The Stronger Towns Partnership received a substantial response to the consultation and stakeholder engagement events, all of which will be publicised in the coming days and weeks as part of feedback to the public including responses to frequently asked questions.
The public was made aware of the consultation through a wide range of methods: Coopers Square Shopping Centre pop up roll banners, social media, websites, Burton Mail, Radio, press releases and many WhatsApp groups. The partnership received over 900 responses through Survey Monkey web form (841 replies), written form and via email. This is the largest number of consultee responses the Council, as one of the partners making up the partnership, has ever received to a single consultation. There were also two rounds of Key Stakeholder Engagement workshops and we should not forget that there was extensive consultation in 2018/19 in respect of the Burton upon Trent strategy for regeneration, with both the public and key stakeholders, and on the My Town (Burton) Facebook page in November 2019. To this end, we believe the public has been very much involved in the process of developing the Town Investment Plan proposals.
Moreover, 89 % of the 861 survey monkey respondents said that they were supportive of the proposals with 62% saying they were ‘very much in favour’ of the Investment Plan proposals and the consultation response can be considered a representative sample within a margin of error of 3.25% at a 95% confidence level or 4.27% at a 99% confidence level. In short, the response to the consultation can be considered illustrative of the views of the general public of Burton. There is strong support for the proposals.
A main focus is, of course, the Washlands, the Market Place and High Street and helping the town integrate with Burton’s greatest green and blue asset, the Washlands. The idea is to boost the town economy and footfall. The vision outlined in the 2019 strategy is being adhered to in order to draw down up to £25m.
All town bids have to be submitted this Winter. Following suggestions already made, including those on the My Burton Facebook page, many key lines of enquiry have been followed which led to the consultation.
Chairman Ben Robinson said, “As a partnership we must now work tirelessly over the next few weeks before submission of the plans to Government during December. The board members attended a Zoom meeting last Friday which reviewed the consultation and engagement with its partner Urbed and we were impressed with the very positive feedback received. As part of this meeting, the Board discussed how the consultation response would inform the selection and prioritisation of proposals into a shortlist. We are also publishing a Frequently Asked Questions document to help further understanding and support for proposals even further.
Urbed, the independent company conducting the stakeholder engagement and public consultation, stated, “As a company that regularly facilitates public consultation, we were very impressed by the level of engagement with the Burton Town Investment Plan proposals – receiving nearly 900 completed questionnaires. As in all consultation, opinions differ, but what was clear to us is how passionate people are about this historic market town, with respondents dedicating substantial time and consideration into sharing ideas and offering valuable feedback on the proposed projects.”