Portas Pilot – Town Team Coordinator

Salary: 24 hours per week. £12,480-13,104 (depending on experience)

Contract: 1 year fixed term contract.

Location: Croydon

In May 2012, Croydon Old Town became one of 12 towns which successfully won a fund launched by the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) through the Portas Pilot Scheme of £100,000 to improve the area for existing and new businesses.

Croydon Old Town has played a major part in the history of the Town Centre for many generations. Over the last few decades, the Portas area of Old Town has been deprived and left to fend for itself while other areas around the Town centre have had a more concentrated investment of schemes and redevelopment. The Vision of the town team is to recreate the old town area as a place for independent retailers, a good quality street market and a place where our historic background is celebrated.

As part of Portas Town team, we are looking for a part time project officer to help us deliver a place where people can come and learn, open their business or enjoy being part of a community.

See Job Description:  By clicking here

For informal enquiries please contact Rob Campbell on 0208 603 0054

To apply for this post please send CV and covering letter to Rob Campbell Robert.campbell@croydonbid.com

Closing date: 30 April 2013 at 17.00. Interviews to be held in the first week of May 2013.

http://independenteverything.net/2013/04/07/croydon-portas-pilot-scheme-is-the-market-stalling/

Dear All

I am writing further to the introductory public meeting for the Old Town Masterplan that was held on 18th October 2012. I would like to invite you to an Ideas Workshop for the Old Town Masterplan which is taking place on Tuesday 26th March 2013 between 6.30pm-8.30pm at Matthews Yard in Old Town and to update you on progress on the Old Town Masterplan and other regeneration projects in the Old Town.

The Old Town Masterplan

I am very pleased to announce that Croydon Council has now appointed a multi-disciplinary design team being led by Allies and Morrison Urban Practitioners (AM-UP) through a competitive tender to work on developing the Old Town Masterplan. The team bring to the project expertise in architecture, heritage, urban design, transport planning, economic development, landscape architecture and urban planning. They will now be working closely with Croydon Council, stakeholders and the community to develop ideas for the future of Old Town.

The purpose of the Old Town Masterplan is to improve the built environment for people living, working and shopping in Old Town. It will be a Planning Guidance Document that sets the parameters for development of the buildings, streets and public spaces in Old Town and also looks at how movement in, out and around the area could be improved over the next 20 years. It will also recommend how the heritage assets of the area – its treasured buildings and historic street patterns – can be preserved, enhanced and celebrated. The Old Town Masterplan is funded by the Mayor of London and Croydon Council the draft masterplan will be formally consulted on towards the end of this year.

Ideas workshop: The Old Town Masterplan – Tuesday 26th March 6.30-8.30pm

As a follow-up to October’s Public Meeting we would like to invite you to an ideas workshop that will be held on Tuesday 26 March 2013 between 6.30pm-8.30pm at Matthews Yard for people who live, work and shop in Old Town. The address of Matthews Yard is 1 Matthews Yard, off Surrey Street, CR0 1FF, website:www.matthewsyard.com. The workshop will be an opportunity for you, as local experts, to provide Allies and Morrison Urban Practitioners and Croydon Council with your valuable local opinions and information on the buildings, streets, public spaces and transport in the Old Town area and also let us know what you believe are the important issues and opportunities for the built environment. You will also be able to discuss and explore options for the future of the area with the masterplanning team and other local people. The information gained at this event will be used to inform the emerging options being developed through the masterplaning process.

It is essential that the objectives and proposals of the draft masterplan are informed by local knowledge so that the outputs are designed to improve the quality of the built environment and movement around it for local communities. We hope to see you on the 26 March, even if you are only able to spare the time to attend part of the event. I would be grateful if you could confirm your attendance by emailing oldtownmasterplan@croydon.gov.uk.

In addition to the masterplan, there are several other related projects underway in Old Town at the moment, including:

Portas Pilot

Old Town was one of 27 areas in the country to be awarded funding by the government to help improve its retail offer under a national scheme led by Mary Portas aka “The Queen of Shops” – famous for her TV series about UK shops. The Portas Pilot in Old Town is governed by a Town Team made up of local volunteers. In January 2013 the Town Team published their business plan which is available to view at the following weblink: www.oldtowncroydon.org.uk/guide/wp-content/uploads/Town-Team-Business-Plan.pdf

As well as local traders, the town team is keen to work with local residents. If you would like to find out more or get involved in their work, please contact the Town Team direct by emailing portas@oldtowncroydon.org.uk or find it on facebook facebook.com/croydonoldtown or twitter: twitter.com/oldtowncroydon.

