Gloucester Renaissance: The Magnificent 7

We need a new plan for Gloucester

‘We don’t want to flat-line to 2050 – we need a plan’. That was just one of the provocative messages to come out of roundtable gathering of business people invested in the future of Gloucester. The overall message suggested a business community in the dark about future updates for the city and concerned, unsure how it could be heard. The select group included Paul James, the leader of the city council (before he was called away) and those from the world of construction, planning, architecture, commercial property, retail and surveying, and took place at Punchline-Gloucester.com’s Old Fire Station headquarters. In the room was also David Jones, of Evans Jones, Chris Price, of Tayntons solicitors, Becky Brown, and Emma Blunt, of SF Planning, JeremyWilliamson, of Cheltenham Development Task Force, Mark Price, of Vitruvius, Simon McKeag, of Ash & Co, Owen Acland from the Quays and Chairman Mark Owen Meant as a forum for reflecting on the work to revitalise the city (referencing the Magnificent Seven regeneration projects driven by the GHURC covered elsewhere in this edition) it was full of praise for what

Mr James began the event, billed as an evening of Pizza, Peroni, and Parlez. “The most obvious thing that makes Gloucester unique is its heritage. Heritage has been at the centre of the regeneration programme of the last 10 years,” said Mr James. “I think also the diversity of the city is a huge part of its strength. We are not a typical Cathedral city in that respect. We should make the most of it. The people of the city should be proud of that.” A wide-ranging and passionate debate referenced the planning mistakes of the 1970s – with a fear of the damage that could be cause by having no known plan for the future. Referenced also was the recent joint local authority 2050 campaign – which looked towards a future Gloucestershire in which business and industry thrived and young people saw as much opportunity within its boundaries as without. “Strategy and planning is what we don’t have.You can’t just flat-line to 2050,” said Mark Price. It wasn’t the only frank statement in a room full of positivity and a desire to deliver a better Gloucester. Conversation started with possibly Gloucester’s most high-profile project of the Magnificent Seven – The Quays outlet centre. A catalyst for change, everyone

had been done during the last decade. And then it moved to the city’s future.

July 2019 | www. punchline-gloucester .com | 87

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