Mary Portas bid for funds

Chris Best · Post by **Chris Best** » 31 Mar 2012 15:47

The Sydenham Town Centre Steering Group has been working with Lewisham Council as the lead body to secure £100,000 funding for Sydenham, Forest Hill and Kirkdale from the Mary Portas pilot fund.

Working with the Forest Hill Society and Kirkdale Village Traders' Association we have put together a bid that promotes the concept of a Town Centre Team and will help traders market their offer. This includes a range of initiatives mainly around the point of sale but also shop fronts, a Sydenham Smiles loyalty scheme and street markets. I know there is a desire to improve the look and feel of Sydenham high street and with some funding I think we can make a difference.

To show your support for the bid please take a look at the video - https://www.youtube.com/SydenhamKirkForestTV - and give it a thumbs up.

My thanks to everyone who worked on the video and to Sean for his patience with the filming and editing.

If you want to see the Government's response to the review then view http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents ... 120019.pdf and more about the recommendations from the Mary Portas High Street Review please view here http://www.bis.gov.uk/news/topstories/2 ... tas-review.

Chris Best
http://www.chrisbest.org

leenewham · Post by **leenewham** » 31 Mar 2012 19:16

It's a great, well thought out video, well presented by Ed. I"ve been sent a few videos from some boroughs but I'd say this is the best I've seen.

I'd like to give a big hand to Ed and Sean (who both were incredibly patient under the circumstances!) the Forest Hill society and all who were involved.

It is a really positive video and hopefully shops the way forward for all these areas.

Please blog, tweet, facebook the link and remember to like it on your tube and add positive comments.

sydenhamboy · Post by **sydenhamboy** » 31 Mar 2012 19:41

Was really impressed with the work and effort you guys have put into this. Keep up the good work. I can feel something good about to happen to Sydenham!

Things have a habit of paying off when people are passionate and tenacious.

Rachael · Post by **Rachael** » 1 Apr 2012 09:41

Everyone who has ever grumbled about pretty much anything on the high street needs to support this.

That is all.

Annie · Post by **Annie** » 1 Apr 2012 13:58

Excellent video,its so nice to hear good things about Sydenham,
I must confess I walked through Sydenham High Street with new eyes last night,it wasn't quite as run down as I thought.So come on Sydenham hold your head up!

richpickings · Post by **richpickings** » 1 Apr 2012 16:28

well done and thanks to all those involved

blue&whitewizard1991 · Post by **blue&whitewizard1991** » 1 Apr 2012 20:07

An absolutely fantastic video. Will this be supplemented with a paper bid?

I don't intend to nitpick and hopefully my comments are seen as being constructive. I think more could be made of the fact that investment is already planned for the high street and that spaces for markets are being created. Any government fund likes to see leverage from other sources, which is exactly what we can offer.

Great work

sean · Post by **sean** » 1 Apr 2012 22:35

This video was submitted with the application and a full bid. There was so much to cover but we had to keep to a time restriction so couldn't fit everything in. We have plans to include all the un-used footage on that youtube channel over the coming week or two.

Updates about the bid will also be posted at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sydenham ... 6609949911

sisterofwookie · Post by **sisterofwookie** » 2 Apr 2012 11:27

Excellent - Well done everyone.

blue&whitewizard1991 wrote:An absolutely fantastic video. Will this be supplemented with a paper bid?

Yes there is a paper bid which highlights all your comments.

Excited let us all hope we win!

Columbus · Post by **Columbus** » 2 Apr 2012 20:54

Great video, top work those involved.

biscuitman1978 · Post by **biscuitman1978** » 5 Apr 2012 11:15

Superb. Well done to all involved.

sisterofwookie · Post by **sisterofwookie** » 5 Apr 2012 13:13

Support our ‘Portas Pilot’ Bid
to get funding and support for our High Street please come to the meeting

Kirkdale Village Public Meeting

Weds 11 April, 6.30pm-8.30pm,

At House Hall, Grove Centre, 2 Jews Walk, Sydenham, London, SE26 6PL
Would you like to…

• Run a market stall
• Open a pop up shop/gallery etc
• Organize some local events
• Help to beautify Kirkdale
• Run a street art competition
• Build a website
• Make a Kirkdale film
• Make new friends
• Or just get involved

Kirkdale Village is a voluntary group working to improve a neglected part of the area and bring community back.

For more information please visit Rebecca at Alhambra, 148 Kirkdale
or Jenny at Woosterstock, 109 Kirkdale

We look forward to seeing you all at the meeting!

Bazman76 · Post by **Bazman76** » 6 Apr 2012 15:45

Superb! Great work!!

leenewham · Post by **leenewham** » 19 Apr 2012 10:32

I'm going to bump this and request that for the time being it gets pinned or put on the home page of the forum.

Any chance admin?

leenewham · Post by **leenewham** » 26 May 2012 08:31

Looks as if we didn't get anything in the first round.

There was only really going to be one of these in London and it looks as if it's gone to Croydon, hardly surprising in many respects as it suffered from the riots and it makes a good story. Especially as Mary is now making a film about each of the town centres.

More news here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18212669

There will be another 15 announced later this year.

Rachael · Post by **Rachael** » 26 May 2012 09:18

Here's hoping for something in the next round. This first round will be really high profile, so I can see why they went for something like Croydon. Those who worked on our bid deserve a big round of applause.

I think one of the very positive things to come out of the bid is the new links between Forest Hill, Sydenham and Kirkdale and the new steering groups that have or are being set up. Let's keep that momentum going and give them our support.

Voyageur · Post by **Voyageur** » 26 May 2012 09:18

Pretty pointless really, the only way that the hideousity that is Croydon town centre could be improved is to pull the whole damn lot down and to start again from scratch.

A shame that the input couldn't have gone to one of the smaller, shabbier high streets in the borough where a significant difference can be made

CaptainCarCrash · Post by **CaptainCarCrash** » 26 May 2012 13:48

I don't think Croydon town centre is that bad tbf. West Croydon is a lot worse.

Croydon is in desperate need of investment, probably more so than Sydenham IMO.

Sydenham is much nicer and not as run down looking.

michael · Post by **michael** » 27 May 2012 20:03

Croydon is reasonably good for shopping at the moment. It has two large shopping centres and most of the stores are multiples. For me there is little difference between the cursed out-of-town shopping centres, and centres such as Bromley, Croydon, Westfield, or even Surrey Quays. All of these major shopping centres have little room for independent shops and suck life out of other towns in their vicinity.

There is certainly a place for these centres in the retail landscape, and we can't expect to have a M&S on every high street. But is Croydon really the type of town centre that Mary Portas is trying to help? What this investment does is make it just a little bit harder for independent retailers in district town centres in the vicinity, such as Sydenham, Forest Hill, Thornton Heath, Coulsdon, Penge, Crystal Palace.

Of course that assumes that £100,000 can make much difference. For somewhere like Sydenham and Forest Hill it can only begin to change things, for Croydon it is negligible. Croydon already has £100,000,000 being invested in the town centre from Croydon Council and the GLA. Now they have £100.1m that will really make the difference.

leenewham · Post by **leenewham** » 27 May 2012 21:15

Well said.

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