A PROPOSED STRATEGY TO REGENERATE & DEVELOP TALGARTH & DISTRICT FOR THE COMMUNITY’S BENEFIT by: TALGARTH & DISTRICT REGENERATION GROUP REGENERATING & DEVELOPING TALGARTH - A PROPOSAL INTRODUCTION Page | 2 This proposal is a starting point. A starting point to generate a living document, developed with the considerable input of the local community, to illustrate and explain the community’s strategic plan for the development of Talgarth and its surrounding district. VERSION 13 - 09.11.2016 (PE) ©Copyright 2016 - Talgarth & District Regeneration Group. All rights reserved REGENERATING & DEVELOPING TALGARTH - A PROPOSAL CONTENTS SUBJECT PAGE NUMBER Background 4 Page | 3 Objectives 8 Team Talgarth 9 The Vision 10 Project 1 - Talgarth Riverside (River Enigg Catchment) 11 Project 2 - Enhancing Talgarth Town Buildings 13 Project 3 - Pop-up Shop 14 Project 4 - Mid-Wales Hospital Site 15 Project 5 - Putting Talgarth on the Map (Town Entrance Enhancement) 16 Project 6 - Redundant PCC Site (Between Orion Motors & Cattle Market) 17 Project 7 - Regent Street Building Site 18 Project 8 - Smart, Neat, Safe & Aesthetically Pleasing 19 Further Projects for Consideration 20 Funding 21 Priorities 22 Conclusion 23 Next Steps 24 APPENDIX 1 - Map of Talgarth & District 25 2 - Map of Talgarth Town 26 3 - Talgarth & District demographic model 27 4 - Talgarth & District Organisations, Groups and Clubs 30 5 - Talgarth Sports & Health Clubs & Organisations 31 6 - Partner Organisations 32 7 - District Refreshment Facilities 33 ©Copyright 2016 - Talgarth & District Regeneration Group. All rights reserved REGENERATING & DEVELOPING TALGARTH - A PROPOSAL BACKGROUND Talgarth is the north-eastern gateway to the Brecon Beacons National Park and defines the north-western frontier to the dramatic Page | 4 Black Mountains. A small market town in Mid-Wales, part of the historic county of Powys, close to the English border and located within the catchment of both the River Wye and River Usk. The town is within an hour’s drive of Abergavenny, Monmouth, Cardiff and Newport. Swansea and Port Talbot are less than an hour and a quarter away as are the English cities of Bristol and Hereford. With strong connections to pre-history and having well established trading links with the surrounding area for many centuries, Talgarth is now a growing centre for tourism and enjoys an outstanding scenic environment. A 13th century Peel Tower, a relatively simple fortification for settlements unable to sustain a castle at the time, still stands ‘en garde’ close by the stone bridge over the River Enigg at the centre of town. St Gwendoline’s, the lovely fourteenth century parish church, one of two in the area dedicated to St Gwendoline, eleventh daughter of Brychan Brycheiniog, the legendary 5th-century king of the region for which Talgarth is thought to have been the capital. With a strong sense of community there are over 40 locally based organisations centred on cultural, sporting, musical and heritage topics. Other organisations concentrate on regenerating the town, encouraging enterprise and organising the annual Festival. The community is supportive and caring, having suffered a substantial economic decline following the closure of the Mid-Wales Hospital, the major employer in the area, in 1999. ©Copyright 2016 - Talgarth & District Regeneration Group. All rights reserved REGENERATING & DEVELOPING TALGARTH - A PROPOSAL In late 2007, the town bypass (A479 Talgarth Relief Road & Bronllys Bypass) opened to the benefit of thousands of motorists and truck drivers. The town hoped for new commercial developments to bring new business and employment opportunities. But the global economic crisis of 2007/8 and its aftermath destroyed any immediate hope of regenerating the town. Page | 5 Now, nearly a decade later, there are visible green shoots of economic recovery for the town. Talgarth & District comprises thirteen separate communities: 1. Bronllys 2. Felindre 3. Llandefalle 4. Llanelieu 5. Llanfilo 6. Llyswen 7. Pengenffordd 8. Sorgwm 9. Talgarth 10. Three Cocks 11. Trefecca 12. Trefeinon 13. Waun Fach The Talgarth & District map is visualised at: Appendix 1 - page 25. ©Copyright 2016 - Talgarth & District Regeneration Group. All rights reserved REGENERATING & DEVELOPING TALGARTH - A PROPOSAL POPULATION PROFILE According to the 2011 census, growing again after a period of decline, the Talgarth population now stands at 1724. Page | 6 The shape of the Talgarth and district community is diverse and intricate with a considerable influx of residents from the Welsh valleys and from over the English border in recent years. A detailed demographic profile of Talgarth & District appears at Appendix 3 on page 27. In summary, following the 2011 census, the statistical data identified