High Streets Project

Croydon Council is in the process of appointing a design team through a competitive tender to deliver public realm and building frontage improvements for Old Town High Streets (Church Street, Surrey Street, Drummond Road, Tamworth Road, Old Palace Road).

The same team will also deliver public realm and building frontage improvements for London Road, High Street and Katherine Street.

The design team will start work in April and a full public consultation will be run next summer, building on the continuous dialogue Croydon Council has been having with the Portas Town Team and Croydon Old Town Business Association (COBA). All works will be delivered by April 2015.

Croydon Minster Memorial Gardens

Croydon Council has submitted a bid to the Greater London Authority for extra funding to deliver landscape improvements to Saint John’s Memorial Gardens. If this bid is successful, the works will be delivered by the Old Town High Streets team, and within the same timescales as the High Streets project.

Finally, when we sent our last email a few of the email addresses that were left at the Old Town Masterplan meeting in October bounced back, so if you know of anyone who should have received this email, I would be grateful if you could forward it on to them.

Again, we hope to see you on the 26th March for the Old Town Masterplan Ideas Workshop. As ever, please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Best Regards

Tim Naylor

Head of Spatial Planning

Spatial Planning Service
Planning and Building Control
Planning and Environment Department
18th floor North East Quadrant
Taberner House
Park Lane
Croydon CR9 1JT

Tel: 020 8726 6000 Ext: 61507
Fax: 020 8760 5424

Our team is working to reverse decline allowed to take hold over years of neglect and mismanagement.  It’s a big ask!

With this in mind we put in a bid for the £1million High Street X fund – a government initiative designed to help innovative High Streets continue their good work.

Today we have an important visit from Government (accompanied by the High St Champion from Boots) who are coming to see why Market Rasen’s town tranformation has the X Factor.

Our bid includes plans for guerilla gardening, a community cafe and cash to see our Town Centre Manager funded beyond year one.  Fingers crossed.

You can see our video submission here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx2fhRwSCX4&feature=youtu.be

This video was kindly put together by some very talented students at Lincoln University – just one of a number of talented teams who are supporting our efforts with energy and creativity.

Christo Matthews is running  and directing the event .  Croydon Portas Team are proud to be supporting the Bake Off.

If you’re between 12 and 18 years old, get in contact by clicking here to be a Junior Bake Off contender! If you’re 18+ get in contact by clicking here to be an Adult Bake Off contender!

1. Winter
   • The Great Croydon Bake Off – 16th Feb
2. Spring
   • The Great Croydon Bake Off – 11th May
3. Summer
   • The Great Croydon Bake Off – 13th July
   • The Great Croydon Junior Bake Off – 14th July
4. Autumn
   • The Great Croydon Bake Off Finale – 19th October

Where will it be held?

The Great Croydon Bake Off will be held in Exchange Square (where the green arrow is), just off Surrey Street Market. There is ample parking in the NCP car park directly behind Exchange Square. Otherwise there are lots of public transport options:

Tram nearest stop is Church Street or George Street

Bus nearest stop is Croydon Flyover or Croydon Library stops

What is a bake off?

Four amateur bakers take part in a light hearted competition to be crowned the best baker in Croydon. It will showcase live baking in Exchange Square in Croydon and loosely follow the format of the TV show. It will consist of 2 challenge bakes:

1. Savoury bake
2. Sweet bake

It will be judged by a small panel of Croydon restaurateurs and foodies. Attendees to the event will get to try the food cooked by the bakers as part of a celebration once the results are in.

Will there be anything else happening throughout the day?

Oh yes… There will be interviews with the bakers and judges, small baking workshops teaching you how to make quick and easy but delicious bakes and much more to be announced!

Ambition

To inject the emerging, bustling foodie culture in Croydon with creativity and provide a chance for Croydon bakers to show off their skills.

Croydon has proved it has a love of food – it even has a whole quarter named for it! That quarter of Croydon houses some fantastic restaurants serving a wide variety of cuisines.

Croydon also loves celebrating what it has. We’ve had food festivals, art festivals, historic festivals, music festivals… This is another opportunity for Croydon to show how much it cares about its community.

Challenges

I have 3 main challenges:

1. Finding equipment to facilitate the event – hopefully through sponsorship
2. Finding great bakers
3. Spreading the word

If you can help by sponsoring this event, the first of it’s kind in Croydon, please get in contact with me by sending an email to contact@christopm.com.

A full list of sponsorship options can be found by clicking here.

