Paving the way for future Greenock funding
The Greenock ‘charrette’ process can help to pave the way for future funding and investment in the town centre.
That’s the view from Inverclyde’s vice convener of regeneration and chair of the new Greenock Town Centre Regeneration Forum, Councillor Jim Clocherty as the charrette comes to a close.
Over the past several weeks, Greenockians and others with an interest in the town centre have had the opportunity to attend events to have their say on eh shape of future town centre development.
There have been 550 people attending the 12 ‘charrette’ events held in the town centre. Events included exhibitions, displays, walking tours and workshops.
Councillor Jim Clocherty said: “The charrette process has been extremely worthwhile and has been a perfect opportunity for people and groups to have their say. It is of particular importance that our young people were engaged in this process and pre-charrette events took place in schools. Our town centre is in our safekeeping to hand in good condition to the next generation. The ‘charrette’ process allows us all to have a say in how the town centre can be developed to the benefit of the whole community.
“On a very practical level, the ‘charrette’ and the outcomes can help to pave the way for future investment opportunities in Greenock Town Centre. That could mean accessing funding from the council, from the government or from other funding sources.”
The charrette was sponsored by the Scottish Government and co-hosted by Inverclyde Council and its urban regeneration company, Riverside Inverclyde (ri).
Austin-Smith:Lord (Urban Designers and Architects) and Douglas Wheeler Associates (economic regeneration specialists) were appointed to facilitate the charrette. The design team also includes property consultants Ryden, WAVEparticle (artists/facilitators), Gerry Grams (Architect and Urban Designer) and Transport Planning Ltd.
A charrette is an intensive consultation that includes planning workshops which engage local people in the design process for their community.
The public, designers and specialists working together, ‘hands on’, to prepare a long term vision, development framework and action plan for Greenock town centre. The ideas will be translated into plans and drawings.
In preparation for the charrette, discussions and survey work were undertaken and community activities organised by WAVEparticle in Greenock on 22 and 23 February.
WAVEparticle is an arts organisation which specialises in developing and delivering effective community engagement, by treating engagement as an art form.