CHESTER GAS: A CALL FOR ACTION

GAS

CHESTER GREAT AND SMALL

A CALL FOR ACTION

January 2023 V7

WE WANT TO MAKE CHESTER AWESOME.

Your City NeedsYOU!

This is YOUR one BIG chance to contribute to the new One City Plan, and make sure that the people who live, work and play in Chester have an opportunity to be involved in its shaping and delivery.

Fact:

Chester has declined economically, commercially and creatively. Beyond its transient tourist appeal it has lost its attraction as a place to invest and more importantly to live, work, learn, play and REMAIN!

Chester is currently a city of silos. It is awash with individual voices, ideas and initiatives but with no mechanism to ‘join up the dots’.

Chester doesn’t lack passion - it lacks cohesion. It doesn’t lack ambition, it lacks direction. Most importantly, it doesn’t lack ideas - it simply lacks a simple unified mechanism to receive, organise and action.

It’s already past the time for its renaissance to not only be talked about - but to be delivered by a collaborative and coordinated collective of fully representative organisations, who have ‘skin in the game’, true ambition and the combined skill set to create a truly Brilliant Little City.

Our Mission:

To make Chester the most liveable city in Europe and the vibrant hub of a dynamic and prosperous sub-region.

Chester should be inventive, inclusive, entrepreneurial and a vibrant city where the conditions are laid down for city living to develop, for businesses to grow and where cultural activities flourish with permanence.

To make Chester a ‘smart city’ where the latest in high speed digital communications infrastructure and technology is readily available across the city.

To create a super connected city center: A central hub where existing professional networks rub shoulders with net zero research & technologies, independent creatives & makers and digital natives & scholars in the heart of a uniquely beautiful city of heritage.

Brilliant Little City served by sustainable travel networks, super connected e-networks and a powerful city-wide collaborative commerce, learning and communications network.

The One City Plan.

Why it matters?

The One City Plan is a strategic vision document

being developed by Cheshire West and Chester Council.

It is the only game in town!

Once completed it will create the physical, economic and social framework for delivering growth, regeneration and inclusivity at every level and in every sector, throughout Chester in the next 20 years!

ONLY the Council has the power, authority and mandate to craft and publish the OCP….HOWEVER.…ONLY those who work, live, play and learn here have the knowledge, experience, skills and sufficient resource to purposefully define the needs of the new OCP.

So, Chester needs to come together to form a collaborative response to engage and help the Council deliver a new, current, and visionary One City Plan. A bold Plan. A bespoke Plan. A plan with REAL TEETH.

The current draft OCP sets out a set of broad objectives, but NOT many actions. It needs definition and focus. It is currently far too general to be deliverable, and lacks any meaningful resource or project management infrastructure. It is not yet a fully formed PLAN – so this is where GAS can add real value!

Who we are?

We are those who just Give A S**t (GAS) !

We are you!

We are a group of like-minded representatives from all sectors working, living, learning and playing in the city, who are coming together with experience, skills and reasoned opinions to help craft this Brilliant Little City to fulfil its potential. Vibrant, Sustainable, Inclusive, Collaborative, Ambitious.

We are doing this out of our own personal time and money, both of which are in short supply! We need YOU to join in, and we need you to join in NOW.

Our Objectives

Our aim is to work together for the good of everyone.

To work together for the good of everyone who lives here, and for those who work, visit and study here too. Help focus the Council’s attention on delivering a realistic vision based around the simplified pillars of Work, Live, Learn and Play. Bring forward specific, focused, real-world data and experience to ensure we incorporate both current and future trends, which will bring about long term sustainable regeneration at every level.

Ensure we harvest and harness this knowledge to make sure the Council’s plan defines a CLEAR purpose with REALISTIC actions aligned to a vision of growth and change within the city, which is fully supported by all stakeholders.

Build in timelines to regularly review, monitor progress, check and adjust the plan and take action to ensure we are on track to deliver the One City Plan.

Once agreed, The New OCP will be THE Tool to deliver a better Chester and a Brilliant Little City, so ‘we’ need to act on this quickly.

‘We’ need some short term actions and

‘we’ need some easy wins.

What are we proposing?

What do we need?

• Invested people with ‘skin in the game’, an opinion and a voice.

• Structure, organisation and a safe space to share & collaborate as GAS.

• Team players to step up and support and populate the above with time and finance.

Chester needs to come together quickly - this is a call to action.

What do we plan to do first?

• Create a digital ‘white-board’ and e-platform to share all of the great thinking and work already in existence for the future vision and regeneration of this Brilliant Little City. (January / February 2023).

• Launch our approach through a ‘kick-off’ presentation / meeting at Storyhouse with all interested and invested parties on Friday 24th March 2023.

• Meet collectively, collating all relevant ideas, thinking and actions around the four themes of Work, Live, Play and Learn.

• Feed all of these outcomes into the Council’s OCP and process (March onwards).

Remember ….

This is YOUR chance to contribute to the new One City Plan conversation, and make sure that the people who Live, Work, Play and Learn in Chester have a real opportunity to be properly involved in shaping its objectives, defining its actions and ultimately contributing its delivery.

OUR DOORS ARE ALWAYS OPEN

If this quick presentation resonates with you, then don’t just sit on your hands. Reach out, have your say, share your views and tell us what you / your company / your organisation is going to do to enhance, step up to the plate and help us to give this BRILLIANT LITTLE CITY its mojo back.

THANK YOU!

‘many hands make light work’