Winter Bakers:

Apply to be a baker by sending an e-mail to this address: contact@christopm.com

Winter Judges:

Sean Coughlan

Sean Coughlan will judge the Great Croydon Bake Off Winter 2013

Sean is the Production Director of the South London based Coughlans Bakery shops.

Coughlans was established in 1937 and has continued to run as a family business, delighting locals with their wide range of savory and sweet pastries and other baked goods. Sean oversees the production of goods coming out of their 20 shops.

On their website, it says:

“We employ strict quality control and try not to let anything slip below amazing!”

I’m sure Sean will let nothing slip past him on the day as he has done for the past years!

Tim Fisher

Tim Fisher will judge the Great Croydon Bake Off Winter 2013

Tim has worked as a Pastry Chef, Baker and Chocolatier for over 25 years. In his career he has worked at Selfridges, The BBC, was the Pastry Chef for Jean Christophe Novelli for 2 years and has created delicious items for the worlds top banks and many blue chip companies as a resident pastry chef.

He studied and honed his craft at some of the best, specialist bakery institutions in the world and received his first baking qualification from Croydon College.

Tim has won over 40 competitions including the UK Dessert of the Year. 25 awards for pastry at The British Open Cookery Championships including 4 Golds and 9 Best In Class awards.

Tim’s speciality is now in making chocolate, formerly having an outlet in Alders before it was closed down.

Sponsors:

Portas Pilot Croydon

Portas Pilot Scheme supports The Great Croydon Bake Off

Portas Pilot, the scheme lead by Mary Portas and our current government will be sponsoring The Great Croydon Bake Off by providing an amazing marquee to house the event in Exchange Square. Click here to find out more about what the Portas Pilot scheme is doing to make Croydon a fun place to be.

Art and Design:

Catherine Frere-Smith produces beautiful bird related art

Catherine Frere-Smith is an exceptionally talented, multi-media artist based in South London. Her speciality, as you can tell from website, is bird art.

But exploring her website reveals her incredible breadth of work, from hand crafting life-size birds made from various fabrics to creating beautiful, individual and highly stylised clothing.

Looking through Catherine’s works, you can clearly see a deep love and appreciation of Britains natural world.

This made Catherine the perfect choice to be the designer for The Great Croydon Bake Off.

Presented by…

Rebecca Perfect will present the Great Croydon Bake Off

Croydon local Rebecca Perfect is an experienced presenter who has recently featured on Channel 5 News as a Film Critic discussing the Twilight phenomenon. She has also become a regular face on the red carpet for movie premieres, working for Red Carpet News TV, Shoreditch Radio and Ridge Radio. Rebecca has interviewed some of the biggest names in film, music and entertainment.

Most recently Rebecca has become the face of the new studio based online television show for Millie’s Cookies – Freshly Baked, covering music, movies and fashion.

Promotion:

Hot Minute Magazine will be sponsoring the event

Croydon based events company and magEzine Hot Minute will be providing a professional photographer for the day as well as some sound equipment. Their main sponsorship will come in the form of promotion for the event.

Cooking stations:

Croydon Old Town Business Association

Croydon Old Town Business Association, aka COBA have stepped up to provide The Great Croydon Bake Off with custom made units. Each unit will come complete with a worktop, oven and hob.

Baking Workshop:

The ladies of One Of A Kind Cake Co, Coulsdon.

Tracey Newton of One Of A Kind Cake Co will be running the workshop on the day between 2.30pm – 3.30pm. There will be 4 slots of 15 minutes where you, the bake off audience, will get to try your hand at making toppings for cup cakes! Tracey will guide you with sage words and give you a little bit of information to prepare yourself before you begin, so don’t worry.

The After Party:

Matthews Yard will host the after party of The Great Croydon Bake Off

Matthews Yard will be the host of the first Great Croydon Bake Off 2013. This large cafe is tucked behind Surrey Street Market at the base of the water pumping station in Exchange Square. They serve fantastic coffee and gourmet food to delight your savory or sweet taste buds. It’s a perfect little relaxation spot too after a long shop in the centre.

The awards run by the National Association of British Markets Authorities (NABMA) were announced on the 31st January at a conference in Birmingham.

They put Market Rasen amongst a handful of locations recognised for pioneering local entrepreneurship by hosting and managing outstanding markets.

The Mr Big team was particularly congratulated on the scale of their achievements in a short space of time and for their excellent trader and community engagement by theming every single event.

Food blogger Dominic Franks at MR BIG's Food Glorious Food October Market

Market Rasen will continue to be home to big markets with 10 themes extravaganzas in 2013 running on the first Saturday of every month.

