Brainstorming to help ailing Cornish market town

A workshop in Liskeard's Public Rooms where local people were asked for their views on improving the town

More night life and street cafes were just some of the ideas residents and business leaders in Liskeard have put forward to improve the town's fortunes.

Liskeard Town Council's event in the Public Rooms was full to capacity.

Cornwall Council had paid consultants Hemingway Design £10,000 to create a presentation that would provide a vision for the town and what could enhance its future.

Nick Craker, councillor for Liskeard, said: "There's a lot of community spirit and optimism and a lot of passion for this town. People want to see it thrive but we've got to work together and come up with how we are going to do that."

Cornwall councillor Nick Craker said: "We can't stand still"

Craker said "I think Liskeard is not unique it's changing; all market towns are changing. They can't stand still.

"I want to see businesses develop; I want to see new enterprises coming.

"We've got some great enterprises like Wildanet and Boost who've come to Liskeard, we've got Real who've taken over Liskeard Library so there's new initiatives coming to Liskeard, new businesses new careers and skills and I want to see more of that," he said.

People attending the workshop event formed groups around tables to discuss their ideas.

Ed Hart, from Real Ideas, said: "We've been talking about how we can invigorate the night-time economy.

"We're all really clear that Liskeard could benefit from more interesting places to eat and more culture to see in the evenings.

"[There has] been lots of talk how we enable more pedestrian access to the really interesting bits of Liskeard that are not visible, not obvious and sometimes difficult to get to."

Tash Baskerville said Liskeard was "a little bit like a concrete jungle"

Tash Baskerville said: "Initially we began talking about the arrival into Liskeard and how it's a bit of a concrete jungle; trying to find your way around the place can be a little bit hard. How we can just get more interest in using the streets?

"We talked about greening and we've talked about the connectivity around as well. Can we use these things like nodes to get around or areas of activity, we've talked about a street cafe, I think murals have come up as well."

Alan Hartridge, a retired planning inspector with former Caradon Council, said: "We tried to identify some positives in Liskeard because there's been a lot said and it seems as though the wheel's being reinvented.

"Because a lot of work's been done already in Liskeard. We need some advice from these people about some good examples.

"How we can get communities working together and how we can get the market more successful."

A document of the key points made in the workshop will be produced by the consultants.