Castleford Regeneration Regenerate Your Town

Date Published:

11/08/2008

Your Action Plan

Write your vision! Most campaigns start with a single issue. The motivator is often crime or children’s play areas or a big estate refurbishment plan, says John Chapman, tutor at the Northern College, 'then people get drawn into the wider neighbourhood regeneration and management.'

People in the community may have grievances or a general hope that things should be better but you must be able to articulate what you want to achieve, says Renato Benedetti. 'Articulate it as an aspiration and that way it becomes a brief.'

Deborah Saunt of DSDHA, who designed Castleford’s new underpass and main pedestrian gateway into the town recommends sketching out ideas. 'We always say: if you don’t draw it, it will never happen.'

Think big. Be ambitious! Look at your initial project as phase one of something bigger. 'The bigger you think and the harder you’re willing to work to make your dreams come true, the more impressed architects, designers and funders will be,' says Hugo Smith, series director for Kevin McCloud And The Big Town Plan.

Rheta Davison, Castleford’s chief campaigner for the Cutsyke playforest now advises other groups on getting their schemes off the ground. She suggests putting together a wish list: 'Maybe start with a quick win that won’t take a lot of money, time or effort. It shows the wider community that you can get it done.'

When deciding what to focus on in Castleford, says David Barrie, they put together a basket of projects so those that had greater commercial purpose or were larger financial projects could support ones that were smaller. 'We chose the bridge scheme because the area around the waterfront was potentially of commercial interest.'