MARKET DATES FOR 2013: 

February 2nd
March 2nd
April 6th
May 4th
July 6th
September 7th
October 5th
November 2nd
December 7th

Mr Big’s 2013 programme kicks off tomorrow Saturday 2 February with Love Love Me Do Market and launch of Plank 2013 when Market Rasen becomes an Art Gallery for 4 weeks with diverse exhibitions by independent designer/makers from Lincolnshire will be displayed in a range of unusual places and spaces. Supported by Arts Council England.

Anyone interested in taking a pitch at MR BIG markets should complete the Mr Big Market Trader online registration form

Plank 2013 - 2 Feb to 2 Mar - Market Rasen Arts & Crafts Festival

During the very first meeting of the first 12 Portas Pilot towns we were really impressed by Mary’s passion for creating a ‘vibrant high street with social capital’. She talked about ‘multi-funtcional social spaces’ for learning, socialising, nurturing with a mix of activities to bring people into town.

So that’s what we’ve embraced with Plank 2013 – in 3 distinct ways we’re reinventing our high street with:

• Artwork and installations commissioned by 4 lead local artists creating a vision for where to take Market Rasen artistically. Their commissioned pieces will bring art to a new audience and revitalise the high street in new and interesting ways.

• Exhibitions in a variety of accessible high street venues, including the two shops Greens of Lincolnshire and The BIG Corner Shop (developed and set up by our Town Team using Portas Pilot and High Street Innovation fund) plus shops, pubs, restaurants, the library, churches and heritage buildings. Display will be professionally staged, flexible in their location and sustainable for future events thanks to the purchase of new equipment.

Submissions of artwork and workshop ideas has been excellent so far, considering the incredibly short lead time for this project, but in Market Rasen, we’re passionate about making this happens fast!

Plank 2013 will launch at our Valentine’s themed ‘Love Love Me Do’ Market on 2 February 2013 when we expect a packed Market Place and bumper turn out of arts & crafts stalls in Festival Hall, as well as BIG arts workshops from Rhubarb Theatre, story telling under the auction shed and our fabulous Lincolnshire line-up of luscious local food – to eat in the street, in Ffeisty’s Happy Cafe and to take home and savour delicious treats that you can only get from independent local producers.

What’s more, Carol Parker, one of our lead artists is Yarn Bombing Market Rasen for Plank 2013 so we’re putting the call out to passionate knitters and crochet experts to help our town earn its yarn bombing stripes with knitted bits from all over the country!

NOTE on the NAME: Plank is an Anglo Saxon word for Rasen. It also means ‘bridge’ so it is perfect for a festival that will create links within the community and bring people in from our rural villages which harbour a wealth of artistic talent.

Supported with expertise and advice from Art on the Map and the fabulous National Centre for Craft and Design in Sleaford, we hope this event will become a regular feature on the Lincolnshire Arts scene and that we can start a conversation about Market Rasen becomeing as a creative and artistic hub.

And if we’re very lucky we hope Mary Portas herself will pop by during our 4 week festival and take a peek!

To find out more or get involved then please contact Town Centre Manager Nicola Marshall at:mrbigtowncentremanager@hotmail.com

or volunteer director of Community, Arts & Culture Sarah Lamballe 07974 194888

To view the full business plan click here

http://www.oldtowncroydon.org.uk/guide/wp-content/uploads/Town-Team-Business-Plan.pdf

Below is a summary of the Portas Pilot Delivery for Old Town Croydon:

Short Term (0 – 6 months Delivery)

• Lobby Council to implement a management for Surrey Street Market
• To employ a Portas Pilot Project Co-ordinator
• To Create Business and Market Traders Handbooks
• To Clean up Jubilee Bridge before winter sets in - DONE
• To promote events and area for Christmas Shopping
• To create marketing to promote new enterprise into Portas area

Mid Term (0 – 9 months Delivery)

• To create a Community Hub area in Surrey Street
• To have a market management operator in place for Surrey Street Market
• To offer micro loans to traders and businesses in Portas area
• To create a heritage trail with the help of COBA and owners of historic buildings
• To organise events and promotions for Church Street/Surrey Street area
• To organise Pop-up installations for retail, Market in Portas area
• To install high speed internet and free WiFi in Portas Area
• To re-launch Surrey Street Market (starting around Valentines day and Easter)

Long Term (0 – 12 Months Delivery)

• To Create opportunities for new and existing traders and businesses
• To work with the local authorities to help find tenants for Exchange Square
• To establish a sustainable income source to run Portas Pilot delivery