High Street Review
December 13, 2011 Leave a comment
Today saw the release of the report on High Streets from Mary Portas. http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/business-sectors/retail/high-street-review
As West Kirby goes, I have been involved in similar reviews regarding Shopping and Regeneration of the town since 2004. Presumably every other county/ district in the UK has undertaken a fairly lengthy consultation in that period too. West Kirby like many other towns has its own set of special circumstances. Being a Coastal town its performance relies as much on weather and tourism as it does local trade. Consultative documents describe the town as a day tripper destination.
Roger Tym and Partners have been long involved with Wirral, having been commissioned to produce both food and non food retail studies as far back as the late 1990′s and up to 2004. Another study was carried out in 2008.
Certainly Wirral has been proactive with regard to its commitment to retail study and public involvment – West Kirby and Hoylake Regeneration , New Brighton Regeneration, Wirral Waters, Woodside Masterplan – as well as the contuining invitation to the public to attend open Area Forums.
There is the importance of rents, rates and other associated business costs. When you embark on a business these costs are known.
The important factor is motivating people to use the services and shops locally instead of heading on a bus to Liverpool or driving to Cheshire Oaks or buying online. The only way to do that is to have a varied and interesting offer. It could be said that the cafes, bars and restaurants do well in West Kirby- with a dip when the weather is bad. But what of other businesses? Glaziers, butchers, antique shops… What motivates people to walk past the mental barrier that is Hoscote Park and venture further up Banks Road?
How important was it to hold onto parking, and refuse a 60 bedroom hotel? Who could fund new lampposts, street furniture and tidy up the glass canopies over some shops? Wirral has a low percentage of retaining income within the borough according to a 2004 report so encouraging people to shop locally will certainly address that issue.
There is only a percentage of people able to shop 9-5 weekdays, so encouraging those people to shop local at the weekends is essential. With many businesses either family run or even sole traders, opening on a Saturday and receiving those customers is essential. Opening on a Sunday is usually out of the question.
The usp thing that defines a local High Street is its niche businesses- and over the last 2 years at least 4 of those have vanished from West Kirby.
Car parking has always been an issue. When there were provisional plans for the Concourse area, it was understood that there was little point investing in the car park at the rear of the Concourse. With those plans on hold, and the potential closure of that particular primary care trust facility for a new one- that car park is neither pleasant nor integrated with the town. The proposed pedestrianisation of the Crescent was met with fierce opposition by the traders for fear their customers would abandon them if unable to park directly outside their shops. Chevron car parking on the front promenade was met with horror when the additional 20 places would mean a loss of 3 metres breadth of the promenade.
A new Aldi with a limited food offer should encourage additional visitors to the town on a more regular basis, with free car parking and an opportunity to explore local shops while in West Kirby. As with the old Safeway and its Wednesday offers, Aldi offer similar incentives to encourage frequent shopping.
The proposal of a Waitrose or Booths to regenerate the Concourse area would have brought in sufficient cash bonus to improve the immediate street realm- but at what loss to local businesses? Having studied the Waitrose effect before, there would be drastic change. Look at the effect of the Hoylake Open Golf on the rental returns demanded. An all ecompassing Waitrose with its car park to the rear would kill many small businesses.
Encouraging people to shop locally depends on many factors- all varied from town to town. Retailer demands will be different from shoppers desires and again differ from visitors needs.
But the impetus for change comes from within- people need to use their local shops and services more. Now.
