The leader of the new Spalding Town Centre Steering Group says “we need to look at what our town’s going to be in the future”.
Coun Gary Taylor addressed the Spalding Town Forum over the meeting with stakeholders last week.
He said: “It was a hugely positive meeting in my opinion and we’ve had lots of positive comments.
“The suggestions are being analysed.
“The word I’m trying to emphasise is ‘partnership’.
“Between us, all of us in the room, we can do this. The partners.
“As a council the start is the £500,000 and we’re appointing a co-ordinator.
“In the meeting we heard some long term ambitious plans, but in the short term let’s look at trying to get some results delivered quickly and if that’s working with In Bloom to make Spalding look cleaner and better that should happen immediately and is something we should all agree on.
“We want to promote the traders and shops while realising the world is moving on a bit and we can’t stop that.
“We need to look at what our town’s going to be in the future.
“We’re trying to promote events and it should be a family-friendly place to visit.
“Regarding some of the public feedback has been about attracting different shops and department stores into Spalding – well yes, we need to be as ambitious as we can but we also need to be realistic.
“We don’t want to see empty shops and in fact there’s not many empty shops in Spalding.
“There is a perception there is and they (the ones we have) may not be the choice that people want to see, but there’s very few empty shops.
“We also need to promote the market and encourage them which is part of this.
“We need to work with the co-ordinator and work with the suggestions.”
