Agenda and minutes

Venue: The Jeffrey Room, The Guildhall, St. Giles Square, Northampton, NN1 1DE. View directions

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

Members to note any apologies and substitutions.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence from the meeting were received from Councillors Suresh Patel and Danielle Stone.

2.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 83 KB

Members to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 5th July 2012.

Minutes:

The minute of the meeting held on 5th July 2012 were approved and signed by the Chairman.

3.

Deputations/ Public Addresses

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.

Minutes:

Mr Tony Mallard addressed the Panel. He stated that it was no good dwelling in the past, but believed that there were some areas of Northampton that were now looking very run down. He considered that there were too many pound shops and betting shops.

 

He stated that Northampton did not offer anything unique to attract people in. He was personally taking a coach party to Melton Mowbray who offered a framers market with crafts and antique/ bric a brac stalls. He told the Panel about a town in Massachusetts which  when facing severe economic problems decided to concentrate on selling arts and crafts and small artisan tea shops/cafes.

 

Councillor Penny Flavell, who was unable to attend the meeting, through the Chair, asked that the Panel to consider improving the aesthetics of the approaches to the town centre by planting trees.

 

The Panel was informed that the provision of trees in tubs was under consideration.

 

4.

Declarations of Interest (including Whipping)

Members to state any interests.

Minutes:

There were none.

5.

Response to Core Questions To Cabinet Member For Regeneration Enterprise and Planning , Cabinet Member for Environment and the Head of Regeneration and Development. pdf icon PDF 102 KB

Minutes:

The Panel received a joint written response to the Core questions from Councillor Tim Hadland, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Enterprise and Planning, Councillor Caswell Cabinet Member for Environment and the Head of Regeneration and Development.

 

The Panel considered the written responses to the core questions, as appended, and the main points of discussion and responses to the supplementary questions were as follows:-

 

Supplementary responses

 

How can NBC support local businesses throughout the development period of any major building projects in and close by to the town centre?

 

It was considered vital to make information available to any affected businesses as soon as possible. This had been done in relation to the fire damage to Bridge Street, and would be applied to the residents affected by the building of student accommodation at St Johns.

 

What effective marketing and promotion would benefit the town’s retail sector and how do you feel the profile of the town centre could be raised?

 

Members felt that it was very important to raise the profile of retailing as a career and that it should not be seen as a job of last resort. They referred to the presentation that they had received from Skillsmart who provide retail training opportunities. Since this presentation, Skillsmart confirmed that it would liaise with Northampton BID to see how retail training could be promoted within Northampton.

 

Members also referred to “pop up shops”. These being relatively low cost short term leases to get a retail property back into use. One member had been negotiating with a lettings agent about the possibility of creating some pop up shops on the town centre fringes. It was pointed out that owners of the shops had to agree to them becoming short term lets and that might be more difficult to do in the town centre. There were some negotiations underway in relation to a couple of town centre locations.

 

It was also pointed out that the pound shops do fulfil a need in times of recession and that in accordance with planning legislation there was not a distinction between retail offers of pound shops or other stores.

 

It was also felt that there should be work done to make the town centre a more visually attractive place. There is a shop front policy and the Central Area Action Plan but changes can only be implemented at a slow rate when property becomes vacant and with the involvement of the shop owner. Creating better shop fronts may be an expense that cannot be afforded for some small retailers, it might therefore be necessary to decide which should be given priority getting a shop back into use or having an improved shop front.

 

How can retailers, landlords, prospective developers and agents develop the town’s retail sector?

 

There are very few retail properties directly owned or controlled by the Council and none within the primary retail area.

 

Work can be done with developers with regard to shop fronts as and when opportunities arise and there may  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

Background documents -Precis' of published documents pdf icon PDF 340 KB

The Scrutiny Panel to receive precis' of various published documents:-

 

Central Area Action Plan

Northampton Town Centre Health Check 2009

Northampton Town Centre Shopping Survey

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Panel received a précis of information on:-

 

·         Central Area Action Plan

·         Northampton Town Centre Health Check 2009

·         Northampton Town Centre Shopping Survey June 2010.

 

AGREED :-That the information inform the evidence base of the Scrutiny review.