Cirencester town council pledge £150,000 to Market Place scheme (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Cirencester's Market Place plans given a boost by town council's £150,000 pledge

8:30am Thursday 19th February 2009 in Search By Emma Tilley

A REVAMP of Cirencester's Market Place has been given a new lease of life by town councillors following 40 years of failed plans.

The town council has agreed in principle to commit up to £150,000 towards the scheme in a bid to lead the way. If successful it could pave the way for the first renovation of Market Place since the 1830s.

Chief executive officer Andrew Tubb told the town council at a recent meeting he felt there was a "rebirth of commitment" in the town towards the project and the time had come to turn what started as a vision 40 years ago into reality.

Cotswold District Council has submitted a bid for the scheme to be included in Gloucestershire County Council's Local Transport Plan (LTP) which could mean extra cash in the pot.

Mr Tubb also said a "significant" amount of money had been put forward for the project by a confidential source.

He told town councillors: "There is a rebirth here of commitment and partnership working. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

"The Market Place should absolutely be the centre of Cirencester. It is not bad but it could be an awful lot better."

Cllr Peter Braidwood

The catalyst for this re-invigoration was the £6million work being done at the parish church, he said, a focal point in the Market Place.

Town councillors supported using town council coffers to strengthen the bid for the project's inclusion in the LTP.

"This is an opportunity and we should grasp it," said Cllr Peter Braidwood. "The Market Place should absolutely be the centre of Cirencester. It is not bad but it could be an awful lot better."

Cllr Margaret Rickman urged her colleagues not to let other authorities put the "kaibosh" on the project as had happened in the past while Cllr Deryck Nash said the district and county councils should provide the same amount of funding at the very least.

"We want proportional capital funding from the principle authorities. Let us have an even playing field for once," he said.

CDC Cllr John Birch welcomed the town council's decision to commit so much money.

“This is a very important project for the future of Cirencester town centre, and CDC will continue to do all it can to help support the town council and other partner organisations to make the improvements become a reality in the years to come," he said.

The history of Market Place plans- fourth time lucky?: • The last revamp of the Market Place was in the 1830s - before the Corn Hall was even built.

o In the 1970s a steering group of councillors and officers was set up at Cotswold District Council to plan the transformation of the Market Place.

o Cirencester Traffic and Environmental Plan (CTEP) was drawn up in the late 1990s. The plans were created by joint working between CDC, the county council and town council. It was included in the LTP and Cirencester was set to receive up to £10 million of central government funding. In 2003 phase one of the plans were started in the Park Lane area but the Tory administration pulled out of the scheme when it took over CDC and the plans collapsed.

o In 2006 lobby group Action Cirencester had drawn up plans to transform the Market Place into a European-style piazza but these were thrown out by Cotswold District Council.