Project Taunton

BACKGROUND

Taunton is ideally positioned in many ways.  108,000 people live in the immediate Taunton Deane area, and the area serves another 350,000 who regularly visit the town for shops and services.  It has strong transport links, with the M5 motorway connecting it to Bristol and beyond, and the A303 providing access to the south of England. In addition, its mainline rail link connects Taunton to London Paddington in just over an hour and a half.

Taunton has already been identified by the Government Office for the South West as one of the region's 11 principle urban areas in its regional planning guidance, and has recently been awarded Growth Point funding. The area has been highlighted as being in a strong position to support sustainable communities - an objective highlighted by the Regional Assembly.  The town has a low wage economy with low unemployment rates, a good standard of education, and close proximity to the countryside for residents.

In 2004, after a long period of discussion, Taunton Deane Borough Council (TDBC), Somerset County Council (SCC) and the South West of England Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) established Taunton Vision (now named Project Taunton) to direct the strategy for the town's development.  Rather than focusing on just one area of the town, Project Taunton is an ambitious series of physical regeneration projects, which together will regenerate the centre of Taunton.  A business plan was written in June 2005, and as the scale of the task became apparent, a ‘delivery' team was formed through secondments and Borough Council fixed-term contracts.

This team now consists of four members: Ian Franklin, on secondment from SWRDA; Mark Green, on secondment from Taunton Deane Borough Council; Robbie Lowes; and Michelle Sawyer.  Though an idea was floated for the team to occupy space within the Borough Council, it now holds its own offices on East Reach in Taunton.  Importantly, this allows the team to objectively coordinate the large number of stakeholders involved in Taunton's regeneration.

These project groups, with at least one member represented on the Project Taunton Co-ordination Group, report to the delivery team, which takes overall responsibility for coordinating all activity.  In turn, the delivery team reports to an executive committee. 

The executive committee includes representatives from the Environment Agency, TDBC, SWRDA, and SCC.  It also receives advice and guidance from an Advisory Board.  Planning consultants Terence O'Rourke were appointed two and half years ago by the delivery partners, resulting in the production of a masterplan or visual overview of how Taunton will look.

DETAIL

The town currently has around 50 hectares of ‘under-utilised' or vacant land, offering the potential to become a huge economic resource for the town.  The plan is to develop sites to expand the town centre from Vivary Park in the south to the railway station in the north.

Regeneration work has been split into three distinct zones - the Commercial Centre at Firepool; The Cultural Quarter extending from the County Cricket Ground, through Coal Orchard, Goodland Gardens, Castle Green and Tangier with key sites along the north bank of the river; and the Town Centre Retail Area, either side of the High Street.  Each will be connected by or front onto the River Tone, and flow into one another from north to south. 

One of the areas to experience greatest change will be Firepool, near the railway station and London mainline.  With 15 hectares of underdeveloped or vacant space, the Firepool development will include riverside apartments and adjacent offices in what will become the economic centre of the town.  In total, 47,000 square metres of office space is planned, together with leisure and retail opportunities.  In total the site could accommodate as much as 100,000 square metres of built development.  The Firepool project is a regeneration priority and is expected to be one of the first phases to be delivered.  Development partners are currently being invited to tender, with a development partner for TDBC to be selected in Summer 2007.  Work on site is then expected to proceed in 2008 and the majority of the project work is expected to be completed within just five years.

Following the river downstream, Somerset County Cricket Club has already announced plans for a dramatic facelift, including a larger pitch to enable it to host one-day international matches and the 20/20 world championships in 2009.  Although this project is privately-driven, Project Taunton is providing support and advice as necessary and has attended every project meeting to help coordinate this work alongside other projects.  Urban Designers, LDA Design of Exeter, have been engaged by the project team to produce an illustrative framework for the Cultural Quarter, which includes the Brewhouse Theatre & Arts Centre.  In November 2006, following a series of stakeholder workshops and one-to-one meetings, this piece of work will be presented to the public for their comments.

Retail also forms a major focus of the redevelopment, with at least £90 million expected to be spent on increasing the number of shops that the town offers.  In total, development work will add another 30,000 square metres of new retail and leisure facilities, plus up to 1,100 public car parking spaces.  Standard Life has accepted a time-limited exclusivity arrangement for developing the eastern side of the High Street, which gives it an opportunity to work up plans to an advanced stage and to a point where a development partner is sought by the Borough Council.  A similar agreement has been accepted by Dawnay Day for a key site on the west side of the High Street.  

With an increase in office and retail space, the regeneration work is expected to create approximately 7,700 new employment opportunities.  Project Taunton's outline plans were formed following a specific study into the town's potential for economic growth.  In some other regeneration projects, development teams have focused on providing employment opportunities after creating a residential development.  However, to ensure that the number of houses was equal to the number of new employees, this study began by calculating the number of jobs likely to be created following economic growth before identifying appropriate residential sites.  With regeneration work expected to create at least 80,000 square metres of employment space in the town centre alone, the team has estimated that 2,200 new townhouses and apartments will be needed in that central core, augmented by between three and four thousand dwellings elsewhere around the town.  These figures are likely to grow still further to reflect the town's Growth Point status and to reflect the latest projections in the Regional Spatial Strategy.

