Ipswich Central chair Terry Baxter offers an open invitation to join the Reviving Ipswich Town Centre conference and find out more about ideas to renew the town centre.

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has been devastating for our high streets and urban centres, and there is now extra pressure to create radical solutions and strategies to transform our town and city centres to meet the new needs of residents, businesses and visitors.

We have brought together a number of experts who will share their insights on what changes are underway and what opportunities this transformation could deliver for Ipswich for our virtual ‘Reviving Ipswich Town Centre’ conference; which is taking place tomorrow - Tuesday, April 13.

The line-up includes Ojay McDonald, chief executive of the Association of Town and City Management and urban regeneration expert; Paul Swinney, director of policy and research at the Centre for Cities; Steve Walker, director at Allies & Morrison, who has been involved with the Ipswich Vision for a number of years; Minnie Moll, an award-winning marketeer and chief executive at the Design Council; and Paul Clement, CEO of Ipswich Central, a close colleague of mine who has been involved in town centre management and place-shaping since 2000.

The conference will put forward ideas that look at renewing and reviving the town centre; centred around our ‘Connected Waterfront Town Centre’ concept which looks to remodel linkages between the railway station, the waterfront and Christchurch Park; with the commercial heart at the centre.

The ambition is for a more compact, useable, liveable, vibrant and differentiated town centre for everyone; a place that is proud of its maritime history, celebrates its exceptional leisure and cultural offer, is open to innovative ideas and technologies, and which, through a people-centric approach, constantly stimulates new and exciting social experiences.

The Ipswich Vision also addresses the need for regeneration and the development of key sites in the town while promoting Ipswich as a prime location for new homes, businesses and retailers. The ambition is to boost inward investment of projects and campaigns that will transform the town's economy, and presenting Ipswich as the place to stay when visiting Suffolk by boosting the town’s historical, cultural and leisure offers.

I’d like to extend an open invitation to all readers to join us on the ‘Reviving Ipswich Town Centre’ conference, which will take place tomorrow between 10.30-12pm.

Sign up to attend by visiting https://ipswichcentral.com/