Porlock High Street Support Group

The Porlock High Street Support Group (PHSSG) has been formed to deliver the Porlock High Street Recovery Fund granted to Porlock Parish Council by Somerset West & Taunton Council.

PPC received the £25,000 in December 2020 and we have until December 2021 to spend the grant.

The PHSSG consulted with all Porlock High Street Traders, residents and organisations to decide how best to spend the £25,000 fund, which is given specifically to support and help the recovery of our High Street following the difficulties of the Covid-19 pandemic. The results of this consultation informed our Indicative Plan – how to spend the money – approved by PPC and SW&T in March 2021.

Since approval of our Indicative Plan, the PHSSG has started work on all the projects agreed – not an easy task whilst in lockdown. Many of the projects require the permission of other organisations and landowners, which unfortunately takes time, but projects are now starting to be delivered, all in line with the tenets agreed by the PHSSG.

If you would like more information or would like to offer your help, please contact us by email at porlockhssg@gmail.com or visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/groups/porlockhssg

Lesley Thornton
PHSSG Administrator

Current progress report for the PHSSG and newsletter:

phssg-progress-report-14.5.21.pdf

Dear Residents and Traders,

The Porlock High Street Support Group is now just over two months into developing the projects approved by Somerset West & Taunton Council on 5th March as set out in our Indicative Plan, so we wanted to provide you with a Progress Report.

As you may remember, we received lots of feedback from Porlock residents and traders about how they felt the £25,000 grant from SWT should be spent to support the High Street and we have tried to bear all that in mind when considering our projects.

It has been quite a daunting task as much of this time we have been in lockdown or unable to meet and talk face to face with volunteers, other groups and organisations, or retailers and residents.

However, a lot of work has been going on behind the scenes, developing ideas, getting permissions and quotes, sourcing materials, etc.

We hope you are now starting to see some changes on the High Street like the floral displays that are beginning to appear, redundant signs and maps that have been taken down ready to be replaced with new up to date ones, with more seating being provided soon, and on the 5th June the first of the regular ‘first Saturday of the month’ events being planned will take place on the High Street and the Discover Porlock website and Traders of Porlock (TOP) support group will be launched on 21st June. Further projects are planned for later in the year, such as the Christmas displays, but we will report on those nearer the time.

Attached is our first Progress Report which has more information about how this fund was obtained, what has happened since then and what we hope to achieve this year with the fund.

If you would like any more information, have any questions, suggestions or would like to volunteer to help, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Best regards,

Lesley Thornton & Duncan McCanlis

PHSSG Administrator & Chair

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION FOR MEETINGS HELD BY THE PHSSG IN 2021:

Meeting held on the 25th May 2021 at 7pm

draft-phssg-minutes-25-05-21.pdf

Video recording of the meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share

Meeting held on the 11th May 2021 at 7pm

https://invitation-to-attend-an-informal-zoom-meeting-of-the-phssg-on-11.05.2021.pdf

Video recording of the meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec

Meeting held on the 23rd April 2021 at 7pm