Economic Growth Real World Case Study. North Harrow

Transcription

1 Economic Growth Real World Case Study North Harrow 1

2 Case Study Background Harrow Council has a Corporate Priority to support The Town Centre, local shopping centres and local businesses. Harrow has nine district centres. North Harrow was prioritised for initial support because it had the highest vacancy rates in the borough. Following the closure of the Safeway supermarket in North Harrow in 2003, the centre has been affected by a significant decrease in footfall, as a result of which businesses have closed and the place has declined. Since 2005/06, the percentage of the Total Vacant Frontage in North Harrow has grown steadily from 11.98% to 23.09% in 2009/10. The rate of increase in vacant frontages between 2007/08 to 2009/10 was 36.2%. The rate of increase between 2008/09 and 2009/10 was 32.78%. Following the council s interventions the change between April 2010 and June 2012 is summarised in the table below April 2010 June 2012 North Harrow No. Vacant Units 18 8 All Frontages % Vacant As a result of this a series of meetings were held with ward councillors and traders in 2011 to agree an action plan for the centre At those meetings a number of the projects were identified for action, these included on street parking, hanging baskets, events, (French) market, Festive Lights, traders directory, noticeboards, and a website (Action Plan 26 April 2011). The Survey produced in January 2011 identified planning policy as a major issue for businesses in North Harrow. At the North Harrow Partnership meeting of the 1 st July 2011, members accepted the proposed application to the GLA for round 1 of the OLF. On this basis the council bid to and secured funding from the GLA s Outer London Fund to Increase footfall and spend Motivate traders Ensure the High Street responds to local needs Has the infrastructure to ensure that North Harrow is actually a convenient place to shop To achieve the above, 13 projects were developed and delivered and these are described below. Town Centre Management working with the traders to host events to increase footfall and spend and managing the following Installation of Festive Lights Installation of planters and securing of business sponsorship to maintain the planters 2

3 Production and distribution of a North Harrow Business Directory to 4,500 local households. Liaising with 80 businesses to develop the content for the directory Introduction of a Local Development Order (accepted by Secretary of State) allowing greater flexibility in planning policy Installation of three noticeboards enabling community groups and businesses to promote their activities Delivery of a Good Practice Project enabling businesses to learn good practice in other shopping centres Visual Merchandising Programme training 20 independent traders in visual merchandising techniques Establishment of a North Harrow website providing businesses and community groups an on-line presence Production of street banners by students from 2 schools celebrating North Harrow Hosting a street market, providing opportunity to over 50 businesses, securing 4,000 shoppers, coverage on BBC TV News, Radio London and BBC Asian Network Introduction of nine new parking bays Resurfacing of the car park, rekerbing the pedestrian access, and improving the lighting Creation of a community garden in Woodlands Open Space maintained by St John Fisher Primary School In addition to the above, a range of community groups were involved in delivering events on 31 st October and 10 th December. These included African drummers, singers, Irish Dancers, Indian dancers, street dancers and Harrow Choral Society. The OLF programme involved a significant contribution from Harrow Council in officer time. This was not costed into the programme, or recorded in monitoring reports or quarterly claims. This is because the production of time sheets can dissuade officers from voluntarily contributing their time to a project. Section 7.3 outlines the role other services played in the delivery of the programme. Delivery Three events were held in the six months of the North Harrow OLF programme. These all took a different format and grew successively. The first event was held within seven weeks of the programme and was titled The Event. It was held on 31 st October It was ambitious to hold such an early event. However, 150 people were attracted to an evening event which was widely quoted as the busiest night in North Harrow for a considerable period. The event featured performers from local schools, Nower Hill and St John Fisher schools as well as local community groups (African drummers, singers, Irish Dancers, Indian dancers and dance4justice - street dancers). (See Appendix C). The next Trader event to follow the dance showcase was the Christmas Event held on Saturday 10 th December from 3pm to 5pm. Businesses were open and providing refreshment and mulled wine, Street entertainment was provided with elves on stilts and balloon performances, a Santa Claus and the Harrow Choral Society performing carols in several places throughout the streets. The area was busy and attracted a wide range of people. The event was covered widely in both the Harrow Times and the Harrow Observer. BBC London came down to North Harrow on Thursday 15 th December to interview local traders and look at the development of the area. The link is

