Organisers of the My Altrincham plan say they are “thrilled” after the first phase of consultation generated over 1,400 responses.
Local residents were invited to submit a questionnaire to help inform the Business Neighbourhood Plan for Altrincham Town Centre 2015 – 2030.
The plan, which was promoted through the ‘Your Town. Your Plan’ campaign over a month in October and November, will define the various uses to which land can be allocated and will influence 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.
After the different stages of the consultation process – the questionnaire being the first – 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.
Of the total of 1,409 participants, 1,163 submitted questionnaires while 246 young people from local schools and colleges took part in discussion groups which covered the key issues. Over 90% of those who took part described themselves as Altrincham residents and more than 50% have lived in the area for more than 20 years. 42% of respondents were aged between 26 and 45.
Some of the other headlines available so far include:
- 55% of those who responded visit Altrincham on a weekly basis and 27% on a daily basis
- 61% support the development of new housing within the town centre but there is division among this group about where this housing should be located
- 67% felt that additional services and facilities are necessary
- Most of those who responded visit Altrincham to use the food and clothing retailers, banks and market
- There is a huge amount of work to be done to make Altrincham more appealing to the younger generation as they feel at the moment it is not an attractive option for them
- There were a huge variety of responses about the redevelopment of the current hospital with space for community use, public space and an art gallery being the most popular options
The significant amount of data from the questionnaires is now being evaluated and members of the Altrincham Business Neighbourhood Forum, the body responsible for the plan, will draw together all the information provided and begin to draft proposals, including options where appropriate.
These proposals will be made public for phase 2 of the consultation process in early 2015. In addition, the project has secured a £7,000 funding grant to support the project from the Supporting Communities in Neighbourhood Planning Programme.
Forum chair Tony Collier said: “To get over 1,400 responses to the first phase of the consultation is great and I would like to thank everyone who took part. We are thrilled with the response and it is clear that there is a real passion amongst local people to improve Altrincham town centre.
“We now have a big job to do to go through all the responses in detail and begin to create some draft proposals. Early in the New Year we will be sharing these draft proposals with the public as part of phase 2 and we hope that they will be as keen to participate and help influence the future of their town centre.
“There are inevitably going to be some issues raised that are not relevant for the plan or within our remit. We do promise that where this is the case we will ensure that we hand over the information to the appropriate body so they are made aware of the opinions of local people.”
