ATCM News
ATCM welcomes Welsh Committee’s report on Town Centres
ATCM welcomes a report by the Enterprise and Business Committee in Wales which calls for Government action on town centres. The Committee, which is part of the Welsh National Assembly, laid out 21 recommendations it believes will support town centre regeneration.
Amongst the recommendations are calls for leadership locally and nationally which mirror requests from ATCM in both its written contributions to the Committee and oral evidence provided late last year.
ATCM Chief Executive Martin Blackwell said: “Leadership for our high streets is critical. We need to be far more progressive in how we ensure town centres develop a strategic vision which will enable them to tackle the current economic downturn and longer-term structural issues.
“This should include strong local leadership and a ministerial remit for town centres at a national level. We are glad that the Enterprise and Business Committee has taken this on board.”
Other recommendations by the Committee include a strong planning policy that promotes town centres, statutory plans for town centres to be included in Local Development Plans, an assessment of Swansea BID to explore the feasibility of further BID development, and a redesign of business rates to improve the quality and mix of the retail offer.
All these issues were raised in the ATCM’s newly published Manifesto for the High Street and Town Centres http://www.atcm.org/mfiles/files/971-ATCMManifestoA42.pdf
The report by the Committee has been published at a time when Welsh town centres struggle to manage the affects of the recession. The report reveals that average vacancy rates on Welsh high streets stand at 11.5%, 0.4% more than the UK average.
To view all 21 recommendations you can view the report at http://bit.ly/xEfWMA.
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Editors’ Note: For further information, contact Richard Dennery at Richard.Dennery@gmail.com or 07885 945404.
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ATCM supports Independent Retailer Month UK
LONDON The Association of Town Centre Management (ATCM), the national organisation promoting professional management of the UK’s town centres and high streets, has announced its support for the international campaign to support independent retailers.
Independent Retailer Month in July 2012 will be spearheaded in the UK by Clare Rayner, the Retail Champion.
“We are delighted to welcome ATCM as an official supporting partner of Independent Retailer Month 2012. Their network of Town Centre Managers and Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) will enable us to cascade our campaign messaging to some 250,000 town centre based retailers throughout the whole of the UK,” she said.
“By engaging those retailers and encouraging their active participation throughout July, retailers and town centres can make a step-change in the way they attract consumers. With a whole month dedicated to the campaign we can begin to create new shopping habits, retaining consumer spending in our high streets for the benefit of our local communities.”
The ATCM recently published its Manifesto for Town Centres and High Streets, which includes a 10-point action plan for Town Centres and High Streets detailing how government, local authorities, individuals and businesses can generate a new belief in the future of town and city centres across the UK. It can be downloaded from http://www.atcm.org/mfiles/files/971-ATCMManifestoA42.pdf
Said ATCM Chief Executive Martin Blackwell, “We called in our Manifesto for a national effort to understand the needs of small businesses in a rapidly changing economy. Our network of town centre and BID managers are ideally placed to carry out this work and we will work to encourage Governments to recognise the social and financial value of this sector.
“We look forward to working with Clare Rayner on Independent Retailer Month.”
Independent Retailer Month is a global ‘shop local’ campaign. It’s key message of Independent Retailer Month is about supporting the local communities where we live, work and shop. With this in mind, there are great synergies between the focus for ATCM and the Independent Retailer Month campaign.
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For Independent Retailer Month, contact Clare Rayner on 01727 238890 or clare.rayner@retailchampion.co.uk
For further details about the ATCM, contact Richard Dennery on 07885 945404 or Richard.Dennery@gmail.com
ABOUT INDEPENDENT RETAILER MONTH UK
Independent Retailer Month is a global "Shop Local" campaign that runs throughout July. The campaign highlights the important role smaller, local, independent retailers play in the communities they serve, the local economy they contribute to, and in the retail sector as a whole.
Co-founded in the USA by Kerry Bannigan, CEO Nolcha Fashion Week, and Tom Shay, principal of Profits Plus, Independent Retailer Month UK is led by Clare Rayner, The Retail Champion.
