THE Great Malvern Town Centre Strategy was produced by Malvern Hills District Council in March 1996 and consisted of five key parts - a background, a profile, the vision for the future, initiatives for implementation and an action plan for the implementation of those initiatives.

The document listed some of Malvern's strengths as being a lively and well-established centre for arts, culture and entertainment; having a rich and unique heritage such as the water cure, Malvern Water, Morgan cars and RADAR; a townscape of distinctive character, strong identity and exceptional quality; and ample and centrally-placed car parking.

Weaknesses it highlighted included a lack of shopping pulling power; a shopping centre spread in a linear fashion with no central core; a deficiency of certain shops such as menswear, DIY/ household and multiple retailers; no central bus stopping point; small retail units offering limited potential to larger retailers and a limited range of eating places.

The Strategy clearly listed six key opportunities at the time. They were: the development of the tourism potential of the town centre; the development of Malvern as a centre of excellence for the Arts; the strengthening of its retail role - by promoting new retail development on vacant sites and existing buildings and encouraging better pedestrian circulation; the development of a visitor management strategy - by better signposting and re-routing to make visitors more aware of the towns assets; the improvement of visitor and pedestrian enjoyment of the town centre through environmental enhancements; and the strengthening of Malvern Hills College's position as a training and vocational centre.

The 'Vision' was to make Great Malvern a lively and prosperous town centre boasting a healthy and vibrant shopping centre and a lively and varied cultural scene that was accessible by shoppers and visitors alike.

In the retail area, the aim was to promote Great Malvern as a specialist centre, support proposals for significant new investment, both public and private, in the town and generally to encourage local people and tourists to shop in the town.

It recommended that Back Lane Car Park - now Waitrose - be developed to attract shoppers back into the town and pedestrian links from the site to Church Street via Church Walk and to Belle Vue Island via Edith Walk be strengthened.

This included the development of the car park off Edith Walk which it suggested could be made into a small square or area of public open space creating a focal point and strong connection between any Back Lane development and the existing town centre high street.

Other initiatives included the redevelopment and refurbishment of the Post Office building off Belle Vue Island. There was also the potential development of Portland Road as offices, promotional leaflets, customer care and business/ retail grants.

Giving Great Malvern a Town Centre manager was another initiative in the 1996 strategy.

In tourism and the arts, the intention was to attract tourists from the Hills and the Three Counties Show-ground by promoting events, conferences, short breaks, Malvern in Bloom and the British Spas Federation.

The relocation of the Tourist Information Centre to a more high-profile site was included.

Ideas for an indoor attraction included an Elgar Centre for English Music and a National Watercolour Gallery.

Another idea was for a Malvern Heritage Centre, which would have used selling points such as Malvern Water and the water cure, Morgan cars, RADAR and electronics and connections with Edward Elgar and Jenny Lind.

As it said in the strategy: "Many towns in the country are struggling to develop new ideas to attract visitors. Often the themes chosen for these new attractions are unoriginal or shared with other areas. Malvern is extremely fortunate to have unique selling points which have considerable potential for attracting more visitors"

No site was identified in the strategy.

Improved visitor signposting and crime prevention in the form of CCTV cameras were also mentioned.

Environmentally, improvements needed to Priory Park and the Winter Gardens were highlighted.

There were also initiatives for pedestrian priority at the Grange Road/Church Street crossroads and the improvement of pedestrian links through the town, particularly the Church Walk/Church Street/Priory Church Access.

It singled out the development of Church Walk/Edith Walk, Belle Vue Island and shop forecourts at Church Street and Graham Road.

Under the traffic and pedestrian management initiatives the strategy outlined vehicle and pedestrian congestion and conflict in Church Street as a problem.

Bus stops in the town centre needed rationalising, while car parking - both on-street, long stay and short stay - would benefit from a traffic implementation scheme to restrict on-street parking in sensitive locations.