Developing Town Centres - Strategic Plan 2007-2010 – Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough
Vision Statement
“Effective management and co-ordination of town centres, creating civic pride and projecting a positive image of the borough as a sound investment opportunity for new development, expansion or improvement. To bring sustainable regeneration and establish the borough as visitor and tourist destinations, local shopping destinations and commercial and leisure centres in North Northumberland and the borders.”
Mission Statement
“To make our town centres attractive places to live work and visit.”
The key objectives are highlighted below -
• Managed and co-ordinated town centres
• Accessible town centres
• Safe & welcoming town centres
• Attractive and quality town centres
• Marketed and promoted town centres
• Towns for development and investment
• Towns for leisure & culture.
Managed and Co-ordinated Town Centres
To develop our town centres we need to achieve safe, clean and friendly town centres accessible to all. Town Centre Management’s role is to facilitate, co-ordinate and monitor the activities and functions of our town centres in a structured and positive way, bringing new ideas and a culture of progressive improvement.
Actions
Market Research- To identify and action any requirements for market research for specific issues, funding bids etc as and when required.
Key Performance Indicators- To introduce a number of Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) as a health check to determine how town centres are performing.
Partnership Funding- To attract funding from partners for core funding and specific projects.
Street entertainers- To actively seek, manage and co-ordinate quality entertainment within the Berwick-upon-Tweed town centre.
Town Centre Consultation- To actively liaise with all town centre user groups on all issues pertaining to the town centre.
Welcoming- To welcome new businesses to towns in the borough and encourage active participation in Town Centre matters.
Accessible Town Centres
Actions
Town Centre Signage- Survey current town centre signage and make suggestions for improvement to all parties. If funding available, implement.
Car Park and Traffic Management Strategy- Work in partnership with officers and stakeholders to produce a detailed strategy for car parks and traffic management including developing the quality of operation, safety and security and a mechanism for setting car park tariffs in consultation with key stakeholders.
Public Transport- To work with transport providers and relevant parties to encourage greater use and promote public transport.
Pedestrian and cycle access- To work with relevant parties to improve the pedestrian and cycle access to our town centres.
Safe and Welcoming Town Centres
Actions
CCTV- To evaluate the current CCTV systems and operation. To determine if additional facilities and/or improvements are required and to seek private sector contributions for such improvements.
Radio Link- To evaluate the current radio link scheme in Berwick-upon-Tweed between retailers within the town centre and improve the operation where applicable and attract additional users to the system.
Street Lighting- To ascertain present street lighting levels within town centres paying particular attention to vulnerable areas eg alleys and routes to and from car parks etc.
Police- Develop joint initiatives and build good working relationships with the Police.
Attractive and Quality Town Centres
To provide a clean and attractive environment within our town centres for the enjoyment of residents, visitors and local shoppers and to help increase civic pride in our towns.
Actions
Physical fabric of town centre- Maintain and improve the physical fabric of the town centres and nearby leisure areas and encourage quality redevelopment schemes.
Vacant properties- To encourage landlords, agents and others to fully market their properties. To explore the possibilities of using vacant properties for window displays for various interests from local organisations, to improve the negative perceptions of temporary empty retail units.
Fly-posting & Graffiti- To ensure enforcement measures are taken to combat this relatively minor yet significant issue.
Surveys- Undertake or organise surveys on number and condition of street furniture, litter bins, seating, landscape areas, paving and lighting.
Floral decorations- To introduce or build upon floral arrangements and actively encourage retailers, other businesses and the community to take part in enhancing the environment of the towns.
Street Furniture- To ensure that all street furniture is of a good standard and fits into its environment. Street furniture should positively reflect on our town centres.
Street Cleansing- To influence or arrange for additional cleaning where necessary. This helps improve the sense of civic pride.
Marketed Town Centres
Marketing is the key to exploiting the potential of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the Borough. We must focus on what we have to offer in the face of competition.
Actions
Marketing Plan- A marketing plan will be developed in consultation with businesses and organisations in the borough. This will include short, medium and long term goals.
Christmas Festivities- To improve marketing, promotion and events at Christmas and explore possibilities of improving the retail offer at Christmas.
Town Centre Promotions- To develop a promotional campaign to increase awareness of local shopping and facilities.
Car Parking Campaigns- It is important to increase visits to our town centres and to help this to explore the possibilities of linking car park prices to promotions and events in partnership with the Borough Council.
Town Centre Shopping Guides- To provide quality and informative guides for our town centres, to increase awareness of local shopping offers.
Town Centres Web sites- To use technology to present town centre management initiatives and put Berwick-upon-Tweed on the map locally, nationally and internationally.
Promotional activities- Promote initiatives to increase the number of people who visit and spend within the town centres.
Promotional areas- To help develop existing sites and commercial activities to promote interest in our town centres and generate revenue for local partnerships.
Marketing packs- To produce a marketing/information pack for businesses and letting agents and potential investors in our town centres.
Town Centres News Sheets- To provide (and/or complement existing) news sheets to improve communications in town centres.
Joint Working- We will work with other public and private sector organisations to promote our town centres wherever possible.
Towns for Development and Investment
Our town centres must maintain and enhance the retail, commercial, leisure and service sector mix to create a sustainable economy for all. Every effort must be made to encourage new development and attract inward investment to maximise our potential.
Actions
Encourage New Retail- Retailing is traditionally the main operationof any town centre. We will actively encourage new retail operations within our town centres and encourage a variety of uses. We wish to establish a close working relationship with the land agents, estate agents and landlords and actively approach nationally known retailers together with quality independents traders to attract new investment in the town centre. We will continue to support existing town centre businesses in their future growth and development and to maximise their retail space.
Develop Evening Economy- We will investigate ways of introducing a more robust evening economy in our town centres.
Identify Key Sites for Development- We will help identify key sites for development that will enhance the vitality and vibrancy of our town centres.
Planning- To work with local authority planners to ensure policies help keep the retail sector strong and healthy. To highlight problems of approving out of town retailing and ensure that Government guidance is applied.
Berwick-upon-tweed Market- Improve and enhance the Market offer.
Living above shops- To encourage redevelopment of empty property and storage above shops into residential property.
Towns for leisure and culture
Actions
Events and promotions- To help develop a promotional calendar of entertainment, events and promotions to provide leisure interests and activities to create a friendlier atmosphere and prolong visitor stay within town centres.
Civic Pride- To help foster a sense of civic pride through excellence in urban design, street furniture, public art and maintenance of out town centre environment. To help and encourage local communities and volunteers to help look after their open spaces.
Markets – Continental and Farmers- To work with our market traders to hold a variety of markets in our town centres. This will bring more people to the town centre, especially more A & B user groups.
