Towns seek a renaissance (From Gazette & Herald)

Towns seek a renaissance

RESIDENTS of three Ryedale towns will soon get the chance to have their say on proposals which aim to promote their well-being during the next 25 years.

More than 40 people attended an information session on the Renaissance Market Towns (RMT) initiative for Helmsley, Kirkbymoorside and Pickering at the Fox and Hounds Inn, Sinnington, yesterday.

Three lead consultants will work with the communities in Helmsley, Kirkbymoorside and Pickering, and their surroundings, to develop a 25-year vision for the towns to make them places people are eager to live, work, visit and invest in.

The consultants, Steven Leach of Fourgables, Mary Holt, of Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick & Co Ltd, and Iain Scott, of the Robert Owen Centre, will then put together a master plan and an investment plan.

"I would like to stress it is important we don't just talk about the towns - it's the villages in between as well that will be affected.

"While we welcome this, I want to stress the importance of remembering existing structures and working with them," said the chief executive of Ryedale District Council, Harold Mosley.

"This process - the market town renaissance process - is compatible with the local plans already in place, Imagine Ryedale and the local strategic partnerships."

Yorkshire Forward has appointed a panel of international experts to work on Market Town Renaissance.

They plan to liaise with local communities to develop long-term visions for towns. Chambers of trade and community groups will also be consulted.

A spokeswoman for Yorkshire Forward said: "This is an ambitious project. It's a ten-year programme and it is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to look at where we want to be in 20 years time.

"What we set out to do now won't be for this generation, it will take 25 to 30 years to come to fruition, but this will be a community that knows where it's going."

Yorkshire Forward is to invest £25,000 in a study to look at the potential uses of six derelict areas in Malton and Norton. It will build upon the work of the Market Towns Initiative, funded by Yorkshire Forward and the Countryside Agency.

Updated: 11:31 Friday, October 24, 2003