4 The third event followed a different format, 25 stalls were purchased and a Spring Market was held over 3 days, 9 th to 11 th March. The local press promoted the market from February onwards. Initially this involved inviting traders to contact the Town Centre Manager to sell their goods from the market stalls. For the four weeks prior to the event there were hundreds of calls between would be traders, the Town Centre Manager and an administrative assistant. The events held between October and March demonstrated the capacity of North Harrow to stage events. They demonstrated the willingness of local groups to participate in the events. 38 traders were interviewed and the results of the interviews show they are overwhelmingly in favour of future events. A scoring matrix was used to measure feedback. Respondents were asked to score out of 5. The average scores for the October event was 3.8, the Christmas event was 3.5, and the Spring market was 4.2. In a survey of 23 businesses undertaken in December 2010, marketing and promotion was identified as the second most important issue in the area. The feedback from businesses in the North Harrow Town Centre Survey January 2011, was that Christmas Lights, a Christmas event and a Street Market would be welcome measures to attract shoppers to the area. The Events, which included the Christmas Light switch on were warmly received. In the last six months North Harrow has received positive media coverage in Harrow Observer, Harrow Times, BBC Asian Network and Radio London (Please see Appendix G). Initially, the first two events drew three figures crowds to North Harrow. Despite the existence of the North Harrow tube station the area had little evening economy outside the existence of food and drink outlets. In this respect getting 150 people to attend an evening event was a success. These figures need to be seen in the context of a shopping centre that often appears moribund. On a week day outside of the start and end of the school and school lunch times, it is possible to visit the streets of Pinner Road and Station Road in North Harrow, and see at most a dozen people. The Spring Market attracted a four figure attendance with 4,000 people counted attending over the three days of the market. The market received local and regional publicity featuring in the local press and also BBC Radio London and BBC Television. It also put North Harrow on the map as a potential venue for trading. Over the three days of the market (9 th to 11 th March) over 60 businesses took stalls to sell their goods. These included existing traders from St Albans market, new start up businesses (students from Stanmore College), and community groups selling fresh produce (Shaw Trust). A survey of those attending the Spring Market found that the market itself had attracted people to North Harrow, that they would return to North Harrow for further markets, but that they would not ordinarily return to North Harrow. This suggests that further events and markets are necessary to attract additional footfall and spend. (See Appendix F) Visual Merchandising The testimonials from traders attending the course include the following: 4

5 'This course has energised me-i'm now looking at my shop layout, my seasonal promotions and my hot spots far more commercially. I'm really trying to make more add on sales. I'm also watching my competitors far more closely now too!' 'It has been a great opportunity and learning process. 'This course has been very valuable and has changed my way of thinking. I am now more aware of window dressing. I have also gained knowledge to train my staff so on busy days they take control. small changes have made a big difference in the shop With the support of the consultants that Harrow Council provided us we have been able to improve our store layout and presentation, resulting in an overall better service and experience to our customers. We believe that if this improvement is seen throughout the wide range of retailers in North Harrow it will attract more custom as people begin to realise how much North Harrow has to offer. The self evaluation conducted by the consultants found 7 out of 21 (35%) have seen an increase in overall sales since completing the programme 9 out of 21 (45%) businesses have seen an increase in sales in specific areas since applying the Visual Merchandising tips 13 (65%) have received positive feedback from their customers about the changes to their business 7 did not answer the question There was no negative feedback 12 (60%) have attracted new customers since the course 6 (30%) reported an increase in average transaction value 9 businesses (45%) have created new networks with local businesses 16 (80%) have maintained staffing levels 4 (20%) have increased staffing 14 out of 21 (70%) have made new investments in their business 17 out of 21 (85%) have ongoing plans for their business for the coming year 19 (95%) of participant businesses feel that the programme has had a positive effect on them and their business and that their business is now more viable Improvements to Acess and Parking Harrow Council s activities resulted in resurfacing the car park improving the pedestrian entrance providing additional larger signage positioned at the entrance to the car park and outside of the car park improved lighting additional trees added to improve the overall look of the car park sign writing community garden at Woodlands (adjacent to the car park) Reducing the Uncertainty of new business in respect of planning policy 5

