Agenda item

The Leader of the Council presented the report.

 

The Market Place, Grantham works started on site on 7 May 2024 and included the reconstruction of the road from a tarmac surface to York stone sett paving, whilst also raising the current road height to deliver a single level structured and interconnected space. The scheme was scheduled to conclude on 19 August 2024.

 

The contractors have mobilised which had caused some consternation among shopkeepers who feel that the works were having a detrimental affect on businesses.

 

The reports of reduced footfall were potentially overstated, as presented in the graphs shown to the Committee. The report was centred around mitigation and action to be taken during the works and following the works.

 

Mitigations were provided within the report, which particularly looked into enhancing communications, social media, improving signage, developing an events programme, monitoring footfall data and indicative budget for future activities, which included:

 

·       Extended event programme to deliver further events within the town centre between January and May 2025, to deliver a mixture of weekend and midweek activities, with a focus on larger scale events to be delivered during school holidays and or spring bank holidays.

·       Voucher/ loyalty card scheme for businesses within the Market Place area, to run for 12 months with monthly prize draws offering cash rewards or vouchers for town centre experiences.

·       Long term promotional activity to highlight Grantham as a destination in general, and Grantham businesses specifically. The focus of this promotion will be to audiences outside of Grantham i.e. surrounding towns and potentially railway routes. This would build upon short- medium term marketing and promotional activity which will be delivered by the Grantham Engagement Manager and Town Team from the existing budget.

·       Incentives schemes including:

• free parking on Market days/ mid-week to encourage shoppers,

• grant scheme for businesses to access marketing support,

• Financial incentives for new market traders taking up stalls, While the budget requirements for any/ all of these schemes would likely be high, further feasibility work will be required to determine

• Financial incentives to support rent costs for new town centre businesses,

• Provision of free buses to Grantham from outlying regions/ other towns for market days.

 

The Committee were provided with footfall figures and diagrams to show the geofences of Grantham town centre.

 

The footfall for 2023 in the month of May was compared with May 2024. It appeared that the footfall was higher at the end of May 2024, than it was in 2023. Increases in footfall were Tuesday’s, which seemed a common day for people to commute to work and Saturday’s, which was Grantham’s market day.

 

Footfall data within the geofence was measured by smartphones having their location enabled on Apps. This data was gathered and would be used to inform graphs.

 

The technology was able to compile data on how many people had travelled into Grantham, from outside of Grantham.

 

It was queried whether the data compiled was pedestrian specific or whether it would pick up individuals in vehicles too.

 

The Leader of the Council confirmed the technology was based on mobile phones which were travelling at less than 4mph.

 

Clarification was sought on whether 1.56 million people went through the centre of Grantham in the month of March, which equated to 56,000 people per day. It was noted the population of Grantham was 48,000.

 

The Assistant Director of Planning highlighted that the Council were using a company which specialised in visitor insights and platform terrain. The Council would be exploring further data available from the company, including other towns within the District.

 

It was clarified that if visitors were in a vehicle and had stopped at a traffic light, the technology was advanced enough to pick up that the vehicle had moved again at speed, therefore, the journey would be discounted.

 

The technology was able to provide maps of where people were coming into Grantham from and the time stamp of hours of when people arrive and leave Grantham.

 

One Member discussed other ways to support local businesses around the marketplace, alongside saving money on the £10,000 budgeted.

 

The possibility was raised of an individual having multiple phones.

 

It was highlighted the technology only provided confirmation that a person had visited Grantham, rather than what activities the person was partaking in and which shops/events were visited.

 

One Member requested whether moving averages on the graphs could be reduced, to highlight trends more clearly.

 

ACTION: For the Council to liaise with the software providers to request the possibility of a further breakdown of the data in terms of streets, hotspots and comparisons with Grantham and other areas.

 

It was noted that the technology was the best available to measure footfall.

 

One Member urged that the initiative schemes were not delayed, which may affect local businesses further. The Council had £210,000 of allocated funds, which was an opportunity to accelerate the deployment of those funds.

 

Further concern was raised on the figures produced from the footfall data, which provided there had been no significant decrease in the number of visitors to the area. Some local businesses around the marketplace had stated that this had not been the case.

 

It was highlighted the geofence of the Grantham town centre included 2 large supermarkets, the residential area from the train station to the A52. It was felt the geofence boundaries needed altering.

 

Members suggested that the software be brought to the Committee to understand how the figures were compiled.

 

The Assistant Director of Planning confirmed a demonstration of the software could be brought to the Economic Strategy workshop. It was clarified that geofences could be altered.

 

ACTION: For a demonstration of the software to be brought Economic Strategy workshop.

 

It was clarified that the town centre geofence included the railway station, meaning commuters were accounted within the footfall.

 

The narrow Westgate Grantham market had a total of 152,000 visits a month, meaning under 5,000 per day, which equated to 500 an hour for 10 hours of the day.

 

The Council were recruiting for a Town Manager role whereby they would be responsible for building a town engagement programme with shopkeepers and business owners where the voucher scheme could be discussed.

 

The indicative budgets recommended for the scheme were outined within the report. It was noted that some UKPSF funding may be utilised for the scheme.

 

That the Finance and Economic Overview and Scrutiny Committee:

 

1. Considers the contents of this report.

2. Provides feedback on the proposed additional mitigation measures and recommends a budget for this activity.

 

It was proposed, seconded and AGREED that the Committee’s preferred option was:

 

Option 3: In addition to the activities outlined in option two, to complete feasibility works and costed proposals for long term/ permanent suggestions to support the town centre, including the removal of parking charges, implementing a rental support or financial incentive scheme for new businesses and/ or market traders, providing additional bus services on Market days, and funding grants to town centre businesses to deliver additional marketing/branding/promotional activity. Subsequently to bring these fully costed proposals to a future meeting of the committee for allocation of additional budget.