Ambition to make Bideford full of culture and creative industries

Investment is being sought

Investment is being sought to create a thriving cultural scene in Bideford with more creative industries to halt the exodus of young people moving out.

Torridge District Council’s community and resources committee has given its support to the Bideford Cultural Investment Plan which it sees as a first step in a big ambition for the area.

Bideford currently has one of the lowest  levels of cultural participation in Devon, but the council wants that to change with a new strategy for increasing opportunities.

The authority says it requires aninvestment plan with short, medium and long term interventions to attract diverse income streams and avoid an overdependence on the council.

With uncertainty over income sources such as the Shared Prosperity Fund, which allocated £1 million to Torridge this financial year through the former government’s levelling up programme, it says a plan is imperative.

Although many creative people live in Bideford and Torridge, it is claimed that young people are moving away to find work elsewhere in creative industries.

The Bideford Cultural Investment Plan has been developed by an organisation called Rising Arts Agency, which is led by young people, and Counterculture Partnership, and has had input from people who live, work and are growing up in the town, including teenagers who use Space Youth Services.

The plan highlights Bideford’s strong sense of community, summer festival, close connection to nature and high concentration of independent shops and  artists, but it said the town centre is spread out with empty shops on the high street adding to a feeling of being “left behind”.

It said it is being let down by minimal further and higher education, low attainment, and lack of transport links, with travel times more than twice the national average to secondary schools and colleges. Many 18-year-olds leave the area for further education or careers elsewhere.

The independent artist community in Bideford is dominated by older people with home studios making and selling work for seasonal visitors, said the plan.

It talks about working towards having a visible college or university presence in Bideford which would help develop pathways of employment.

Cllr Jane Whittaker (Con, Northam) felt there could have been a wider representation of people consulted in the plan, including Way of the Wharves, a charity involved in the regeneration of Bideford Harbour.

And Cllr Lauren Bright (Lib Dem, Great Torrington) said she is disappointed that Bideford College had not been involved, as it has “a lively sixth form”.

Cultural development officer Claire Gulliver said it had proved difficult to consult with the college when the plan was written and that it is the one big missing consultee in the whole document.

Councillors said it is good to have something on the shelf if and when funding opportunities arise, but felt there is more work to do.