SOME of the ideas put forward by the local community at the ‘A Vision for Bodmin Town Centre Community Planning Weekend’ earlier this week have been revealed.

Making far more of Bodmin’s unique Cornish cultural and built heritage; reducing the dominance of the car in Fore Street and generating a diverse and vibrant mix of shops, cafes and residential, community and business uses; bringing more greenery into the town centre; and improving the look of buildings and shopfronts are just some of the ideas to emerge from the Bodmin Town Centre ‘Charrette’ event.

Taking some inspiration from a similar exercise carried out in Liskeard over the future of the town Cattle Market site, the five-day community planning event, held by Cornwall Council, with partners Bodmin Town Council, Bodmin Town Team and Bodmin Chamber of Commerce, and facilitated by architects JTP, between Friday (March 18) and Tuesday (March 22), saw hundreds of local residents and businesses share their local knowledge and ideas through a series of workshops, walkabouts and hands-on planning groups.

Following the two days of public workshops on Friday and Saturday, the JTP team drew up a vision for the town centre, including an illustrative masterplan, which was presented back to the local community on Tuesday evening.

Other ideas put forward by the local community during the workshops included:

· creating an accessible network of streets and alleyways with a range of quality places and spaces to linger and enjoy through the day and into the evening;

· Improving local education, skills training and job opportunities for the local community;

· Co-ordinating the array of visitor attractions to focus on Bodmin and encouraging more people into the town centre all year round.

The results of the Charrette and the illustrative Vision will now be used to inform a Town Centre Action Plan and the Re-imagining Fore Street work. Funded by Cornwall Council’s Town Centre Vitality funding, this will be led by Bodmin Town Team in partnership with Bodmin Town Council and local Cornwall Councillors, the Chamber of Commerce and the Neighbourhood Plan Group.

Part of this process will include identifying how the ambitions outlined from the Charrette can be delivered and developing a range of ‘meanwhile’ uses to revitalise the town centre.

These could include :

· Establishing a regular town centre market;

· Establishing an annual events programme;

· Exploring a community-led project at Burgage plots;

· Exploring a temporary Fore Street closure to traffic;

· Investigation of meanwhile use of the Athelstan House site and Dennison Road car park;

Once specific actions have been identified, partners will work together to develop business cases for individual elements of the scheme which will be used to support future bids for funding.