The Altrincham Business Neighbourhood Forum has reported another successful stage in the consultation process to decide how Altrincham should be improved over the next 15 years.
It’s confirmed that over 600 businesses and residents took part in the second stage of the process, which sought views on the first draft of the future for Altrincham town centre.
The plan has far-reaching consequences for Altrincham, defining the various uses to which land can be allocated and the policies that will determine the size and design of future buildings and spaces.
It will also guide where private and public sector investment takes place for the next 15 years.
The draft plan has been put together by the Altrincham Business Neighbourhood Forum, a group of over 100 community volunteers formally designated by Trafford Council to undertake the task.
The second stage of the process gave people the opportunity to respond to a public questionnaire which asked for opinions on the objectives and proposals in the draft plan. It also saw meetings take place with a number of developers, local business representatives, community groups and interested parties.
The next stage in the process has now been put back to allow for proper consideration of the feedback.
Chair of the forum, Tony Collier, said: “Thank you to everyone who took part in the second stage of the process and gave us their thoughts.
“We are delighted with the response and the engagement from members of the public and local businesses, particularly as this stage involved people giving us more of their time.
“Since this stage finished we have begun to work our way through all the information we have received. A number of issues have been raised which are very important and given the plan will help to shape the future of our town centre for the next 15 years, it is crucial that we take the appropriate time to consider everything the public and local businesses are telling us. After all, it is their town and their plan.
“Given this, we have decided to revise the timetable and the next stage of public consultation which seeks views on the final version of the plan will now take place in September/October, rather than in June/July as we had previously planned.”
The revised timetable for the development of the final plan will now be as follows:
- Stage 3 of the consultation process will take place between mid-September and the end of October rather than during June/July
- The plan will be finalised by the forum in late November
- The final plan and consultation statement will be sent to Trafford Council in mid-December 2015
After the different stages of the consultation process, residents and businesses will be given the opportunity to vote for or against the plan. If they vote for it, Trafford Council must adopt the plan and use it as the basis for all their town centre planning decisions from 2015 up until 2030.
