Richmond Council recently released its 'findings reports' from their town centre engagement project.

Last autumn nearly 1,500 people contributed to an engagement project that set out to hear the voice of Richmond Town Centre. 

Richmond, like many other town centres, is seeing the effects of changing public habits.

The council says: "If we want to avoid Richmond losing its vibrancy, we need to adapt.

"We need to look to the future and make sure it's a place that people want to spend time."

The next stage will be to take the insights from this report, merge with other data and research, and develop a vision.

The report highlights six key themes that capture people's experiences:

• Diversity of use on the high street 
• Movement 
• Heritage and identity 
• Public spaces 
• Spaces for young people 
• Culture, leisure and sport 

Over the next couple of weeks, Nub News will break down the findings of the report - with this article focusing on 'top priorities for Richmond town centre'.

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Participants were asked to identify their top priorities for Richmond town centre from a predefined list of options.

Overall, respondents emphasised three key priorities for the town centre: diversifying and expanding retail and leisure offerings (65%), enhancing public spaces (53%) , and protecting the natural spaces (49%)

65% said diversifying retail and leisure offering was their top priority. (Photo Credit: Engagement Report).

Young people between the ages of 15 and 25 were particulary interested in active travel, with 33% deeming it a top priority.

They also highly value expanding opportunities for young people (27%) and providing more cultural offerings (27%).

Those employed in Richmond town centre placed a high emphasis on supporting people who work there, ranking it third in their priorities.

Business owners, placed it fourth.

Visitors to the town centre also rated 'active travel' as their top priority, with 27% of respondents who visit the town centre listed it as a top concern, surpassing the priority given to this issue by Richmond residents (9%).

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