“Christmas closes and the New Year begins for our town centres”

 

 

With the close of 2007, analysts and accountants are busy measuring the success of Christmas. Individual companies will make industry comparisons and shareholders will decide what to sell and what to buy. Within retailing, which is the critical mass of businesses represented in a town centre, Christmas is a very significant period and can make or break a business. The independent sector is most vulnerable at this period, as they do not have the purchasing clout of the larger multiple stores.

 

Although figures are not yet finalised, the outlook for Bangor town centre is not disastrous and reads like a school report; 7 out of 10, not bad, not great, room for improvement, tries hard and is good in areas but struggles with the broader context. Definitely not top of the class! In comparison to local out of town centres it remains a poor cousin. The traffic flows around the Bloomfield Centre are a clear indicator of its ongoing success with its attractive retail mix and expanded retail park. Will 2008 summon any new positive dynamic for the town centre?

 

Within North Down, Bangor town centre has been busy but never as busy as comparable towns such as Lisburn, Ballymena and Coleraine. Historically those market towns have clothed and fed a broad rural catchment area but Bangor has rarely satisfied its residents and with it not serving a broader population and daily exporting close to 10,000 of its working population to the Belfast Metropolitan Area, it continues to export its wealth. This is an estimated £81.5m per annum opportunity for Bangor and those businesses seeking to locate within it.

 

Although retailing has never been the focus of national economic development strategies it should never be underestimated for the role it plays in the economy. Some would argue that the UK economy has been driven by retailing in the past decade, all be it on the basis of easy credit and ever increasing house prices that now appears to be at an end. Irrespective of this the Bangor retailing sector employs an estimated 4,500 residents and accounts for 29% of the registered businesses. Of this approx half are independent and the remainder are national multiples, typical of urban centres across the UK and beyond.

 

Bangor has many strengths: its seaside location, for sailing and enjoying the air, the coastal path; its peaceful geography lying at the eastern fringe of Belfast, its integrated community and its physical heritage where church spires are still the tallest structures dominating the roof tops. The town however does have its weaknesses. Addressing those weaknesses needs to be a priority but the present structures of governance are fragmented and add to confusion and inaction. It is impossible for any one party to manage the town centres car parking due to different ownership and agendas. Planning policy whilst presently worded is supposed to support town centres but still permits out of town retail expansion that is the developers’ favoured option. Roads Service owns the pavements and the council cleans them. Someone in Roads Service has a budget to place safety railings at pedestrian crossings but no one has a budget to maintain them so whenever they get damaged they are left as part of an dishevelled public domain that adds to the impression that no one cares. Unfortunately few complain and as a result the collective silence acts as a benchmark of acceptability.

 

The town centre Harbour Ward is amongst the most deprived wards in Northern Ireland but as it is small in population terms, it only receives a trickle of unstructured support and attention from the Department of Social Development’s “Small Pockets of Deprivation Fund”. Belfast, meanwhile can summon £16m for the resurfacing of its recently resurfaced pavements from DSD. The North Down local fund has enabled works to be completed to improve the appearance of the Queens Parade development site but little else and there is definitely no grasp of the bigger picture with a more robust regeneration strategy at play. The local council has stretched its powers by putting together the ASDA development and the Queens Parade opportunity but all input is now with DSD, the private sector and a nervous property market. Historically Bangor has been viewed as the “Gold Coast” and not worthy of central government significant attention – but it should be!

 

A town centre serves many needs to many people both economic and social. It developed as a place for economic exchange and also a place to interact and form communities. Town centres should be centres for wealth creation and community cohesion. At the present time Bangor town centre does not serve its population. A significant proportion of Bangor’s residents do not have a relationship with the town centre denying it custom and a broader spectrum of social interaction. How many residents have ventured up High Street and appreciated the quality and breadth of offer presented by the independent stores?

 

For a number of years now the government has been talking about reviewing its planning policy (PPS5) to give more specific support for town centres, although many would argue that it is somewhat closing the barn door after the horse has bolted. Nevertheless specific policy is required. It has been promised for years but fails to be published. It has been written and rewritten by the civil servants and presented to a variety of Labour Ministers and is now in the hands of Northern Irelands Ministers. A robust proactive policy is needed now!

 

The NI Assembly Committee for Social Development wrote to a broad range of agencies in October 2007 seeking views on the Departments approach to town centre regeneration with a view to reporting to the Assembly by March 2008. This is a clear statement of their intention to publish a “policy” even though civil servants spent considerable time and funds on consultants writing such a policy in 2000. Unfortunately whilst they defined the need for a policy, they never published one.

 

The Bangor & Holywood Town Centre Management Company and North Down Borough Council have now lodged their submissions. The national Association of Town Centre Management (ATCM), Europe’s leading town centre regeneration body, has placed a list of recommendations in its submission, that seek to focus policy and energies on making Northern Irelands town centres “healthy and vital”.

 

All the submissions call for the following as a minimum:

 

• A clear policy within the Assembly recognising the role of town centres and expressing support for them,
• A revised Planning Policy PPS5 that protects and encourages the regeneration of our town centres,
• Localised regeneration strategies that embrace local aspirations and engage local communities.

 

The town centre management company would also call for improved governance preferably through stronger local government with strong local representation. This would remove the confusion and empower local decisions. The essence of any regeneration programme is about changing attitudes from the bottom up and having clear policies at the top to focus the energy of those involved. The only way to change attitudes from indifference to action is by empowering those at the grass roots to allow them to believe they can make a difference and they can change things.

 

Town Centres have a role that extends far beyond places in which people shop and transact business. They are, literally and metaphorically, at the heart of the communities they serve. The importance of town centres is therefore not simply their commercial viability but also their contribution as a location for jobs, services, community development, marketing and promotion. We all need our town centre at some point in time and now it needs you.

 

For any further information on how you can be involved please check out the town centre web site at www.bangorholywoodtcm.co.uk or call 028 9147 9651.