with the area includes: • The total population of 1,724 demonstrates a 4.8% upward trend from the previous census of 1,645 in 2001, compared with an upward trends of 5.1% in Powys and just 0.03% across Wales over the same period. • It has yet to be ascertained if the percentage of children and/or the disabled is increasing or decreasing. MID-WALES HOSPITAL Originally opened in 1903 as the Brecon and Radnor Joint Counties Lunatic Asylum, the facility was dedicated to treating patients from the counties of Brecknockshire, Radnorshire and, after World War II, Montgomeryshire. The 'asylum' was extended and renamed the "Mid-Wales Counties Mental Hospital" before the commencement of World War II. The facility finally closed in April 2000 with the loss of some 500 jobs that had a devastating impact on the Talgarth community. The main buildings, outstanding examples of late Victorian public works architecture, have been vandalised and stripped of valuable assets over the past fifteen years. Recovery from this episode was severely hampered due to the fall-out from the global economic crisis of 2007/8 and it is only ©Copyright 2016 - Talgarth & District Regeneration Group. All rights reserved REGENERATING & DEVELOPING TALGARTH - A PROPOSAL in 2016 that the community sees opportunities to re-invigorate the town and start to plan for the future. TALGARTH MILL & BAKER’S TABLE The watermill, restored in 2011 as part of the BBC's “Village SOS” TV programme, is a thriving community enterprise at the heart of the town, offering stone-ground flour milled on site from locally grown grains. On the same site is the Baker’s Table producing Page | 7 freshly baked artisan bread using the mill’s flour and offering locally sourced foods in the coffee shop. ©Copyright 2016 - Talgarth & District Regeneration Group. All rights reserved REGENERATING & DEVELOPING TALGARTH - A PROPOSAL OBJECTIVES PRIMARY - To recognise the qualities and strengths of the Talgarth & District community ensuring all within the community are Page | 8 empowered to actively contribute to the plan and engage with it. SUPPLEMENTARY 1. To include all people of Talgarth and District in their quest to live, to work and to spend their leisure within the community 2. To act as a catalyst for defining the community’s vision for the future of Talgarth & District 3. To make a positive difference to people’s lives within the wider Talgarth & District community 4. To provide the community with a strategic plan for developing appropriate facilities within Talgarth & District 5. To encourage project funding opportunities through a professional, businesslike and thorough approach 6. To reduce soil erosion, water run-off and flooding within Talgarth & District as a matter of priority 7. To make the very best of the resources in the community 8. To facilitate the integration of all elements of the community into a cohesive whole 9. To promote Talgarth & District as a centre for tourism and leisure 10. To signal that Talgarth and District is open for business by encouraging new business and employment opportunities 11. To transform the River Enigg from being a threat to the community to becoming a vibrant neighbourhood asset 12. To combine the agricultural, historical and cultural heritage of Talgarth and District with good design and aesthetic considerations 13. To encourage aspirational and inspirational projects 14. To assist and demonstrate accord by the diversity of the Talgarth & District community 15. To deliver prosperity and a sense of well-being to the Talgarth & District community ©Copyright 2016 - Talgarth & District Regeneration Group. All rights reserved REGENERATING & DEVELOPING TALGARTH - A PROPOSAL TEAM TALGARTH Page | 9 There are many organisations and clubs within the Talgarth District but communications between them is often non-existent. To improve communications between all sections of the community it is proposed that an umbrella organisation is formed to coordinate a strategic approach to developing the town and surrounding district for the benefit of the community. Consideration might be given to forming a not-for-profit company, limited by guarantee, to protect those running the company from any personal liability for the company's debts. Any such company to be action led, not a talking shop, to deliver projects agreed by the community for the benefit of the community and to act as a catalyst to deliver agreed actions. ©Copyright 2016 - Talgarth & District Regeneration Group. All rights reserved REGENERATING & DEVELOPING TALGARTH - A PROPOSAL THE VISION Page | 10 The concept is to secure the future of Talgarth and its surrounding communities in an ever-changing world, using funding available from a variety of sources. Much of the concept concentrates on making