Friday 19th November - Ilfracombe Regeneration Board

On Friday 19th November The Mayor, Cllr Geoff Fowler and myself attended the Ilfracombe Regeneration Board meeting held at the Ilfracombe Centre. The board consists of officers and councillors from North Devon Council as well as the three ITC members and is chaired by NDC leader Des Brailey.
Matters discussed included Ilfracombe seafront, the former pavillion site, key planning sites, proposed High Street improvements and proposed improvements to the Broad Street/Fore Street junction. The board meets regularly to ensure that regeneration plans are turned into a reality. Due to the number of exciting projects needing attention, the next meeting has been called for 3rd December.

Uploaded by Cllr Philip Webb

Friday 19th November 11.30am - The Ilfracombe Centre Conference Room

The Ilfracombe Sites Development group met to review progress on the various development sites within the town that for one reason or another have stalled. The group consists of members and officers from both Ilfracombe Town Council and North Devon Council as well as the Joint Delivery Team. This partnership working with the planners has led to increased success in getting developments moving again in this difficult financial climate and the group were pleased to be able to cross their first site off the list - The Brittania Hotel. Other sites that have begun moving following this group's intervention are the former Berkeley Hotel and the former Cliffe Hydro Hotel.
Taking more of a lead in the town's affairs is part of the Town Council's recently adopted Strategy and this group is just one of the many responses to this.

Uploaded by Andrea Beacham

Wednesday 18th November 6pm - The Crescent Hotel

Meeting to se up a new Ilfracombe Business Forum. This meeting was well attended by local businesses of all types: shop-owners, restaurants, accommodation providers as well as non tourism-related businesses large and small. Many of your town councillors also have businesses in the town and those in attendance were Councillors Ron Ley, Philip Webb, Lynda Courtnadge and Albert Furber.
Attendees appreciated the need for the Ilfracombe Business Community to have a unified and co-ordinated voice to give it more impact both in Northern Devon as a whole and when working with other agencies and councils. The vote was unanimously in favour of creating this group, but the details of the structure of the group and its remit were deferred to the next meeting when it was requested that all Ilfracombe trade and business groups would be invited to ensure the widest commitment.
The next meeting will be held in early January.

Uploaded by Andrea Beacham

Wednesday 18th November 10am The Landmark

Meeting with LDA Design who have been appointed by the Joint Delivery Team to design and deliver improvements to the Seafront area. LDA Design had some sketch proposals having looked at previous designs from other consultations including that for the CABE bid but wanted to talk to people who had a particular interest in the future of the seafront.

Your Town Council representatives at that meeting were Councillors Bob Thompson, Lynda Courtnadge, Philip Webb, Paul Crabb and Ron Ley and Proper Officer Andrea Beacham. Also represented were seafront traders, Ilfracombe Museum, Transform and North Devon Council officers and members. LDA Design, although a Devon-based company, are working on some large-scale national projects and are delighted to be working more locally in Ilfracombe. Their designs following the initial consultation will be brought back in two weeks time. Timescales are tight as North Devon Council has around £1.5 million in its capital budget set aside for Ilfracombe's seafront regeneration but this is only fully secure until May 2011. It is hoped that a start on site will be possible before this so results will be seen fast.

Uploaded by Andrea Beacham