East Staffordshire Borough Council is pleased to invite residents of Burton to join its Sounding Board for the Towns Fund Project D – High Street Linkages.
The purpose of Project D is to look at the High Street land between Bargates and Market Place and how that area could be enhanced through new uses and activity, with improved linkages between the High Street and the Washlands. In order to inform any proposals for this land, the Council will be launching a ‘call for ideas’ survey in the summer so that it can identify the aspirations and ideas of Burton residents as to the different types of uses that could be realised on the riverside.
Prior to that consultation process, the Council is setting up a ‘Sounding Board’ of stakeholders with the aim of having a representation of Burton residents who can help inform and co-design the survey methodology and be involved in formulating the next steps after the responses have been collated.
Early engagements have taken place with a small number of stakeholders, however the Council is looking to invite a further 20 residents who would like to make a positive impact on the possible transformation of the riverside. This Sounding Board will focus entirely on Project D and be led by the Council, rather than the overall Towns Fund programme.
The principles of the Sounding Board for the Council are:
- Inclusivity – representing as many Burton stakeholders as possible;
- Co-design – working jointly to design surveys, survey options and process;
- Transparency – communicating process, outputs and outcomes to stakeholders;
- Integrity – working with stakeholders to do what we say we are going to do;
- Confidence – working to build confidence in the project through ownership of the process;
- Certainty – for stakeholders that the process meets the above ambitions in terms of the process.
Members of the public are invited to complete an application form to express an interest in joining the Project D Sounding Board, with a preference being given to those who live in Burton.
Speaking about the Sounding Board process, Valerie Burton, one of the Town Deal Board Project Leads for Project D, said:
“This is a key project aimed at regenerating the High Street whilst improving access from the town centre to the river and Washlands. I encourage citizens to engage in this process, so as to ensure the public consultation later in the year effectively reflects our shared aspirations for a more vibrant town providing new, sustainable and exciting uses for the riverside.”
Depending upon interest, the Sounding Board will hopefully mirror the local community demographic with members of different ages, backgrounds and groups. The selection of applications will be made with this in mind, however anyone not selected for the Sounding Board will be kept on record for any future engagement activities on other proposals.
The closing date for applications is 5:30pm on Monday 12th July, with the first workshop taking place by Zoom on either Wednesday 14th July or Thursday 15th July at 6:30pm.
To find out more about the Project D Sounding Board and download a copy of the application form, please visit the Towns Fund webpage.