The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A single theme and updated furniture for three areas of Spalding is being drawn up in a bid to ‘future-proof’ the town.
The junctions of Bridge Street and Double Street, Swan Street and New Road as well as Hall Place have been ear-marked as potential places to invest by the Town Centre Improvement Steering Group.
South Holland District Council is looking to create a single ‘theme’ for the town by providing the same kind of facilities in each location utilising money ear-marked as part of the Welcome Back fund.
“Nothing has been decided as yet,” said Coun Rodney Grocock, the council’s portfolio holder for assets and planing. “We walked with senior officers around Spalding a few months ago and decided on three areas that act as gateways to the town centre and as part of any improvements we’d look make them all one theme.
“They will all have matching features such as the same benches and signs.
“These matching themes will provide something that flows through the town and help provide an identity.
“Everything is being looked at to improve these areas.
“It can include replacing ageing equipment, for example near the bridge there’s the circular brick planting area that’s broken at the back and needs repairing.
“We also looked at some benches, a number of which are broken, and we’re looking at putting this right.
“We’ve a company we’ve asked to look at it.
“We’ve talked about designs and talked about figures and what we can achieve but it’s still early days.”
Council documents state: “A key theme of the Spalding Town Centre Improvement Plan relates to progressing improvements to the quality of the physical environment within the town, including enhancements of and investment into key pieces of public realm.
“Three existing areas have been identified for consideration for investment, those being; the area of seating and planting at the junction of Bridge Street and Double Street, the area of planting at the junction of Swan Street and New Road, and the area of seating and planting at Hall Place. These areas have also been identified by the Portfolio Holder for this area (Coun Grocock) as locations where investment, enhancement and practical remodelling would add value to the town centre environment, and would seek to future-proof the town centre environment for businesses and shoppers.”
The document continues that among what’s being looked at are “colour palettes, material palettes and planting schemes based on known environmental considerations”.
