a company in Dousdown Street in London, Cameroon, Ogspawn and Cloggy, that are responsible for sending billions of pounds out of the country to help manufacturers in other parts of the world; perhaps they could lend you a few quid to buy a large mirror. What you do then is, remove your windscreen, and replace it with the inward facing mirror. With your gears permanently set in reverse (rather like this country really) you can go anywhere backwards. This is not so good for the outward journey but great for coming back – Does British industry ring any bells?
I agree that Bradford is a great candidate for regeneration , the only way is up from where it is now. With a bit of belief Bradford could be great again – it just needs all those of us who now shop elsewhere to return to support it.Those of us who love our once great city must rally to the cause. We need to be able to attract a key retail player in so that others will follow.The council need to make the planning easier for City centre schemes and cut rates and rents so that businesses can come in cheaply to begin with.
Stevenage, is in need of help. Everything is just stuck, there is no progession. We have empty shops, lots of “cheap” shops, a Pandora shop which is completely out of place and i see the poor people who work in that shop just standing there bored out of their minds. There’s no balance, no variety, it’s getting beyond a joke now.
Lancing! Please save this wonderful village, every day another shop has been closed down and it is in desperate need of a new lease of life. There is an amazing group that have been battling for Lancing, which has become ignored and allowed to suffer as nearby Shoreham gets all of the council’s funding and attention. There is such a great community and so much potential to return Lancing back to the great village that it used to be. There was a fantastic shop that sold local crafts which was forced to close down due to the landlord putting the rent up, it now sits there empty. We need professional help to save Lancing, so please choose Lancing for the programme!
LANCING – Beach to the south, The Downs to the North…….it also has it’s own train station in the heart of it’s village! But is it buzzing and lively and modern? No unfortunately it’s dull and stuck in the mid 20th century. Our village desperately needs an overhaul. It looks tired and unloved but there are people that want to live her and live in hope of it being transformed. Please, please help us!
You are right Marlene it is so difficult to explain Lancing it has the Glorious Southdowns to walk straight on to and under one mile the other way you can walk onto the Beach. But the Village it is in such decline,no heart, sad shadow of its former self. But boy oh boy what a community spirit has blossomed into a movement to save our village. Already with our Street Day, Wish Tree, Mary Portas and The Pot of Gold and all the other ideas coming from the community you can see peoples malaise disappearing. We will not let you down Lancing we are working all the time to change Lancing we are here to see Regeneration of LANCING.
I nominate Lancing, West Sussex for this scheme.
I grew up in Lancing and will be moving back son. When I was younger the shops were great – I especially loved the book shop and used to buy a book from there every couple of weeks! Now instead of an independent shop there is a chain which is a shame. So many empty shops now too, hardly any benches and parking is a nightmare – winning this would help Lancing get back some of the charm I remember from when I was younger. I’m looking forward to being able to shop local again in a high street I can be proud of.
Obviously there is a considerable amount of negativity attached to the subject of town centre regeneration and a benchmark needs to be set. The good examples also require to be looked at to judge how they compare against the bad. Also the management of Council Tax by local councillors needs audit and control. For example, many millions of pounds in this tax are apparently put towards the police pension fund; will that be pegged as it is going to be with all other state pension funding? Much of the deterioration of town centres is in the fact that they are the target of crime and vandalism. We need adequate policing to justify our investment. This must be looked at in the Portas Pilot scheme. Councillors were once enlisted from the local long term resident community and tended to be volunteers who wanted to give back something to their local community. Now, they are nothing more than politicians and seek that which the national political scene demands by what they see as a right. The reason for this is surely associated with the fact that they are elected on the basis of the political party that they represent. We need to be represented by people who have a locally defined caring attitude, not those who see local political representation as a stepping stone to greater things at a national level. The Portas Pilot project has to cut through the hype and gloss and initially assess what might be needed to produce a sense of positivity and hope for the future, if it has to be critical then it musn’t dodge that issue. I am always extremely impressed by the attitude of the independent shopkeepers in my own town and they need to be given a fair chance because they are the future of this town as the independent traders are in every other town. Mary appears to be a ‘bolshy’ sort of gal so I have every confidence in her ability to kick a few derriers to get the problems sorted at a national level. And of course, the National mission statement has been reduced to a single word, Greed. Those at the street level only seek what used to be the communal criteria, a decent life for themselves and their families. They are disillusioned by those individuals who claim celebrity and seek to accumulate enough money to live a thousand life times, but, like the rest of us, they have only paid for one.
Bradford! I don’t quite know what happened to Bradford, it had huge development plans and now it’s all stopped…midway through. In addition to this, the city centre is just full of pound shops and the like. Anyone who wishes to clothes shop neds to go to either Leeds or one of the shopping centres in Leeds such as the Whiterose. It’s a real shame because Bradford was a thriving textile community and could be great again with a little help…