The Town Team

Towards an Urban Renaissance

Over the last few years, people in Doncaster have been increasingly thinking about the quality of the places where they live, work and spend a proportion of their leisure time. People all over the UK are doing the same. The Government has taken the hint and put in place a lot of guidance, advice and encouragement to help bring about a dramatic improvement in our towns and cities. It's called an 'Urban Renaissance'. It's about achieving better design of buildings and spaces to make places that are safe, that work and are beautiful.

Towns and villages of which we can all be proud.

We have our own agenda for urban renaissance in Doncaster. The Council is committed to making the Borough a better place to live and work through a whole range of actions. The 'Borough Strategy' calls for an Urban Renaissance and this is one of the Council's Transformational Goals. Doncaster is changing fast after its period of decline in the 80s and 90s. We are seeing major economic growth and environmental improvement. These are the kind of conditions that can bring about a positive change in the quality of buildings and spaces. It is essential that we embrace change but demand the very best in urban design and architecture.

Yorkshire Forward, the Regional Development Agency, has taken up the Government challenge to improve our towns with its Renaissance Towns Initiative. Doncaster is part of this project. Over the past few years, Doncaster people have got together to decide on the type of place they want the Borough to be. The Doncaster 'Town Team' has produced the Doncaster Renaissance Towns Charter which sets out a 25 year vision for regeneration based on best practice in architecture and urban design. It is already having an impact on the quality of development proposed in the town. More importantly, it has led to a sea-change in the way decision-makers think about getting the very best for Doncaster.

The concept of the 'Town Team' is central to Yorkshire Forward's 'Renaissance Towns Initiative'. The aim is to bring together representatives of the whole community with regeneration experts to develop realistic and sustainable visions for the future of Doncaster's towns and villages.

The Doncaster Renaissance Town Team is made up of people drawn from the community - business, the Council, young people, Doncaster people. It also has representatives from the education sector and architecture and design. In a nutshell, its aim is to help drive forward the urban renaissance of Doncaster by promoting the best in urban design and architecture. It does this by being a 'Critical Friend' to the Council and developers on design matters and by spreading the message of development quality to a wide audience. With the support of Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council, the Design Centre is the 'Town Team's' big idea for telling the whole community about good architecture and design.

Since 2002, the Town Team has produced the Doncaster Renaissance Town Charter and had a big hand in the development of the Doncaster Town Centre Renaissance Masterplan

The Town Team is a sub-group of the Doncaster Economic Partnership under the umbrella of the Doncaster Strategic Partnership

January 2005

The remit and terms of reference set out below are agreed by the Town Team endorsed by the Doncaster Economic Partnership.

1. To promote the very best standards in urban design, planning and architecture in pursuit of an urban renaissance of Doncaster's built-environment and landscape.
2. To support and advise Doncaster Economic Partnership and Doncaster Strategic Partnership on achieving high quality in the built-environment throughout Doncaster.
3. To assist Doncaster people and development decision-makers in gaining access to skills to support their active involvement in achieving an urban renaissance, particularly through the provision of information, training and seminars.
4. To promote sustainable construction and development.
5. To develop future phases of the Doncaster Renaissance Towns Initiative in partnership with Yorkshire Forward and influence bids for funding to achieve quality built environment.
6. To monitor and drive progress on the implementation of the Doncaster Town Centre Masterplan.
7. To provide comment and advice and be a 'critical friend' on the urban design aspects of development proposals and emerging urban design policy to the Council and others engaged in the development process.
8. To give direction to the establishment and operation of the Doncaster Design Centre.
9. To work with outside bodies such as universities, professional organisations, government and regional agencies in the furtherance of achieving an urban renaissance in Doncaster.