Students from two Bognor Regis schools met with St Modwen and its architect, KSS Design , last week to discuss the proposals to regenerate the Regis Centre and Hothamton sites in Bognor Regis.

 
The 17 students aged 14/15 from Bognor Regis Community College and Felpham Community College were invited by St Modwen to form a schools’ workshop panel as part of the first stage of community wide public consultation on the initial design concepts.
 
A number of the students taking part also had a vocational interest in the proposals as they are currently taking Young Apprenticeship courses in construction and architecture.  Some are also considering GCSEs in Design Technology and Graphics or Geography.  The students were able to quiz the architect on many aspects of the proposals and were also given an insight into how architecture, alongside the development and planning processes, shape town centres.

Comments James Budd from KSS Design: “It is refreshing to speak to such enthusiastic, intelligent students and hear their creative and commercially aware ideas for their town.  They all voiced their thoughts on the challenges facing their town and we got some great ideas and feedback from the lively session.  In particular, facilities such as the bowling alley, the open and lively seafront and the new Entertainment Centre were greeted with excitement as it was felt these addressed some of the more “boring” or “shabby” characteristics of the town.”
 
Jamie Greenhill from Bognor Regis Community College commented:  “It is really important that we get the chance to talk about our ideas as people say that we are the future and I don’t think the opinions of young people are heard often enough.  It’s really exciting that there will be more things to do so we don’t have to travel so far for good modern facilities.”

Josh Clayton from Felpham Community College commented:  “It is great for us to be able to have our say and for the developer to get to know our ideas for the future of the town; otherwise it will just be older people making comments and we need things in the town for kids to do as well as adults.”

Concluded James Budd from KSS:  “It was great to see such a sense of optimism, interest and excitement about the idea of regeneration in their hometown and the processes that will shape it.  We look forward to having further discussions with them again in a few months when our proposals will be much further advanced.”

St Modwen will meet with the schools again to coincide with the second public consultation in spring/summer before a planning submission in autumn 2008.