On 18th November seven Town Councillors met with the Town Clerk for an informal open-ended discussion about future developments in the Town.
We started with the provision of community halls, sports facilities and the future use of all Council buildings. Given pressures in other places, that included thinking about the library.
Now the Regional Spatial Strategy has been scrapped we turned to wondering what the town wants in the way of housing development. Some of us remembered proposals for development on Dunnington Farm, which stopped when there was government pressure to develop brownfield sites, and the St Ivel land became available.
The Area Board has dispensed with the Northern Community Area Partnership (NCAP) for community planning purposes, so there will be some funds available and the Town Council could work with Community First to develop a town plan.
We will be meeting again in two weeks, and the Town Clerk would provide some background information.
As I mulled over the meeting afterwards I was thinking about the library. It’s a facility I think all communities should have. But I have to admit I don’t use it regularly. It’s good that it has accessible internet facilities. I wonder if it could add wi-fi, would that be useful? Will electronic books affect library usage? Who uses the tourist information?
