INVESTING IN DEVON’S PREMIER MARKET TOWN...

Every Saturday morning was a trip into town when I was growing up. I expect it may well have been for you too.

A visit to the bank, no cash-machines then, either to put money in or take it out, into the SWEB (electricity) shop to pay a bill, or the South West Gas showroom… along with all the usual Saturday morning chores… food shopping and sorting things out.

Now though, I can’t think of the last time I had to go to the high street to pay a bill, or pop to the bank. And that’s the nub of it isn’t it? Our high streets have changed and continue to change.

The things we had to go into town for can now be done online. We can tax our cars from home, pay the bills from home, and book holidays from the comfort of our sitting room.

Newton Abbot has a proud heritage and celebrates 800 years as a market town. Devon’s premier market town, in my view.

Increasingly though, we go into town for socialising and to create enjoyable experiences. In short, high streets are now seen to be part of our leisure time… and we shop because we want to rather than because we have to.

It’s often said, not just of Newton Abbot, but also of other market towns, that there are too many charity shops, and I wonder what the future will be for them as online ‘shops’ like Vinted, for example, open the market in traded ‘previously-cherished’ (second hand) clothes.

Recognising that if our market town ‘high street’ in Newton Abbot is to thrive and survive the changes in the way we shop and, now, pick up from the pandemic, we need significant investment and to make challenging changes.

The Future High Street Fund provides Newton Abbot with £9.2 million of funding from the Government to invest in the town’s future prosperity.

It will help support and create jobs and provide a new ‘offer’ – not just to the town’s residents but also to the thousands more who live in neighbouring communities.

Much focus has, understandably, been on the future of the Alex.

But there is so much more to the Future High Street Fund that will draw people into town because they want to visit.

A new four-screen cinema in the town centre is a major part of the plan. Some people say that cinema is dead as a result of the pandemic. I disagree. In fact, I think a new cinema will be a significant attraction for people of all ages who will have reason to go into the town centre.

There are improvements planned for Queen Street, again, to support the town centre and be a more inviting place for people to visit.

With more people visiting and spending their money in Newton Abbot rather than, perhaps, going to other nearby towns, we support our local businesses and in doing that, we help protect and create jobs.

Empty shops are a worrying sight. Little speaks more to the decline of a town centre than empty shops.

The shock in Newton Abbot when Marks and Spencer closed was real. It remained empty, closed, for five long years.

So, when the Department of Work and Pensions took on the lease I, for one, welcomed the fact that the premises would be in use again. Sure, I’d have preferred a retail operator to be there, but the DWP is at least ensuring the unit is back in use.

However, some who it is said speak for Newton Abbot hollered against it.

It seemed they’d rather have seen the shop empty than in use providing a real benefit to help people back into work or the training support needed to improve their skills. It saddened me.

Some of those same voices now speak against other plans affecting the town centre.

For example, I’ve seen it said that the Market Hall and Alex is to be demolished. Not true.

Footfall in the town centre is falling. Fewer people are coming into town and something must be done.

The building was designed to be at the heart of the town for commercial and social use and the interior space was used flexibly.

The theatre was a later development.

The plans are to return to this flexible space where it can be opened up for a variety of social, cultural and entertainment purposes and used by communities within and outside Newton Abbot, where the audience can immerse themselves in the experience and enjoy nearby a glass of red wine and a pizza with friends or family.

Along with the new four-screen cinema and other elements of the plan, and with easier and more environmentally friendly routes into the town for people to walk or cycle, there will be many new reasons for people to come into town, securing jobs, boosting businesses, and giving our high street and our children a future to be proud of.