The initiative aims to impact the independent retail sector globally with relevant support, expertise and insights; connect consumers and communities with local retailers, reminding them of the benefits of shopping local; and engage small business organisations, networks and thought leaders to promote the importance of independent retail to the global, national and local economies.
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Parliament to Debate Future of Nation’s Town Centres
The future of town centres and high streets will be debated in Parliament on Tuesday (17 January) after publication of the Mary Portas Review last month and mounting evidence that underlines the increasingly difficult state of the UK’s retail economy.
The debate follows a well-attended meeting of the All-party Parliamentary Group for Town Centres held before Christmas which discussed the issues raised by her review and comments from organisations including the Association of Town Centre Management (ATCM) calling for sweeping changes to business rates, car parking policies, planning and property law.
The ATCM’s 10-point Manifesto for Town Centres and High Streets has just been published and is available at www.atcm.org.
Some local authorities and parish councils across Britain are already responding to the report with efforts to keep town centre managers in post, limit town centre car parking prices, and offer more opportunities for local markets.
The debate, in the main chamber of the House of Commons, is open to the public and will be broadcast live on www.parliamentlive.tv.
MPs Mr Marcus Jones, Stephen Lloyd, Justin Tomlinson, Sir Bob Russell, Jim Dowd and Mr Philip Hollobone will lead on the debate, which begins after questions and any statements (earliest 3.30pm) and finishes at 10pm.
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Editors’ note: For more information, contact Richard Dennery on 07885 945404 or Richard.Dennery@gmail.com
Dear Colleague,
Please find attached a copy of a letter from James Brokenshire, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Crime and Security, Home Office. http://www.atcm.org/mfiles/files/985-CrowdedPlaces-JamesBrokenshireletter-16thJan2012.pdf
Revised Crowded Places guidance documents, aimed at pr ofessionals involved in the development of the built environment, to help incorporate protective security measures into new and pre-existing developments were published yesterday and are available at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/counter-terrorism/crowded-places
As you will know, these documents were previously published in March 2010. The main changes to these documents are the references to the contribution that protective security can make to mitigating the impact of a firearms attack.
If you have any further queries about these documents please contact the Vulnerabilities team at vulnerabilitiesteam@homeoffice.x.gsi.gov.uk.
Kind regards,
Vulnerabilities Team, OSCT Protect and Prepare, Home Office.
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ATCM Calls for Sweeping Improvements for High Streets
The national organisation promoting professional management of the UK’s town centres and high streets has followed up the Mary Portas Review by calling for sweeping changes to business rates, car parking policies, planning and property law.
The Association of Town Centre Management (ATCM) 10-point Manifesto for Town Centres and High Streets, launched a month after the publication of the Review, encourages support for managers of the UK’s traditional shopping, entertainment, cultural, public service and transport hubs.
It adds to the growing calls for investment in the first of Portas’ 28 recommendations, at a time when local authorities are cutting their town centre management budgets.
ATCM Chief Executive, Martin Blackwell said: “Mary has highlighted many of the problems town centres face and has properly put management at the top of her shopping list of solutions.
“Unlike a single-owner shopping centre, there is no natural leader for the high street. Local authorities have often assumed the role, but many towns are losing their town centre managers because of budget cuts.
“We hope this Manifesto will help win the argument for continuing with town centre management despite the squeeze.”
The ATCM believes that free parking at out-of-town retail parks and malls disenfranchises people who do not have cars and unfairly undercuts town centres.
“Ending the business rate exemption given to them would give a major boost to the amount local authorities could reinvest in town centres,” said Blackwell, “including giving discretionary rate relief to small businesses.
“The 1954 Landlord & Tenant Act should meet contemporary and future needs and make it easier to identify, contact and engage owners.”
The Manifesto calls for plan-led approaches to economic development that include statutory town centre strategies and are developed through partnerships with businesses, landlords, developers, local communities and consumers of the full range of town centre services.
It calls for attractive, well-managed and safe public spaces with activities and events including general and specialist markets, entertainment and an improved provision of public toilets, especially for women who are currently underserved by the available facilities.
More support is needed to develop supplemental rates-funded Business Improvement Districts which can provide additional services that local authorities are often financially unable to provide.
