Mrs Garner (Business and Economics Teacher)
The IB Economics, Business A Level and Economics A Level students have been working on a project to find ways of re-generating a local high street and town centre. The project was developed by the department as a way to encourage the students to apply the knowledge they have gained through their studies to a real issue which will be affecting themselves, businesses and the economy in the UK for many years to come. We asked them to consider changes they would like to see which would benefit their own age group specifically, but the local population in general. The students have used project parameters from the government funded research group www.highstreetstaskforce.org.uk, which will be advising the government on how to spend the £1billion Future High Street Fund, one of the key pillars of the government’s ‘levelling up’ policy.
Each group presented their ideas and took questions as well. The breadth of ideas was excellent – from installing a tramline, opening a community arts gallery and theatre for young adults, putting a cable car along the embankment in order to transport visitors to a garden themed restaurant to trying to entice Zara to open a branch in Bedford. Current media coverage of the ‘Reclaim the Streets’ campaign also had an impact on their ideas, encouraging them to consider how safe the town centre feels and ways that it can be improved. Each group worked independently on their project, yet all of them had strong themes of improving the environment and creating a community which helped each other, in particular those Bedford citizens who need help the most, such as the homeless. There was also consideration of how accessible the town centre was to all groups of residents and how this could be improved. One of my favourite ideas was turning the old Marks and Spencer store into an ice rink in Winter which then melts to become a pool in the Summer.
Well done to all the students. Mrs Barber (Head of Business and Economics) and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to all of your presentations and hearing your ideas for the future of Bedford.
View photos from the presentations HERE.
