Our Approach (what we want to achieve)

The Partnership has limited funding and a restricted timescale.  It therefore has to have a very clear focus on what it can achieve.  A three year term may seem a long time to most people but in relation to regeneration it is relatively short.  In the same way, a total budget of £600,000 may seem a lot of money.  Again, in regeneration terms, this is a very tight budget.

As a comparison, Clydebank Re-built, the Urban Regeneration Company for Clydebank, had funding in excess of £8 million for the year 2006/7 and has anticipated funding of £9.5 million for the year 2007/8.

So how then does the Helensburgh Partnership make an impact with such limited funds?  Clearly we do not have the financial resources to carry out capital works.  Instead, our focus is very much on promoting, enhancing and facilitating the regeneration process. 

Our objective is to do this in two main ways.  Firstly, we have analysed existing reports and studies and have extracted the information we need.  As part of this process we identified additional work required which we believe will 'add value' to the regeneration of Helensburgh.

Secondly, the partnership uses the 'human capital' available through its Board Membership and representative bodies as well as through its Executive Team.  This is targeted at formulating ideas and concepts, developing these into tangible regeneration schemes, discussing and refining these with the community and the local planning authority and finally promoting them to private sector developers, investors and occupiers.

An example of how this will work in practice is in the area of shopping.  It became clear to the Partnership Board some time ago that the future of shopping in the town was a major strategic issue.  It was evident that Helensburgh’s limited food store provision was resulting in considerable expenditure leakage to adjoining centres, in particular Dumbarton.  In fact this was highlighted in the Yellow Book report.

There was every prospect that this expenditure leakage was not limited to only food shopping but extended to non-food shopping as well.  The Partnership therefore commissioned a major Retail Study to assess how much expenditure was being leaked from Helensburgh, to estimate how much could be recovered and to identify what needs to be done to recover it.

The study will form the basis of a Retail Strategy for Helensburgh which will match the development of new shopping to meet the Town’s needs.