Runcorn Town Neighbourhood Board Spotlight on Police and Crime Commissioner Dan Price

This month the Programmes Office at Halton Borough Council caught up with board member Dan Price, Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner. Dan is on the Runcorn Town Neighbourhood Board for Reconnecting Runcorn which oversees and supports the delivery of our projects. Sharing his knowledge and expertise gained from previous roles and experience to how this is helping him get involved and support the vision for Reconnecting Runcorn while keeping the public’s safety at the heart of the development that is set to be transformational for the look and feel of Runcorn Old Town.

So Dan, how would you describe how your involvement came about on the board and what your role entails?

I joined the board just after being elected as Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner in May last year. As part of the neighbourhood boards governance structure up and down the country the Police and Crime Commissioner sits on boards all over the county. While it is a requirement, I’m determined to be there getting involved in the regeneration programme. My role is to make sure that the community safety element is not forgotten in the midst of exciting buildings and strategic plans, because we know communities that aren’t safe are not going to be thriving. That’s what the neighbourhood boards are delivering – thriving, vibrant, town centres and high streets.

As I sit on both Runcorn and Crewe’s board, I share the best practices that I’m seeing across each, as well as experience I have from previous roles to help inform and develop ideas further. Being involved in the recovery and regeneration of a town centre is really serious because it is so important to the public. They are emotive places. It’s a visual representation of the whole place and how the whole place feels, so it’s really important we make town centres the best image of a thriving community.

What interests you the most about the boards vision for Reconnecting Runcorn?

It’s a great example of a board that understands the interventions we can make to the town. There’s a really strong cultural element which is really important knowing full well that if we invest in cultural services, it creates the vibrancy visitors are looking for with all the spin offs associated, so we’ve clearly got that. We are putting housing in which means we are going to have a living population in the town which is vital for keeping the core services of the community going, like our coffee shops because increasingly these are becoming what people see as core parts of their communities, with all the things we want in our town centres. But we are also investing in things like youth and health services. It’s a great example of where we are ticking an awful lot of really important boxes which when you put all of these services in one place, the truth is you create a whole bunch of vibrancy and activity. It makes it an attractive proposal for other people to say I might visit there a bit more or even move there.

I just think it’s a great example of all the really important elements of society being brought into the town centre.

From your time on the board so far what has been your highlight as more of the projects near closer to completion?

For me it’s seeing the plan for the Brindley Enhancement and now it’s being constructed, I think it’s a strong cultural element to the programme. The Brindley was already a really strong cultural offering, but now we are starting to put on board some of the gaps that were missing in terms of that wider offer with the hospitality, catering. If there’s the potential to have a food hall within walking distance. If we could get those two things right, they will really make a destination out of Runcorn Old Town. It will become a place where people talk about and want to go more often which creates a whole bunch more opportunities. It’s all about that cultural led regeneration. I love it.

You’ve mentioned the safety of people being a key part of what will make the regeneration of Runcorn a success. Do you think it is one of the biggest challenges the programme has to overcome in the overall delivery?

I do think safety is a big one, it’s always going to be a challenge. But we have to make sure that with some of the revenue funding we have that safety is prioritised. So that means putting money into prevention services such as youth services which I’m pleased to say is happening. If people don’t feel safe, they’re just not going to go. So, we have to make sure that we work collaboratively on delivering that challenge and if we do that everything else will flow naturally.

Before being on the board did you have much of a connection to Runcorn?

Yes, from my previous roles and living in Warrington I’ve used the Brindley a lot from visiting a lot of amateur dramatics groups who used the Brindley as the theatre. But on top of that I used to work in Runcorn and have friends who still live there so that’s one of the reasons why I feel like I’ve got some skin in the game to make sure we get this right.

Out of all the projects involved in the programme what are you most excited to see being delivered?

It’s the Brindley, because I know it so well. Although the plans for the locks look remarkable, and it would create quite a destination in its own right. It will be quite an iconic sort of outcome for Runcorn to turn its heritage into a real visitor attraction and just a nice green space with some water to sit and enjoy.

What are your expectations from the board moving forward for Reconnecting Runcorn?

I think it’s to make sure that we deliver on the timelines that we’ve got. You know people are impatient for this change, and rightly so. We’ve got to make sure that we are pulling together, overcoming the hurdles that inevitably come with stuff like this. But you know we are determined to make sure that we deliver in the timeframes that we have.

At the end of the day this is going to be transformational for the look and feel of Runcorn Old Town. I genuinely look forward to these board meetings, which I know that might sound a bit boring, but I do look forward to the progress updates. It’s really reassuring to see that each meeting we are actually moving forward, we are in delivery mode, and this is becoming a reality.

We would like to thank Dan Price for this interview! If you would like to read more about some of the other Runcorn Town Neighbourhood  Board Members click here. To get more information about the programme and projects mentioned in this interview click here.