Council 'largely ignoring' objections to plans for revitalising town, Buxton Civic Association says

The authority drew up the plans as part of the bid to secure funding from the Government’s £1 billion Future High Street Fund (FHSF) and co-investment from the private and public sectors.

High Peak Borough Council (HPBC) has claimed a survey demonstrated favourable public reaction to the scheme, but the town’s three major voluntary bodies — the BCA, Vision Buxton and Buxton Town Team—all have serious reservations.

“BCA are members of the Buxton Visitor Experience Scheme Board which is supposed to be acting as the Steering Group for the Buxton Future High Street Scheme,” said a BCA spokesman.

“Although we were happy to support the initial Expression of Interest to Government for this grant, we are very unhappy with the detailed proposals that are being put forward by HPBC.

“Despite the claims made by HPBC that there is widespread support for the Future High Street Scheme, BCA have spent a long time studying the details of the proposed scheme and believe that it is not a good proposal for the future of the town.

“We held a special meeting of our members at which 68 people attended and we received overwhelming support for our position. We shared these concerns and a series of alternative proposals in a very detailed response with the council.”

The spokesman added: “BCA are pleased that the council are saying that they are prepared to review some elements of the scheme as a result of our comments and we are happy to continue to work with them and their consultants to achieve improvements.

“However, so far, we have only seen suggestions for relatively minor adjustments of the proposals. These do not convince us that we should be supporting this scheme.

“On reflection we believe that there are very serious limitations imposed by the grant scheme, including its incredibly unrealistic time frame, and that the proposed scheme that has been devised to win the grant is as a result, rushed and seriously flawed and does not meet the needs of the town. We do not believe that it will significantly improve the environment of the town centre.

“Vision Buxton and Buxton Town Team are also on the Steering Group and share similar concerns. Between us we have 800 members and represent almost 70 businesses. We have, together, tried to work positively with the council in communicating our concerns and proposing amendments but feel that we are being largely ignored. Surely the council should be very concerned that the three main voluntary civic bodies for the town all remain unhappy with their proposals?

“BCA’s position remains that unless there are substantial changes to the scheme, we cannot support it. In which case, we will request our name is taken off the submission to Government and we will object to the scheme.”

Councillor Anthony Mckeown, Leader of High Peak Borough Council, said: "I'd like to thank the Civic Association and the other groups, along with all of the many hundreds of individuals, who shared their views on the proposals with us for their interest and engagement. It was good to see that so many people care about and share our aspirations for transforming Buxton town centre and creating a place that's fit for the future where people can live, work and enjoy leisure time.

"The comments we received in response to the recent public consultation showed that around two-thirds of people were in favour of the plans – with less than 15% opposed. Of course, as you would expect, some elements of the proposals attracted mixed views but the overriding message was clear from residents - and in line with the scheme rules themselves – residents do not want to see 'grand plans' that aren't based on the commercial reality and which would take years to deliver. We are keen to support proposals that will boost the heart of the shopping area in lower Buxton, more important than ever as retailers get set to recover from the effects of the coronavirus shutdown.

"We must listen to all the views expressed by residents, businesses and interested groups received during the consultation, some of which contradict the views of others. In terms of the response from the Civic Association, our officers have considered the issues raised and have provided a detailed response which is available to view on our website.

“The Civic Association's response makes some suggestions that can be considered within and some which fall outside of what the Future High Street Fund (FHSF) can be spent on. Unfortunately, many of the suggestions have been found to be either ineligible under this funding or incapable of attracting the necessary co-investment from the private sector and therefore cannot be taken forward at this time. To date, they have chosen not to come back to the council following our detailed feedback.

"That said I want to reassure the Civic Association, and any other local groups or individuals, that we have very carefully considered all suggestions and, where feasible, we are incorporating these ideas in the revised FHSF bid submission.

“We remain committed to supporting heritage and the visitor economy in Buxton and have also secured nearly £1 million of Heritage Action Zone funding to complement this proposal. Our FHSF bid is aimed at securing major Government and private sector money to primarily deliver the sort of town centre the people who live in Buxton want to see and providing facilities that they will use and enjoy.

"We want to give Buxton the very best chance of securing funding so we can deliver a town centre that meets residents and businesses needs for year to come, an aim made all the more important now to enable the town to recover from the effects of the coronavirus crisis. Securing the millions of pounds of investment for our town centre shopping area - from both commercial investors and central Government - will put the town in the best place to do this.

“There's much more information about the proposals on the council's website including the council's response to the Civic Association in full - https://www.highpeak.gov.uk/article/4350/Future-High-Street-Fund-Application-for-Buxton.

“The deadline for submission of our proposal has been postponed until early June 2020 to take account of the national coronavirus crisis, and we await to hear from Government if this will also affect the criteria for the FHSF bid.”