Building better town centres for our community by Nesil Caliskan
10th November 2019
Labour Council Leader Enfield
Dear resident,
One of the great strengths of this borough are its vibrant and attractive town centres –each with its own unique characteristics. To survive and prosper in today’s economy town centres need to act as community focused hubs and be accessible, pleasant and welcoming with high quality public realm. However, that doesn’t mean every local centre should develop in the same way. I believe it’s the Council’s job to help each town centre identify and build on its particular strengths.
The Council is planning the future of our town centres with local communities –listening and facilitating based on your input rather than directing. As a result, I have been meeting and engaging with local residents and businesses across the borough in order to progress work to improve our town centres and transforming them into vibrant destinations for all of our residents and visitors.
In July I met residents and businesses in Palmers Green and we discussed some of the ways Enfield Council could support community-led activities to help make Palmers Green Town Centre a more vibrant place in which to live, trade and work. It was an animated and constructive meeting which showed how much people care about Palmers Green and produced a wealth of ideas to help develop a vision and action plan for the town centre.
Currently, we are collating and analysing the feedback we received and will use it to put together an action plan that we will launch later this year. However, we are already dealing with some of the things that attendees at the meeting mentioned and we have established a working group to look at issues regarding waste, the public realm and community safety.
I also met the Palmers Green Action Team, and the Green Lanes Business Association to discuss their ideas and how Enfield Council can most effectively support their plans and work with them to improve the town centre and support businesses.
I am confident that like all Enfield’s town centres Palmers Green will see a growing mix of uses over the next few years in order to grow and thrive. By building on its unique strengths, communities and characteristics we will help to ensure we create a vibrant Palmers Green Town Centre which meets the needs of local people and businesses and attracts visitors from further afield.
I am committed to keeping you informed of plans and developments in Palmers Green as they get delivered in the coming months and look forward to engaging with the community in Southgate. In the meantime, you can get involved in this work by contacting us at towncentres @enfield.gov.uk. You can find out more about what’s going on in your neighbourhood by signing up to Enfield Council’s digital newsletters at www.enfield.gov.uk/enewsletters.
