Portas Review – WVone | At the heart of Wolverhampton

WCCC | Wolverhampton City Centre Company

WV One welcomes Mary Portas High Street Review 17.02.2012

Much has been written and said about the Portas High Street Review. WV One Operations Director, Kim Gilmour was amongst those who had a chance to question Mary at the Association of Town Centre Management's Summer School, she said: "We raised issues such as unfair competition with out of town shopping centres and difficulties engaging with owners of empty shops. There were recommendations on both of those issues."

The Government is being pressed for its response which is expected in March, but here at WV One we have drafted our comments on the Portas Review which contains a 28 point plan to revive our town and city centres. WV One board will endorse those and try to embrace the principles along with recommendations from the ATCM manifesto.

The first Portas recommendation is to support 'Town Teams'. WV One is very much a lead player in Wolverhampton's' Town Team' with a fully representative Board and a number of stakeholdergroups. The City Council has also recently bought together a City Centre Officers Group and a City Centre Members Reference Group to ensure that issues are dealt with in a holistic manner.

'We are also working up proposals to submit an application to become a Portas Pilot but with stiff competition we need to ensure an innovative scheme that benefits Wolverhampton and that could be replicated as best practice elsewhere.' said Kim.

A full copy of the Portas Review can be found here