We have successfully bid for £750,000 funding from the West of England Combined Authority’s (WECA's) Housing and Regeneration Enabling Fund, to create regeneration plans and masterplans for four town centres in Bath and North East Somerset, working in partnership with residents, landowners, businesses and other stakeholders.
This project forms part of our wider High Street renewal plans to protect and renew our High Streets.
Details of this engagement
The first plan will be for Radstock, and we are developing this in partnership with Radstock Town Council.
The draft Radstock Regeneration Action Plan identifies linkages between existing projects, includes census data, information on Radstock’s heritage, Conservation Area, the Local Plan vision and outlines challenges & opportunities facing the town.
The following priority projects were identified during previous consultation and are included in the draft Regeneration Action Plan:
- Improve community facilities in the town centre (such as acquisition of Trinity Church or other premises) which could provide community space (café, events, meetings, networking, business use, workshops) and a home for Radstock Town council & library).
- Outdoor Events - spaces have been identified as offering potential for hosting vibrant, engaging events.
- Cultural Programme – a Programme Co-ordinator started work for Radstock Town Council in September. The role will focus on arts and heritage programming, engagement, participation, skills, and training; with the aim of celebrating Radstock's cultural identity and encouraging arts and heritage activity in Radstock Town Centre.
- Brownfield Site Redevelopment, Reuse & Repurposing will be encouraged.
- Tree Planting in Radstock town centre will take place in 2024.
- Green & Blue spaces within the town centre will be assessed to see how they might be improved and managed for the benefit of the local community and nature.
- Energy Efficiency Improvements & Renewable Energy - improvements that take place in Radstock will also be encouraged to incorporate retrofitting and renewable energy solutions
- Wayfinding, Streetscape Improvements & Parking – Funding is likely to be approved in early 2024 to provide improved wayfinding in the town centre. Discussions are ongoing with the B&NES Parking Team to investigate the possibility of carrying out a further review of parking.
- Re-occupation and temporary use of vacant units will be looked at where possible.
- Improve the town centre offer – Funding has been received for a Changing Places toilet in Tom Huyton Park which will be in autumn 2023. Other opportunities will be investigated.
A delivery plan is included which identifies how projects will be delivered, how they will be funded, and partners, milestones and outputs.
Have your say
Initial project scoping took place in early 2022 in partnership with Radstock Town Council, B&NES officers and informed community engagement that took place in September/October 2022 & February/March 2023. Comments received were generally positive and helped to inform the projects outlined in the action plan some of which are already underway.
The Action Plan can be found below; comments on the document can be made on Radstock Town Council's website from 13th November 2023 for 3 weeks.