I contributed to the consultation which was all done online and was, in my view, rather peculiar. We had to post comments on mock up post-it notes; I felt the consultation was fun for the designer to design and that took priority over trying to elicit serious comments from locals who are serious about their locality. I didn't think the consultation's suggestions would make much difference in terms of regeneration. The focus was on improving shop fronts, to make the high street look more attractive; this wouldn't necessarily make much difference if, in reality, it is the type of shop that is the issue. I argued strongly in favour of local independent shops and against an increase in the chains - to give Acton high street a character of its own rather than make it the same as any town anywhere. I thought much of the money could be spent on rent incentives for independent shops, to encourage landlords to lease their premises to independents rather than chains. In Chiswick, it is overly greedy landlords who are forcing out the independents as the chains can cope with higher rents by spreading costs across a larger company. I'd like to avoid that in Acton. We have some great independents; we could have more. Overall, the emphasis of the consultation was about window dressing - with a lot of money being spent on presentation and not much being spent on substance. It included a lovely pot of money for the company running the consultation, a consultation that was flawed in many respects (perhaps they all are). I realise that others might not share my views and I don't know what the majority views were because the post-it note system was so irritating and the way of drawing out or views so shallow.
Joanna Biddolph ● 3428d