Positive engagement with the bus and coach industry at the Confederation of Passenger Transport conference today. Building collaboration to promote their involvement in transforming high streets. With Thomas Ableman, Iain Docherty and Stagecoach and Arriva representatives. @HighStreetsTF

I was asked the other day by a councillor: ‘how important is the community & public sector in shaping high streets?’ My answer: Fundamental. A local community is like the mycelial network in the soil supporting the whole forest ecosystem. A thread/

🍻 2020 a terrible year for 🇬🇧 pubs, bars & clubs 🛑 9,930 premises permanently closed 📊 Net loss of 5,975 sites 📉 That’s 5% of the entire market 🧮 2.5 places closed for each opened 🥘 ~10% of casual dining sites closed

What a day we had yesterday, 35 people joined our Place Leadership masterclass including our new postgraduate students. Lots of reflection on leadership styles as well as what enables and blocks effective leadership in places. Thanks to all our attendees and guest speakers 👏

Bookshops defy pandemic to record highest sales for eight years theguardian.com/books/2021/jan…

No update in #NPPF version 3 to #towncentres #retail section. Odd considering Class E change?

Packed programme for our @Nabma_Markets virtual conference this Thursday. Delighted that Simon Quin will be talking high streets and markets and Cllr Joe Barratt will be discussing young people and markets of the future. Have you booked yet? Visit the NABMA website for details.

Thanks @Nabma_Markets for the opportunity to open your conference this morning. To share emerging data, to discuss place leadership and to link to resources for a path out of crisis. Great to have a large audience. @HighStreetsTF

Does you town have an empty ex-BHS, Debenhams or Arcadia Group unit? How can we 'reclaim local control'? Read Cathy Parker MBE, SFIPM @smartrsaga and @DrSDMillington: What to do with empty department stores and shopping centres' - in The Conversation theconversation.com/saving-the-hig…

Health and wellness must be integral parts of future high streets.

It is great to welcome seven leading experts, versed for years in helping town centres make resilient responses, to the @HighStreetsTF PDRG as it launches research to understand the full concept of ‘viability’. highstreetstaskforce.org.uk/news/new-membe…

A morning workshop with Derbyshire CC talking about place-based support for the county’s towns. Led by IPM with contributions from Cathy Parker MBE, SFIPM Simon Quin @JeanBall1. Thanks to our hosts and the districts and towns who joined us.

The Institute has relaunched its website 👇 placemanagement.org Read more about our research, meet the IPM team, and find support available to places through our range of expert services. We love hearing from place makers and our Members, so get in touch!

An excellent response Matt Baker. We welcome thoughts on policy approaches but would argue we now know the recipe for transformation but we now need to upskill the chefs. Invest in effective and goal-driven place leaders. IPM

Great reading from @MttDavis in the IPM blog on how we get towns and cities to adopt and implement the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Thanks @MttDavis blog.placemanagement.org/2021/02/24/un-…

The idea that the high street is dead is a fallacy says @ellandi_mark There is lots of empty retail and there is more coming but this should be converted to residential at a fraction of the cost of new development thetimes.co.uk/article/could-…

So delighted to have presented our garden transformation to 400 people around the world in a live webinar this evening. The funds raised are passed by @PowysNGS to health charities. Thanks to all who joined us.

Thanks @bbcclick for introducing me to ‘Tokenisation’. House buying in seconds. A secure digital profile for my property showing who has what share. Looks like a fantastic step forward for homebuyers, businesses and co-operatives and community businesses. Vidhya Alakeson

The tallest trees in Europe are two miles from #Welshpool. Redwoods, Sequoia sempervirens, live for 2000 years and grow to 50 metres in Montgomery and 95 metres in the US. No-one is marketing this glory of #Wales, not #VisitWales, #VisitPowys, #PowysCC or #WelshpoolTC. Why not?

7 years on Twitter and it used to fun. Reviewing it in the last few months, it now mostly bores me. So this is the end. Goodbye. Simon