New planning policy to encourage residential back into town centres.
Throughout the 80’s, and into the 90’s, pedestrianisation of town centres was all the rage, and although these schemes often created much more pleasant environments in which to transact day-time business (economic, social or other) many of our high streets became dead zones in the evening, with no activity and no signs of life.
This was partly as a result and partly a cause of residential properties being converted to other uses, especially those above shops and offices.
We need to put the life back into our evening economies in our town centres and get people back where they belong – at the heart of their communities.
Regenerating our town centres needs a mix of approaches with project activity designed to meet the specific needs of individual places. Within this mix there is an opportunity to use residential development to create more vibrant places with passive policing and people that really care what happens to, and in, the town centre.
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