Rob Lawton describes the successful use of a Community Partnership approach

to revitalising a struggling town.

The Civic Trust campaigned long and hard for the concept of conservation areas in the Civic Amenities Act 1967. Its Regeneration Unit pioneered a project approach to revitalising the economy, community and physical fabric of Wirksworth in Derbyshire back in 1978 in an initiative described by HRH Prince of Wales as “brilliantly imaginative”. That programme of work now extends to over 40 areas and has added further emphasis to the triple aim of people, place and business prosperity. The programme embraces every type of community, from the traditional seaside resort that has seen better days, through to the historic market town that has lost its role, to the inner cities.

With local authorities moving into the role of enablers rather than sole providers

of certain services, it would perhaps pay to look at an alternative arrangement that works alongside the local authority in a partnership, rather than an adversarial role. The Brigg Regeneration Project is entering its third year of operation. Funded by Glanford Borough Council, English Heritage, The Rural Development Commission, and Humberside County Council, it has put together a partnership of community interests, schools, local

businesses and the Borough Council to work towards a markedly improved economy, environment and an increased pride of place in Brigg, South Humberside.

Brigg (population 5500) is a market town with a Charter dated 1235. It has over 100 Grade II listed buildings in the town centre. At one time it was the market town of north Lincolnshire but Brigg’s role has largely been superseded by the emergence of Scunthorpe, a steel town only ten miles away that has grown from a handful of hamlets to a town of 60,000 since the turn of this century. As a result, Brigg’s fortunes took a downturn. All the national retailers except Boots left. Investment and confidence followed them. The Project was set up to reverse this spiral of decline.

The Borough Council in support of the project put together a battery of grants to encourage investment: