13 July (Part 2) - All is not well in Welling and it is dead in Bexleyheath
The next subject on the Cabinet’s Agenda was shopping centres, what is to be
done with them, and the final draft of the Shopping Strategy was up for adoption. Deputy
Chief Executive Jane Richardson put forward the case for it.
High streets are changing as purchases go on-line with the “grim prediction” that it will soon reach 50% of sales. “But we know
how important our towns are to the economy of our borough and how critical they are to the wellbeing of our community”.
(Around 23,300 people are employed in the town centre businesses which generate
around £1·56 billion a year.)
“Our report is the outcome of considerable research and engagement and is a
lengthy tome. We face a massive challenge and we will need to work collectively to sustain our town centres.”
Cabinet Member
Louie French said, err, nothing not said already while Cabinet Member Craske
said that “town centres that invest and stop; die. The successful ones keep reinventing themselves”.
Councillor Joe Ferreira (Labour, Erith) welcomed the fact that the Strategy
acknowledged that all Bexley’s town centres are different and stressed the
importance of proper funding.
Councillor Richard Diment (Conservative, Sidcup) said the Strategy was very well
thought through but it was “important to have key partners on board”. He
reintroduced the subject of Post Office counters and “their attitude”.
They closed the Post Office in Sidcup three weeks ago, they knew three months
earlier but did absolutely “nothing to facilitate a solution”.
“They only got around to a consultation letter on the day the Post Office
actually closed. Mr. Brokenshire met the Post Office in London today about their apparent tardiness.”
“Small businesses have a fleetness of foot but key people like the Post Offices
have got to be in our town centres. We saw Bexley Village go eight months with
no Post Office and there are problems in Abbey Wood and Slade Green. Somehow
people like the Post Office have to be brought on side and made to be far more
responsive to the needs of the local community or otherwise Councillors end up being
blamed, as we are in Sidcup, for the closure of the Post Office. Post Office
counters have a very frustrating attitude at the moment.”
Richard Diment is becoming a very good campaigning Councillor for Sidcup and Bexley more generally.
Councillor Val Clark (Conservative, Falconwood & Welling) said things “are
deteriorating in Welling, the traders feel let down by everybody”. There is too
much crime and three of the shopkeepers have given themselves a year “and I am
getting out”. They don’t like doing business in Welling and they are afraid. One had a violent attack in her shop
and received no support from the police.”
“They don’t like it there any more; it is the upsurge of crime. The challenge is
greater than it was even a few months ago.”
Councillor Linda Bailey (Conservative, Crook Log) said that in Bexleyheath
everything including the car park shuts at five thirty “and then it is dead”.
Cabinet Member Louie French said “the big game changer will be the opening of the
Bellway development. The flow of people will see some changes to the town centre
and businesses will open up”.
Despite the misgivings the Town Centres Strategy was adopted.
If like me you learned very little from the meeting of what the Strategy means in practice maybe the
stated key aims will shed a little light on it. Maybe.
• Business Health and Inward investment: Supporting independent
businesses and encouraging inward investment (from both nationals and
independents) into our town centres, broadening the appeal of each
town centre with its target customer base.
• Digital Economy: Facilitating improved connectivity in town centres and
helping equip businesses to compete digitally through online commerce and marketing.
• Evening and Night Time Economy (E/NTE): Encouraging a more diverse
offer for all ages to socialise and enjoy, whilst managing the Licensing
and Planning regime to ensure locations with E/NTE uses feel safe to
both users and residents.
• Place Marketing: Working with partner organisations to market each
town centre in a coordinated way. Enhancing and celebrating each town
centre’s unique selling points to develop positive brands.
• Place Making and Public Realm: Creating sustainable, healthy,
distinctive and attractive places for people to live, work, shop and
socialise. Longer term this involves managing the development agenda
through the Local Plan, but within the scope of the Town Centres
Strategy this focuses on nurturing and reinforcing character through
preserving or repurposing key sites and enhancing the public realm.
• Diversifying the Retail and Leisure Offer: Improving our understanding
of the retail and socialising needs and expectations of town centre
customers – including children and younger people. Providing more
Planning flexibility to encourage innovative uses of space and testing
new retail and leisure concepts through meanwhile use.
• Accessibility and Wayfinding: Making our town centres easier to access
through a variety of modes – making it easier and safer for people to
walk and cycle - and the town centres themselves more welcoming and
inclusive for all residents and visitors – including those with
disabilities.
• Events, Markets and Meanwhile Uses: Encouraging and supporting a
wider range of quality special events and markets to activate public
spaces, and using vacant retail units for test trading of new and
innovative business/leisure offerings.
A key part of the Strategy is to identify how, working with other town
centre
stakeholders, the Council could either directly or indirectly enable
improvements and economic prosperity, and in doing so tap into a wider range
of resources to effect change. This will include working closely with the
existing
Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), but also with businesses and
landlords
more widely to build the collective capacity to effect change in their
localities.
Subject to available resources, the potential interventions will need to be
developed, including the prioritisation and programming of current budgets
and
working with external stakeholders. These will be included in an action plan
to
be published early Autumn.