ATCM Chief Executive's Blog

This section offers news and views about Town Centre related issues.

If you want to comment on any of these articles, you can email me with specific points at martin.blackwell@atcm.org or you can post thoughts and questions in the on-line Discussion Forum, though that option is only open to ATCM members.

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To say the last couple of months have been busy is an understatement.
Thursday 09 May 2013

To say the last couple of months have been busy is an understatement.

Since my last blog it’s been all systems go on a number of ATCM fronts: Summer School planning; finalising and publishing the Town Centres Toolkit with GFirst, and appointing our new BID Programme Manager Mark Ross.

Mark joins us at the start of June and has lots of plans to take BIDs to the next level. He will be in touch soon with all BID members, so watch out for his emails. One of his first opportunities to represent UKBIDs and ATCM will be at the AGM of the Women's Institute in Cardiff, where he will hear how the WI plans to support High Streets and Town Centres.

Planning for Summer School also picked up pace and once again it promises to be a fantastic event with study tours around Lincoln and further afield, a full programme of workshops and the introduction of tutorials on Crowdfunding and the Digital High Street. We are delighted to have three High Street Renewal award winners involved.

I am looking forward to hearing from David Downey of the International Downtown Association as well as announcing our 2013 ATCM Award winners. Our final day this year will see an important debate with key leaders and influencers on the issues affecting towns and cities across the UK. Our final line up is yet to be revealed so keep your eyes open for news via the website and Twitter.

I was invited in March to join the Government’s new Future High Streets Forum and met with a number of sector bodies and private sector company representatives to discuss how we can continue to support local high streets.

This first meeting was followed shortly afterwards by the announcement that we had been selected by Government to support Portas Pilots and Town Team Partners for the next two years. This was fantastic news and an achievement we could not have pulled off without the enthusiasm of over twenty-five partners who will be working with us to deliver real results and benefits for all ATCM members.

We were equally pleased to appoint two new members to the ATCM Board, with Rhiannon Kingsley of Bridgend representing members in Wales, and Paul Crutchley of GSMA who brings an incredible energy, knowledge and range of contacts to support our efforts within the increasingly important mobile and digital worlds.

We have also appointed ATCM representatives in Scotland (Sunil Varu) and Northern Ireland (Sharon Scott), cementing our commitment to members in all areas of the UK.

Purple Flag areas grew during April, with a further 5 areas joining the other 42 areas recognised for the management of their centres at night. With Round 8 recently launched and more areas vying for accreditation, we will be able to gather further evidence of how important the evening and night time economy is to our town centres.

A growing number of BIDs are seeing the benefit to local businesses of well managed centres well after dark, including impacts on areas such as increased taxation.

All this activity is a positive sign for our town and city centres, and we are seeing an increasing number of people actively championing the cause.

With an increasing focus on business rates, parking and the threat/opportunities of digital to high streets and town centres, as well as our on-going special interest work on street operations and other areas of day-to-day work, our research and Thought Leadership programme, support for Crowdfunding and MoLo Rewards and the Portas Pilots/Town Team Partners work, I’m looking forward to the next few months of work on your behalf.