Agenda item

M Swann, Town Centre Commission Manager was present for this item.  He advised that he had taken over the responsibility as the Town Centre Commission Manager and that this role was responsible for the Town Centre Commission.  It was noted that this did not include responsibility for the Markets however.  He gave a brief overview of the Town Centre Commission explaining that it had been established by the Borough Council and its purpose was to determine what was needed in the Town Centre.  An action plan would be produced and it was anticipated that local businesses and organisations with statutory/voluntary interest ie hospitals, West Northamptonshire Development Corporation etc were all organisations that would be involved in the initiative.  The action plan was to be produced by March 2006 and finalised by September 2006.  This timetable was realistic and allowed for realistic consultation.  Hence he was attending the various forums as part of this consultation.  He commented that this was all about what the community as a whole wanted for the town centre.  About 150 people were involved in the action plan process but it was the intention of the Commission to set up small working groups of about 12 of those people to take it forward.  This working group had drawn up Terms of Reference and its first meeting had been held back in September and included representatives from the Borough Council’s forums.  A major consultation event had been held at the County Cricket ground.  One essential element was to ensure that information going out about the Town Centre Commission was as accessible and far reaching as possible.  It was noted that M Swann and T Welsh had taken part in a study walk as part of the consultation event.  It was suggested that members of this Forum and Race Equality Forum might like to do something similar and L Ambrose agreed to convey the suggestion to the Race Equality Forum’s next meeting.

M Swann then opened up the discussion to members of the forum seeking their views and comments about the town centre with suggestions of how it could be improved, things they would like to see established within the town centre etc.  For example in terms of this Forum improvements could be in terms of LGB issues and how the town could respond to their needs more effectively.  It was anticipated that access would feature highly together with environmental issues in terms of LGB needs.  Tom commented that one improvement from this group’s perspective would be in having safe venues, places to go in the day time etc.  He suggested that this issue should be kept on the agenda so that it could be further discussed and that in the interim further liaison be undertaken to seek the wider views of the gay community.  It was also agreed that the NLGBA needed to be involved in the consultation so that they could be involved in the wider context.

In the context of discussing safety and safe venues etc reference was made to the Mayorhold underpass and it was noted that the lighting was very bad and these were issues that needed to be looked into.

Reference was made to Northampton at Night and it was considered it might be useful to get homophobic incident statistics from around the gay venues in town.

A Bewers welcomed the consultation with the NLGBA but commented that obviously he would need time to consult with the members.  M Swann undertook to liaise with A Bewers as the contact in terms of the consultation with the NLGBA.

It was noted that there was further information regarding the Town Centre Commission on the Borough’s website together with a questionnaire so in addition any views could be passed on in this way.

One final comment made was that the group considered that the Roadmender was a very important cultural institution to Northampton.

It was agreed to include M Swann’s contact details the minutes, which were as follows – 01604 837681 or e-mail mswann@northampton.gov.uk, website http/www.northampton.gov.uk/tcc.