Suggestions wanted for improving St Austell town centre

There are no plans for a major redevelopment of the town centre but an aspiration to make improvements

People are being asked for suggestions for how St Austell town centre could be improved.

The St Austell Town Revitalisation Partnership (SATRP) is leading the project to set up potential schemes in case funding is made available in the future.

A series of events are being hosted in the town to share ideas.

SATRP said it aims to make the town "more attractive, and a more enjoyable place to be and to meet".

It said it wants to create: "A safer place that gives you good reason to visit your town centre and a place that addresses our current needs such as; increasing biodiversity, providing better access and making the town centre more efficient."

It wants to build up a "wish-list" of projects that can be progressed as and when funding becomes available, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

Ideas so far include improving signage in the town centre, creating more green spaces, making the town more accessible, and improving lighting and safety features.

Michael Hawes, from Mei Loci Landscape Architects, has been involved and said: "We don't want to raise people's hopes about what could be done, but we want to have some things in place so that when funding is available we can present something that is wanted by the people of St Austell and is achievable.

"Most importantly we want the town to move forward in a positive way."

The firm, has previously worked on other projects around Cornwall, including the Penzance promenade.

Mr Hawes said: "It is important that what we are doing is working with what is here already - there has already been work done to improve the street surfaces for example. However we don't want to promise the world, whatever we come up with has to be deliverable."

The next consultation events are on 22 September, with others on 1, 20 and 29 October.

They are all being hosted in an empty shop off Aylmer Square.