A consultation carried out by Spalding Town Board has revealed that people value Spalding’s waterfront area, but would like to see improvements to enhance the town.
Taking place earlier this summer, the consultation sought to understand local people’s priorities for the town.
507 people had their say in an online and paper survey whilst feedback was also captured at events including two interactive feedback walkabouts led by Heritage Lincolnshire.
Some of the key findings emerging included:
- There was feedback that the best thing about Spalding is its river / waterfront area, with around two in five of the survey respondents highlighting this. However, it is widely considered that the potential of this area is not being realised.
- Ayscoughfee Hall, and the sense of community, community spirit, and the people are also valued by respondents to the survey.
- There is a clear desire for a better town centre experience. People would like to see improvements to the town, including a better retail offering and improvements to the market. There is also feedback on cleaning / tidying / smartening up Spalding.
- People would like to be able to enjoy Spalding safely with tackling anti-social behaviour and improving community safety the top priority for a quarter of respondents (25%).
- The second most important priority for the investment is more attractions and things to do in the town, with 23% of respondents opting for this.
- Spalding’s heritage is important to people with around three quarters of respondents (71%) wanting to see the fixing up and improvement of the town’s historic sites and buildings.
- There is also a call to invest in community facilities and resources, and interest insupport for volunteering. Around two thirds of respondents (64%) want to see support for people to volunteer and set up community projects that make a difference whilst roughly half of respondents (52%) would like to see the provision of funding for local volunteering groups.
We are really grateful to everyone who took the time to share their views in our consultation.
Robin HancoxChair of Spalding Town Board
The feedback that has been shared with us has been invaluable, and has allowed us to understand what matters to the local community, and what people’s priorities are for investment in Spalding.
It has been great to find out what people really value in the town, such as the riverfront and our heritage, but also focus in on what could be better.
We are committed to continuing to involve and listen to local people, and will offer more opportunities for the public to have their say - the consultation is just the start of our conversations with the community.
I look forward to sharing an update on our next steps in due course.
The full consultation report can be found here.
Image credit: Destination Lincolnshire