Author: templar

Throughout July to mark Independent Retailer Month some shops are offering discounts, others running competitions and still more putting on live music in a bid to get mre custom.

But nothing here in Dunbar: Independent Retailer Month Events.

A month of events could have been used to raise awareness, but it looks like few took this opportunity seriously, or simply lacked the time and resources to make something happen during what has to be Scotland’s favourite month to take time off.  Trades weeks have to be a major cost to Scotland’s economy, just like Bank Holidays and those interminably long school holidays and associated complicated arrangements, which so frustrate those with children at school in city and country.

Continue reading Battling to save Britain’s high streets

To assert that places matter and that people actually care about the places where they live sounds to me like a statement of the bleeding obvious. But what if Age UK, Civic Voice, the Design Council, English Heritage, Keep Britain Tidy and Sustrans all say it at once? Might we take a bit more notice? Giving local people a say in the planning and shaping of their own neighbourhoods has become pretty popular in the last couple of decades and not only  has broad cross party support, is increasingly rooted in legislation, north and south (across regions, countries and continents). But how do people and place contribute to growing the local economy, cutting crime and improving public health? A new report “Why Places Matter” proposes to offer practical advice on such matters. Councillors and communities take note.

Continue reading Why Places Matter