News & Resources

It's not every day that a taxi driver is so effusive about the street furniture, so I was intrigued to find out what this particular set of Glasgow Southside lights had done to get my cabbie going. It turns out that these are 'smart' lights. To speed things up, they make flash decisions about changing colour based on the volume of cars waiting rather than being simply timed to change on a fixed pattern.

The latest news from Big Lottery Fund's Village SOS. Village SOS is a campaign for any rural community project that wants support to make something happen. See volunteering and mentoring opportunities along with news on rural communities and the good neighbour schemes.

TestTown is the UK and Ireland’s biggest accelerator programme for young entrepreneurs with fresh ideas for rejuvenating our high streets and town centres. You can visit the website www.testtown.org.uk to find out more about 2013 and 2014 activities.

This year Carnegie UK Trust will be supporting more towns across the UK and Ireland to hold local activities that support start-ups in ways that are appropriate and effective for each community. Providing up to 10 towns with funding of up to £3,000 each to run a skills development activity for entrepreneurs that uses the town centre. We are looking for activities that:

STP Chair, Professor Leigh Sparks reflects on 'A Day for Towns' which took place in Edinburgh on 13 May. Beginning in the Storytelling Centre STP hosted it's AGM, Towns Tea Party and welcomed Julian Dobson to launch his book "How To Save Our Town Centres" for this first time in Scotland. The CPG on Towns and Town Centres followed in Parliament with presentations from Boots UK and Architecture and Design Scotland. Click here to read more.

Listen to Professor Leigh Sparks, STP Chair and Head of Retail Studies at University of Stirling as he shares the Scotland's towns' story with CBC Radio in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Speaking to CBC Radio Leigh Sparks highlights the work currently taking place in Scotland to regenerate town centres, identifying the National Review of Town Centres to be a catalyst for change along with the Town Centre Action Plan. Click play to listen:

The Resource Efficient Scotland Programme, delivered by Zero Waste Scotland, is offering funding support during 2015/16 to support Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME’s) and third sector organisations who wish to implement resource efficiency improvements within their organisations.

Rose Street Parking Price Restructure

Community Services have listened to concerns raised by Members, businesses and by members of the public about the Rose Street parking charges introduced on 1 April. There were particular concerns about the cost of long stay parking. 

Officers have recognised these difficulties and have taken these views into account, together with the remaining need to meet the commitment agreed to increase charges to meet savings targets. Considerable work has been done to re-model the pricing structure to reduce the impact on the public, whilst increasing income and maximising usage.

Understanding Scottish Places is a website to help towns practitioners and communities better understand the function of the towns they live and work in.  The platform primarily functions as a diagnostic tool, and beyond that offers the opportunity to compare and contrast data about places across the country.

Understanding Scottish Places is a website to help towns practitioners and communities better understand the function of the towns they live and work in.  The platform primarily functions as a diagnostic tool, and beyond that offers the opportunity to compare and contrast data about places across the country.

An award winning project, the regeneration of Bridgegate Square in Irvine was part of a wider programme of improvements by North Ayrshire and Irvine Bay Regeneration Company and has completely rejuvenated the historic heart of the town.

A case study from partners Land Engineering around their work with Irvine Bay Regeneration Company for Kilwinning Town Centre. Kilwinning’s Town Centre seeks to offer excellent quality of life and high quality services to read more click Download.

A call for evidence to seek views of those with an interest or experience in alleviating poverty. Click through for more information and to submit your piece.

Architecture and Design Scotland (A+DS) has commisioned a mirco version of the High Street exhibition to make it more accessible for smaller venues. The High Street touring exhibition showed the Scottish High Street’s evolution, our changing shops and shopping habits, and the impact this has had today.

STP Chief Officer, Phil Prentice and Ian Davison Porter, BIDs Scotland Director highlight the effectiveness of town centre management strategies and the Business Improvement District Model considering community empowerment and the evolution of these strategies.

The Institute for Retail Studies at the University of Stirling is a leading academic centre for retail research and education, providing independent, academic and practical research as well as commentary on retail matters of the day.