Vital and Viable Spilsby
Spilsby's Vital and Viable workshop took place on 29 October 2019.
Once we received the Institute of Place Managements report for Spilsby, we arranged a follow up meeting with the community on 28 January 2020 to gather feedback and ideas generated from the report, presentations were given from The Sessions House and the Spilsby Mayor on the progress on the Town Plan.
Feedback from the Institute of Place Management on Spilsby:
"Spilsby has a definite character and seems to offer more than other towns of its size. It has some undoubted strengths that can be built on that offer a way forward. Whilst Sir John Franklin was mentioned as a feature that more could be made of to attract visitors, we think this will always be limited. On the other hand we think there is a real opportunity offered by the Sessions House. We had a tour around and could appreciate what could be created. Such a development could make a significant contribution to the identity of the town, to diversifying the offer, and become a major attraction for the town that would have widespread appeal. If the ideas are realised it would go some way to engaging young people as well as serving the wider community. We recognise that the costs involved are considerable but we would hope that the spirit of endeavour we saw in the workshop would give this a fighting chance. We know from experience elsewhere the difference facilities of this kind can make to towns.
"Spilsby is an attractive town with promise. We were encouraged by the generation of ideas at the workshop and by the visit to the town itself. This does not mean that all is or will be well. Town centres are facing considerable challenges as we described at the workshop but if action is now taken by the community and council together to think about the future of the town, to explore opportunities and to share this with the wider community, we think Spilsby has the means within it to respond to the challenges it faces."
We have committed to the following areas of improvement in the town:
- Creating a Public Realm Strategy for our Market Towns leading to signage and street scene improvements for each town
- Providing support to The Sessions House
- Providing support to Spilsby Light Night to access Arts Council Funds.
- Bringing the Teenage Market to Spilsby as a special Saturday market - date TBC
- Improve communications between groups, businesses and local authorities by hosting annual town meetings
- Better promotion of the town by working in partnership with www.spilsby.info to cross promote with www.lovelincolnshirewolds.com
- Investigating and communicating with owners of vacant retail properties within the town
Spilsby Action Plan
This plan (PDF, 2 MB)(opens new window) has been developed purely from business and community feedback during our workshops and follow up sessions. We've listened to everything you told us in our workshops and collated these plans with a view to explore all the ideas you generated. We can't commit to delivering every aspect mentioned, but we are keen to see how we can work with you and seek funding for as many of the goals and aspirations you've suggested. Therefore, if there is a particular area you would like to support us with please do get in touch using the link below.
Please also sign up to our newsletter to hear about which initiatives we are working on and how projects are progressing; previous newsletters can also be found below.