Urbanism
Environment
Design

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Fleetwood is a remarkable town in the sense that it is an historic planned town, conceived in the early nineteenth century and named after its founder, Sir Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood.  Fleetwood commissioned the architect Decimus Burton to design much of the town and its architecture, which manifested itself as highly coherent and distinctive.

However, over recent years it has suffered from the effects of the decline in its traditional employment sectors. Its loss has been mainly in the fishing and tourism industries.  Other significant indicators of the towns decline are in the town centre where the loss of visitor expenditure and competition from out-of-town facilities has led to the decline of quality shopping and public realm.

URBED were asked to compile and write up a baseline report for Wyre Borough Council, English Heritage and the North West Development Agency. This we did together with King Sturge, Transportation Planning Partnership (TPP), Paul Butler Associates, Peter Hunter and the University of Glasgow. The purpose of the baseline report was to establish a thorough and shared view of the key policy, physical, demographic, socio-ecomonic, market and access issues in Fleetwood. The baseline position has established an agenda upon which an overarching vision and strategic options can be developed and discussed.