6 This objective formed part of the suite of actions to break the cycle of decreasing footfall and business closures in North Harrow. The need for planning permission was regarded as a barrier to business in the January 2011 survey of businesses. Equally, the perceived inflexibility, cost, and time (two months) usually required to enable occupancy can be perceived to undermine the pace of delivery and change. Reducing the time taken to enable occupancy of existing vacant units will help to secure the early delivery of new businesses and activities into North Harrow District. To achieve this objective an Officer was employed to engage with residents and businesses to create a Local Development Order (LDO). The aim of the LDO is to encourage businesses to relocate to North Harrow in the knowledge that the process for obtaining consent for uses will be much less risky and more certain. During the statutory consultation period all traders and 2,000 residents received information on the LDO. The Local Development Officer was available for consultation in six areas of North Harrow District Centre and attended local ward surgeries held by a local Ward Councillor to answer questions. The response to the consultation was overwhelmingly positive. As a result the draft LDO was approved by Harrow Council s Cabinet in December 2011 and was then sent to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State responded that he would not intervene in the adoption of the LDO. The LDO will now be signed by the Portfolio Holder for Planning, Development and Enterprise. The LDO area covers 119 units in Station Road and Pinner Road, it is obviously too early to measure its impact. In the short term it can be observed that the consultation was successful, leases are being discussed on a number of currently vacant units and marketing agents are being advised to include the LDO in their marketing materials for empty sites. Achievements Although funding from the OLF has ended, the council s actions have left behind a positive legacy. This includes: The Local Development Order, which has been adopted and provides the flexibility in planning policy that many businesses stated they wanted 9 on street car parking bays on Station Road and Argyle Road Improved lighting, pedestrian access and road surfacing in the car park Planters, which a local business has agreed to maintain Community garden in Woodlands green space community created by the community and maintained by a local school Festive Lights which can be used in 2012 onwards Notice boards used by traders and community groups to publicise local events Website to provide the electronic means to publicise events, review businesses and enable community groups to promote their activities 26 Market stalls to use for future events In addition the events generated good will with community groups and the local school, with both providing entertainment during the events in October and December. The feedback from school students participating in the project to design and produce banners for North Harrow has all been positive. Typical quotes from a questionnaire of students are, I ve used the shops more and I m drawn to the beauty of the banners. The events in October and December and the street market in December were successful in securing positive press coverage in the Harrow Times and Harrow Observer. BBC Radio 6

7 London broadcast from North Harrow on 9 th March and BBC TV news included news items in December 2011 and March See Appendix G The events have also led to a buy in from local groups in respect of their role in rejuvenating their own community. Nower Hill School, and local dance groups gave up their time on a voluntary basis to stage activities to bring shoppers to the area. (Appendix H the letter of support for the Portas Pilot from Nower Hill School demonstrating its willingness to become involved in future activities). The police also recognised that events like the Market can provide them with a platform to promote crime prevention and safety issues. (They participated during the Spring Market and have contacted the council to discuss future markets as a means of rejuvenating other district centres in Harrow). Key Conclusions & Lessons learnt The rationale outlined in the Outer London Fund application for North Harrow was to fund actions to: Increase footfall and spend Motivate traders Ensure the High Street responds to local needs Has the infrastructure to ensure that North Harrow is actually a convenient place to shop The events demonstrated it is possible to increase footfall on a one off basis in a quiet district shopping centre The vast majority of traders interviewed were positive about the programme, and some of those have come forward to support future activities. The survey of shoppers who attended the Spring Market revealed that the majority of shoppers would return for further markets, but would not normally come to North Harrow. This suggests that the High Street has the capacity to respond to local needs. In the medium to long term monitoring the use of the new parking bays, improved car park and impact of the Local Development Order will provide a more in depth measure of how successful actions have been to ensure North Harrow responds to local needs. The parking improvements and introduction of the website have improved physical access and also on line access to make purchasing easier for consumers. Overall, one can conclude that in the context of an increasingly difficult economic climate, rising local unemployment and a seven year increase in vacancy rates, positive change is possible. The ongoing rise in vacancy rates in North Harrow was reversed and vacancy rates have declined. The latest vacancy rate information collected in June 2012 shows there are now only 8 vacant units. This compares to 16 units in November 2011 and 13 units in March