Town Centre Toolkit
An important resource helping communities reinvigorate their town centres.
Many of Scotland’s town centres have struggled to adapt to changes in the way people shop, work and live, with much traditional town centre activity now taking place in large out of town developments. 7N were commissioned by the Scottish Government to prepare a toolkit to help communities address these challenges and reinvigorate their town centres. The toolkit details a range of ways communities and organisations can compete by making their town centres more attractive, active and accessible, as well as guidance on engaging and organising the energy and commitment of local people in real positive change. This collection of tools, inspiration and case studies allows communities to implement solutions suited to their own circumstances, and to make more effective use of existing community assets and resources in an age of limited public sector funding. The toolkit is available on the website of Scotland’s Towns Partnership.
The Toolkit is divided into three themes: Attractive, Active and Accessible. This recognises that town centres must be all of these things to offer a positive choice to people. The most successful strategies will incorporate aspects of all of these themes.
Pedestrian footfall is the lifeblood of town centre businesses. Being directly linked to economic activity, footfall is also a measure of the vitality of a town centre.