City Council campaigns

Marketing the City

On becoming Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Paul believed that the marketing of Gloucester could be improved – it was being undertaken by various public and private sector organisations in an unco-ordinated way.

As a result of a number of years work, Marketing Gloucester Ltd has been created to lead the promotion of the city. It brings together the public and private sectors and Paul is Vice Chairman of the Company's Board.

Robert Raikes Statue

Paul campaigned to get the statue of Robert Raikes in Gloucester Park restored. Raikes was born in Gloucester and founded Sunday Schools.

The statue was originally left out of the 1.2 million revamp of the Park. Paul has secured funding from the City Council, Civic Trust and Ecclesiastical Insurance Group to restore the statue. Work has now been completed and the statue has been restored to its former glory.

Regeneration of Gloucester

As the City Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration, as well as Leader of the Council, Paul is one of the leading figures behind Gloucester’s renewal. The city has already seen major developments undertaken at St Oswald’s Park, Gloucester Docks and Gloucester Quays.

The designer outlet centre at Gloucester Quays opened in May 2009, with restaurants starting to open in December of that year.

The next priority is the linkages between the Quays and the city centre, which will start early in 2010, and the Kings Quarter scheme. This covers the area around Kings Square, the bus station, Market Parade and Northgate Street.

Paul is a board member of the Gloucester Heritage Urban Regeneration Company, which has a target of 1 billion investment in Gloucester over its 10-year lifetime. See www.gloucesterurc.co.uk.

The Dirty Dozen

As well as major developments, Paul is keen to see individual eyesore sites and buildings in the city sorted out. A project initiated by Paul is seeing the City Council using its legal powers, as well as some gentle persuasion, to deal with sites in Gloucester. Only 12 are dealt with at any one time, leading the project to be labelled the “Dirty Dozen”.

The project is already having some success including sites at 4 Spa Road, Samson’s Supplies in Southgate Street, the old Raglan Arms site in Regent Street and land to the rear of 121 Longford Lane.

Evening Economy

Paul chairs a public/private group of people with an interest in the evening economy in Gloucester, which includes licensees, the police, the Civic Trust and council officers.

An evening economy strategy has been published to work to improve and broaden the range of activities available in the city at night and to improve the environment. Actions that have come out of this include a late night street cleaning round at the weekend, the distribution of the Eating Out and Night Life Guide and a rotunda in Kings Square to advertise events in the city.

Gloucester has seen several new restaurants open in recent years including Prezzo in Southgate Street, Dino’s Greek Restaurant in St Catherine Street, Bearlands in Longsmith Street and Frankie & Benny’s on St Oswald’s Park, as well as Nandos and Pizza Express at Gloucester Quays.

House of the Tailor of Gloucester

Paul campaigned for the Beatrix Potter/House of the Tailor of Gloucester shop and museum to re-open after it closed in August 2005.

A group of investors led by businessman Ivan Taylor and Civic Trust chairman Robin Morris and Paul have launched an appeal to raise funds to secure the future of the building and re-open it to the public.

Paul has become a Director and shareholder of the House of the Tailor of Gloucester plc. The attraction re-opened in Easter 2007. It is largely staffed by volunteers, mainly from the city's Civic Trust, and is trading well.

History of Gloucester

Paul is keen to ensure Gloucester's rich history is promoted for the benefit of the city. Paul has led campaigns for the restoration of historic buildings - including the former Teapots building at 66 Westgate Street. He has also arranged for interpretation boards, giving details of key buildings in the city centre, to be provided in the Gate Streets. Paul is also backing the campaign by the Civic Trust for a statue of Coloney Massey, who commanded the city's forces during the Siege of Gloucester in 1643, to be erected in Westgate Street.