As the town, and indeed its regeneration, is very much centred on the river, flood alleviation has been given priority consideration, particularly as the threat of flooding is predicted to increase in future years.  The team has therefore developed a close relationship with the Environment Agency, which has produced a flood study to inform the team of solutions to this threat.   In addition, Project Taunton's partner, SWRDA, has granted the funds to allow related land acquisition. 
One of the main tasks for Project Taunton has been to communicate the aims of the project to all involved, including local businesses and residents.  The team members describe themselves as ‘enablers', keeping all partners informed, and offering guidance and assistance to ensure that each project contributes to the strategy agreed by the executive committee. 

To take account of a variety of viewpoints, the process began with an extensive consultation with many stakeholders including landowners, property agents and the Environment Agency.  The result of this initial consultation was widespread support for the proposals, with over 75% of respondents supporting the plans.  Public consultations are ongoing throughout the lifetime of the project. 

There is also a great deal of communication aimed at ensuring that new jobs created as a result of the regeneration are filled by local residents whenever possible.  Project Taunton is working with the local Learning and Skills Council, learning and training providers, Connexions, Job Centre Plus, and sector skills specialists to help ensure that Taunton residents are adequately informed of opportunities and appropriately trained.  In addition, there is an imperative to give support to local businesses to enable them to compete for developer sub-contracts. .

RESULTS

Despite the number of partners involved in the town's redevelopment plans, project work is currently on track.  This is a major achievement for the team, and due largely to the careful management of all partners to remain on schedule and achieve deadlines.  The team has been aided by a lack of complexity in land ownership, because unlike regeneration work in many other towns, the local borough council owns the majority of the land being redeveloped. 

To date, the team has followed the original business plan for very closely.  Expenditure has been very carefully planned and monitored, and budgets have been adhered to. 

The support for the projects has also been a huge mark of the team's success.  Though much of Taunton's built environment has remained ‘static' in its appearance for many years, with many residents feeling an affinity to its layout and ambiance, most people have embraced the proposals presented by the team.  This is due in part to positive communication, but also largely to sensitive planning.  Planners have been careful to ensure that the new developments will not disrupt, but rather complement Taunton's distinctive skyline of three church towers and one spire.  The River Tone has also formed a focal point for the town's imminent transformation, with riverfront access a key feature.
In recognition of this careful attention to planning and aesthetic design, Project Taunton (then Taunton Vision) won a Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) ‘award for spatial strategies' in 2005 and has also recently been nominated for a major Waterways Renaissance Award.

CONCLUSION

Rather than employ a large core delivery team, Project Taunton has appointed specialist consultants, including architects, quantity surveyors, and property agents to oversee specific project areas.  A specialist project manager has also been contracted to oversee project management.  The Project Taunton team has proven that by appointing a small, dedicated delivery team, it has been able to effectively drive the project forward, coordinate all involved, and focus on delivering the various stages of regeneration work efficiently. 

Penny James, Chief Executive at Taunton Deane Borough Council commented:
"The Vision for Taunton is our highest corporate priority and we are working hard to ensure that the Vision becomes a reality for the future prosperity of Taunton and ultimately, to provide enhanced opportunities for people in Taunton and across the Deane."

Cathy Bakewell, Leader of Somerset County Council said:
"The Vision for Taunton reflects the ambition that all of the partners have to see Taunton grow into a major economic and cultural centre for Somerset and the wider region.  Somerset must offer opportunities for commerce to grow and to attract new businesses into the area and we have a responsibility to make that a reality. The Vision for Taunton is a vital tool in achieving that reality."

Dave Crowson from the Environment Agency added:
"We are very pleased to be part of a partnership which not only seeks to put the River Tone at the heart of a regenerated Taunton, but also to deliver a very high standard of flood protection in a way that could be a model for other regeneration projects across the country."

DOS AND DON'TS

Do
- Keep things simple. Form a small ‘enabling' team and appoint consultants for specialist requirements
- Keep local politics in perspective. Your independence will prove invaluable when offering objective advice
- Use Section 106 agreements to agree a legally-binding planning obligation with developers
- Focus on economic regeneration, then buildings, not vice-versa
- Use private sector expertise. For example, Ian Franklin had   many years of experience as a director at a property development company before he was seconded from SWRDA's property team, giving him experience of life on both sides of regeneration work

Don't
- Feel the need to directly be in control of everything. Delegate to partners with expertise and provide channels of communication. A mix of private and public investment can work
- Bite off more than you can chew. Tackle large projects in stages - one area at a time