The 10-point Manifesto can be found on-line at www.atcm.org. Or download at http://www.atcm.org/mfiles/files/971-ATCMManifestoA42.pdf
Editors’ note: For more information, contact Richard Dennery on 07885 945404 or Richard.Dennery@gmail.com
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TOWN CENTRE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION BACKS PORTAS CALL FOR "TOWN TEAMS"
But Town Centre Managers under threat....
The first of the 28 recommendations in the Mary Portas Review of the future of the High Street calls for "a visionary, strategic and strong operational management structure for high streets." She calls them "Town Teams."
The Association of Town Centre Management (ATCM), the national organisation for individuals and organisations concerned with the maintenance, commercial and social development of the UK's town and city centres, fully agrees with this recommendation.
There are already over 400 managers working for local authorities, Business Improvement Districts, local partnerships, chambers of commerce and others to oversee or influence much of what happens in their town and city centres, and there is clear evidence that managed towns perform better than others.
A recently completed survey of managers by the ATCM reveals that 93% of them see "engaging with local business" as one of their most important roles, and 73% are already involved in partnership management.
Says ATCM Chief Executive Martin Blackwell, "Our members are extremely well placed in their local communities to help deliver key elements of Mary's vision."
But at a time when their abilities and roles are the ones which could prove most useful to fulfilling this vision, 55% reported in the survey that their job was under review because of public sector cuts. Part of the problem is that whilst they can create and support a vision, the powers or duties which would enable them to fulfil that vision remain with others.
"Mary has rightly pointed out that town teams could include key landlords, large and small shopkeepers, council representatives with specific knowledge of planning and development, the mayor or MP, other local businesses and service providers, and local residents" says Blackwell, "and many of the local partnerships that support town centre initiatives already follow that model. Most Town and City Centre Managers are crying out to be "let off the leash" and just get on with it."
But another sign of the times is that the number of partnerships supporting managers has declined from just under 50% in 2007, to 36% in 2011.
"Mary's recommendation is one which calls out to re-energise such partnerships and managers where they already exist as "Town Teams" who would be the recognised champions of the high street," says Blackwell. To quote from the report, "They would be the high street's charismatic voice, spearheading a clear local vision for retailing and applying professional management to our high streets. And they would be the glue that holds stakeholders together – local people, businesses, landlords, the local authority and others.
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Editors' note: For more information, contact Richard Dennery on 07885 945404 richard.dennery@gmail.com
Town Centre News from around the UK
03 February 2012
Eastern Daily Press
Relief over Lowestoft roadworks...
02 February 2012
This is Cornwall
They're your town centres; you can help them to thrive...
02 February 2012
Melton Times
Sponsored by £15m Sainsbury deal is sealed...
02 February 2012
Morley Observer & Advertiser
Sponsored by Morley flies the flag for St George...
30 January 2012
Scotsman.com
Occupy Edinburgh protesters set up new camp at the Meadows...
30 January 2012
London Informer
Victoria given Purple Flag status...
28 January 2012
Sheffield Telegraph
Arts grants take a hit...
27 January 2012
This is Kent
Hopes for festival to become annual event...
27 January 2012
Get Hampshire
Council to slash £1.1m from budget...
26 January 2012
Liverpool Daily Post
Liverpool’s business community pays tribute to Paul Rice...
26 January 2012
Belfast Telegraph
More shop closures lead to Bangor fears...
26 January 2012
The Independent
The pop-up paradigm: They may not last for long but temporary shops are here to stay...
25 January 2012
Salisbury Journal
Christmas market could attract 100,000...
25 January 2012
Cambrian News Online
Campaign to win purple flag award for Aberystwyth...
24 January 2012
Get Surrey
Shutters coming down on big name stores...
24 January 2012
BBC News England
Mansfield aims to lose heavy drinking image with Purple Flag...
23 January 2012
Place North West
Liverpool Commercial District Partnership founder dies...
23 January 2012
Insider Media Limited
Tributes paid to Paul Rice...
21 January 2012
Northants Evening Telegraph
All set for a marathon effort...
19 January 2012
This is Devon
Financial tug-of-war over town development manager's role...
