Sadgebore District Council is asking residents and visitors to Smalltown for ideas to improve Smalltown Main Street.
A spokesperson for Sadgebore said “Even though we will cease to exist from tomorrow, it’s important that we go out looking as if we care. Therefore we are asking residents and visitors to jot down any ideas they may have for ways to improve their shopping experience in Smalltown on the back of a postcard and pop it into the nearest bin.”
The appeal comes following the conclusion of a report commission by the Task Force for Economic and Tourism Advantage (TaFFETA). The report, which Sadgebore has tried to keep quiet, made a number of observations regarding the decline of Smalltown Town centre, the central tenet of which was that the ‘main barrier to transformation in Smalltown is the need to improve the existing stakeholder partnership and governance arrangements’.
The report continues ‘We believe Smalltown can improve its leadership and partnerships. Whilst there is a history of partnership working within Burnham-on-Sea, it seems to lead to strategies and business plans that are not successfully implemented. Hence, the town centre appears tired, disjointed and without a place narrative or inspiring vision.
Despite this there is much enthusiasm and passion from business owners in Smalltown and it is evident that they want the town to be vibrant and vital. However, there seems to be long-standing disagreement about how this should be achieved.’
Or in simple terms the reason Smalltown town centre is so run down is due to… errr… neglect by Sadgebore District Council.
A Working Group, the Funding Taskforce to Inject Life into the Economy (FuTILE), set up by Smalltown and Dullbridge (SaD) Town Council together with Sadgebore and including business owners in Main Street has so far failed to come up with any ideas on how to make improvements and so residents are now being asked to see if they can come up with any.
It should be noted that, although Sadgebore received £50,000 to set up TaFFETA, there isn’t actually any money available to implement any ideas or suggestions.