All things Great and Small

Milestone

Chester Great and Small (GAS) launched at the Storyhouse on Friday 24 March, at an introductory event attended by over 200 people. What made all those people come out on a Friday evening to listen to what was said and show their support to the initiative? A common desire to help Chester fulﬁl its potential.

Chestergas Has Been Set Up As

A COMMUNITY INTEREST COMPANY (CIC) by a group of like-minded representatives from all sectors working, living, learning and playing in the city. They feel passionately about their city and want to help make Chester the best it can be – vibrant, sustainable, inclusive, collaborative and ambitious. The CIC is already supported by companies – great and small –across the city, but it wants to unite other local people who live and work in Chester, to come together and support each other in improving the city.

Evolution of a city

The city of Chester has been going through a period of change over recent years, and like many towns and cities across the country, the make-up of the city centre is continually evolving.

Historically, Chester had an enviable reputation for independent retailers –shops and food and drink establishments – but over time many of the big bands moved in, changing the vibe of the city. Again, this shifted and many of the brands started to gravitate to the outlets and regional shopping centres.

With the changes that have happened, coupled with the impact of the last three years, Chester has a unique opportunity to regain its status as a haven for an eclectic mix of interesting, independent shops and restaurants. While the challenges that Chester city centre is facing are not unique to Chester – and there are opportunities to learn from other areas that have done things well – Chester is a unique city and its solution needs to be unique to Chester.

Accentuate the positives

There are all sorts of great ideas and incredible initiatives taking place around the city, including things like the Hydro Hub.

One of the fundamental drivers that ChesterGAS is keen to develop is to help people to ﬁnd out what is happening and how they can get involved.

Tim Kenney of ChesterGAS explains: “We are not trying to reinvent the wheel. We don’t want to duplicate the brilliant things that are already happening, but we do want to highlight and signpost them, so other people can get involved and help make things happen. With collaboration and working together, the people that live, work, learn and play in Chester can make it better.”

He goes on to say: “It is these people who best understand what the city needs, and these are the ones that need to get involved and steer the direction of change.”

Plans and initiatives

One of the main initial objectives that ChesterGAS is trying to achieve is ensuring that all the good work – the plans, the research and the project descriptions that go alongside that –are all stored in one place, so that it is easy for others to ﬁnd out what is going on. Tim says: “Chester’s new One City Plan, for example, is really important because it will set the roadmap for the next 20 years. It identiﬁes many of the key things that need to be developed or introduced in Chester. But how many local businesspeople and residents have actually read it? We are working our way through it and want to share our understanding of it with others.”

There are other plans developed by independent businesses and community groups, as well as the council, and by sharing these all-in-one central location, it should be possible to start to see where there is overlap and where others can contribute to a project or initiative’s success.

When asked what the one thing Tim would change, he explained that what he wanted to see was ‘closer meaningful collaboration between the public and private sectors.’

He continued: “The local authority covers a massive area and has a huge remit. Chester City is just a small part of that, but we want to collaborate closely with the council. We also want to encourage, lead and promote meaningful and deliverable positive change ourselves. It is time to break down the silos that have developed across the city and start taking responsibility and working together. It’s time to turn the dial to ‘yes’.”

What can you do?

ChesterGAS is asking businesses to be part of the ongoing conversation. Chester is an amazing place and if you can reinvest some of your time into helping to improve the city, it will be time well spent. If you would like to get involved and offer help and ideas for funding the project, please visit chestergreatandsmall.co.uk