Agenda and minutes

Members to note any apologies and substitutions.

There were none.

Members to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 25^th April 2012.

The minutes of the meeting held on 25^th April 2012 were approved and signed by  the Chairman.

The Chair to note public address requests.

The public can speak on any agenda item for a maximum of three minutes per speaker per item. You are not required to register your intention to speak in advance but should arrive at the meeting a few minutes early, complete a Public Address Protocol and notify the Scrutiny Officer of your intention to speak.

There were none.

Members to state any interests.

There were none.

The Scrutiny Panel to consider data on:-

·        National and local statistics

·        Demographics- local and national

·        Definition of the Town Centre

·        Vision for the Town Centre

The Panel considered data on: -

·        National and local statistics

·        Demographics- Local and National

·        Definition of the Town Centre

·        Vision for the Town Centre

·        Town Centre Footfall

·        Car Park Statistics

The main points of the discussion were as follows: -

There are lots of different statistics available and the Panel needed to determine which ones would be most useful to the aims of the Review.

Vacancy rates will not just give a number of vacant shop fronts, the town centre now encompasses a wide range of businesses, alongside shops there are cafes, restaurants, leisure providers, and service industries. All of these make up the attractions to draw people into the town centre.

Specific events can bring a lot of people into the town centre. The safari event in 2010 attracted over 500,000 people in a very short period of time. There were visitors from overseas and the event was featured on news programmes, including Japanese television. Many people were made aware of the event through Facebook and there had been a lot of positive feedback.

Although the statistics show that quality events will bring people into the town centre there are no statistics available to see if that then meant that any more money was spent and if so by whom and what they spent it on.

Footfall statistics show that there has been an ongoing decline since 2008.Market Square numbers have also been declining, but to a lesser extent.

There are a number of variables affecting footfall, for example April 2012 was exceptionally rainy which will have affected the footfall numbers. This did not necessarily mean that there were not any people in town; they may have chosen to stay in the Grosvenor centre.

Over the past five years there has been a change in the demographics of the town. There have been some major employers who have left the town centre, for example the loss of Barclaycard removed 3,000 office workers from the town centre.

Individually there are some very good businesses in town, which are good at being able to identify and serve their customers, however work needs to be done in bringing that together.

There has also been a change in the culture surrounding after work activities. Before the relaxation of licensing hours then the pubs and clubs opened earlier and there was less of a break between the daytime and the evening town centre activities. Now that nightclubs and pubs are open longer then people are not returning into the town centre until later, affecting the earlier evening leisure based activities.

Car Parking Statistics

The Panel received statistics regarding the numbers of cars parking off street, the total numbers using the one hour free parking and a breakdown by car park.

Free parking is having an impact on the numbers of people using the town. Every survey that has ever been conducted by the Town Centre management has referred to the perception that parking is expensive. Often this is not the case and parking in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Scrutiny Panel to consider a briefing note suggesting potential site visits.

The Panel considered a report on potential site visits.

The purpose of the site visits would be to allow the Panel to assess the offer of the city/town centre its profile, image and catchment. The Panel was keen to find somewhere which most closely matched Northampton in terms of population size. They felt that Cambridge would not be a good choice as it was too closely associated with the historic sites connected to the University and people would visit there for a wider experience than retail.

It was also felt that it would be useful to visit places that had similar problems or experiences. To this end it was believed that Peterborough had built a bus exchange similar to the one proposed in Northampton, Walsall would experience specific difficulties in attracting shoppers because of its proximity to Birmingham, reflecting the proximity of Northampton and Milton Keynes.

It was considered that it would be useful if the Scrutiny Officer undertook some desktop research on a couple of the proposed sites in order to give the Panel some additional insights.

Panel members were also encouraged to make their own visits to other towns and if to note those aspects that they particularly liked. It was emphasised that it should be borne in mind that not all places can adopt the same strategies and that sometimes what works well in one area will not work somewhere else with a different population make up or geographical location.

AGREED:

1 That the Scrutiny Officer, in consultation with the Panel members arranges site visits to Norwich and Peterborough.

2. That the Scrutiny Officer undertakes desktop research on Stoke and Walsall.

3. That a report back on the findings of the site visits be presented to a future meeting of the Panel

The Scrutiny Panel to approve the Equality Impact Assessment for this Review.

The Panel considered the draft Equality Impact Assessment for this Scrutiny Review.

AGREED:

(1)A full impact assessment is not required as any changes proposed as a result of the review will be impact assessed before implementation.

(2) That the Equality Impact for this Scrutiny Review be approved and published on the Scrutiny page of the Council’s website.

The Scrutiny Panel to receive Executive Summaries of various published documents:

·        The Portas Review

·        The Right to Retail: Can Localism save Britain’s small retailers

·        Understanding High Street Performance

·        Core Strategy – Northampton’s Strategic Planning Policies

·        Sustainable Community Strategy

The Panel considered a series of précis’s of published documents.

It was pointed out that the West Northamptonshire Joint Core Strategy and the Sustainable Community Strategy for Northampton 2008-2011 were both in the process of being reviewed. When they are available summaries will be made available to the Panel.

The Panel was informed that the Town Centre Managers Association had produced a 10 point action plan in response to the Portas Review. This would be made available to a future the meeting.

AGREED: -

1. That the information be included in the evidence base for the Review.
2. That a summary of the updated documents referred to in paragraphs 2.6 and 2.7 of the report be provided to the Panel when available.
3. That details of the Association of Town Centre Managers (ATCM) – 10 Point Plan be  provided to a future meeting of the Panel.