AMT Public

Pocklington Study Tour – 26 February 2009
Pocklington Arts Centre, Pocklington, East Riding of Yorkshire

Representatives from local Market Town Partnerships, Renaissance Partnerships, Town and County Councils and the Commission for Rural Communities got together in Pocklington on 26 February to find out how a new Arts Centre had transformed this small town – and how they could turn their own towns into prosperous places, despite the economic downturn.

The Pocklington Study Tour is one of the first Towns Alive events which help market towns share the ‘how to’ of successful initiatives in their own towns around one of Action for Market Towns’ main campaign areas – in this case, Prosperous Places.

Prosperous Places is about helping town partnerships to take ownership of their local economy and understand that this isn’t just an issue for national government; with small steps and shared initiatives we can all make a difference.

Case studies shared on the day:

Pocklington Arts Centre – find out how this former penny arcadia became a thriving arts venue and a community hub for this small Yorkshire town

Living Streets

Community Street Audit in Pocklington

Richard Smith of Living Streets had us out and about on the streets of Pocklington for a Community Street Audit.

Split into small groups we each took on an area of the town to observe and note the good aspects – such as a well-kept churchyard and wide pavements – and the not so good – a lack of bike racks and some ill-placed crossings.

The idea is to get a variety of street users (mums with pushchairs, wheelchair users, older people, children, office workers in a hurry) and decision makers (representatives from the town council, highways department, police and fire service and so on) taking part in the audit so that everyone concerned is aware of the problems and can then work together to resolve them.

Check back soon to read a case study from the town of Driffield, which conducted a community street audit and as a result made some important changes.

SWOT Analysis
At the end of the day, keeping the focus on Prosperous Places, attendees had the chance to do a SWOT analysis of their own town – pinpointing its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, whether it was a big out-of-town supermarket about to open, empty office space in the town centre, or a large number of money-rich, time-poor commuters. A SWOT analysis is a useful starting point for any small town that wants to plan for a prosperous future.

More Towns-4-Towns events will follow soon. See more upcoming events.