Jargon

I was reminded in a conversation I had the other day of a comment made by a delegate at a conference I attended about town centre regeneration last year. The quote was as follows:

“There needs to be a process where we engage agencies and stakeholders in a wholistic approach requiring a place-shaping delivery agenda which aspires towards the most mutually acceptable local outcome”

This kind of language began life as a kind of convenient shorthand so that more could be said with less words. The problem with this though is that it ends up as meaningless drivel. Anyone who has read as I have the Action Plan ‘Rediscovering Dumbarton’ will be familiar with this kind of gobbledygook. The interpretation guide from the plan is below. Thankfully there are now signs that Dumbarton’s ‘place shaping delivery agenda’ is perhaps moving towards ’something’ that ‘we’ can understand as a ‘mutually acceptabble local outcome’. Let’s hope so!

Traffic Plans Moving.

I had a chat last week with John Colgan who represents MVA the consultants conducting the feasibility study into the traffic management system. The meeting was positive and I was encouraged that John’s concern was centred on parking and accessibility. He is aware of Business for Dumbarton’s proposal on the matter which of course has widespread support but at that stage he hadn’t studied it in detail because he wanted to discuss things with us first. I hope to talk to John again this week.

We’re Back!

Sincere apologies are due for the extended summer break, but this site is now back up and running and hopefully once again keeping you abreast of developments in Dumbarton town centre from the point of view of the retail and service sector.

Another apology is due for not posting minutes of our last meeting on 25th June. Having had a chat with other members about this, I’ll instead report the main bullet points from meetings. The focus of the June meeting for instance was policing and the level of cover in the town centre. Whilst reported crime shows a statistical decline we are concerned that Dumbarton town centre should be a safe and secure place for visitors and shoppers. We have learned that there is a new community policing initiative which involves more police presence in outlying areas of West Dunbartonshire. We are concerned that this could pose a threat to the level of police cover in the town centre and have contacted the Chief Constable to articulate that concern. Once a reply is received I’ll report back.

IF you have any matters for concern on this or any other topic, please contact me at businessfordumbarton@ryanspets.fsnet.co.uk