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Horsham Town Centre Vision
Summary response to Horsham
Council
A Town
Vision should be just that; comprehensive, thought
provoking, full of ideas often at early stages. It
should include imaginative ideas about how residents
can live, work, shop and be entertained.
This vision should support the image of a vibrant,
progressive, historic market town and be capable of
being implemented in the years ahead as money and
circumstances allow. At the start of the project
Horsham Society said that the Vision should aim to
create an integrated series of spaces that form a
continuous route across the town centre. The vision
should reflect the changing appearance and character
of the street scene; it should be coherent and
beckon public to explore further.
So what do we have? The consultants have produced a
document that lacks real vision, one that fails to
ask questions about the long term development of
Horsham, the development of the town centre and how
it should be. Instead, the document concentrates on
known sites for the short term, from them suggesting
a number of "strategic directions" and identified
what they call "opportunity areas".
The Vision does propose the development of a Public
Realm Strategy, a Cycling Strategy, a Walking
Strategy and a Tourism Strategy, all as key
projects. . It is important that these are separate
documents, each concentrating on either a single
mode of transport or a single issue and we expect
them to cover many of the issues we highlight. We
are generally supportive of the delivery schedule
and welcome the intention to start a debate on these
questions. It is critical that the key partners are
jointly involved in deciding the brief and scope and
then in agreeing the outcome of these new
strategies.
Horsham Society ask that the Vision be more
ambitious, tackling the difficult questions of
access into town, improvement of the gateways, the
crossings of Albion Way, entertainment options,
residential ideas for different age groups,
education, tourism as well as creating a north to
south route, to name a few.
Overall, the Vision is lacking in breadth and
ambition.
Click here for our full response»
Click here
for link to HDC's Horsham Town Vision - Consultation
Draft»
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