Agenda item

P Rayner introduced the report and said the focus was on retail and the delivery of the Town Centre Strategy:

-       The acquisition of the Marlowes Shopping Centre by Capital and Regional will bring in £53 million investment.

-       The Town Centre Partnership is looking into the feasibility of a business improvement district.

-       Work is ongoing with the market to ensure it continues to be vibrant after the regeneration works.

-       Vacancy rates dropped in the Town Centre from 16.5% in October 2014 to just 6% in July 2016. The national average is 10.1%.

-       There has been a lot of independent investment. Little Beans play Café, PEP &Co and Cappuccios for example.

-       There are two large events planned before the end of the year: the Halloween Party in the Old Town at the end of October and the Christmas Light Switch on in the Town Centre in November.

-       Pinpointer Media have been appointed to manage town centre promotional bookings.

S Lea gave members an update on the tourism service:

-       In 2013, the tourism role became available to maximise the impact of tourism in Dacorum.

-       47 businesses have joined the Tourism Partnership, generating £8,000 income.

-       There have been successes with marketing and there is an increase of traffic on the website.

-       The Canal and River Trust and Red Lion Pub in Nash Mills have partnered up, resulting in the pub acquiring more land.

-       A new tourism map has been produced. 37,000 copies were printed with 35,000 distributed across the South East of England.

-       Hertfordshire Tourism is now worth about £1.9 billion and Dacorum Tourism is valued at £230 million, making up 12% of total tourism in Herts. 

-       A hotel survey was done to understand occupancy rates. In 2014, the average occupancy was 73% and in 2015, this increased to 77%.

-       Enjoy Dacorum has played a key role in increased footfall and spending into the area. From April 2017, Enjoy Dacorum will be contracted out to Visit Herts which is hoped will take the project to the next level.

Councillor Birnie was concerned about the decrease in markets stalls and asked why they were positioned the way they were.

P Rayner said they are working closely with the market. New paving was laid which brought some restrictions. The preference was to have the stalls in a linear fashion but the feedback was that it didn’t have the feel of a market so now trialling bunching the stalls towards the north of the Marlowes and new gazebos bought.

Councillor Birnie asked it the tourism officer will be contracted out to Visit Herts along with the service.

S Lea said yes, possibly for a two year period with an extension to four years. Herts LEP contracted their tourism to Gotoplaces who own and run Visit Kent. This has been very successful and will be the same model for Hertfordshire. By contracting it out, they can reach different strategic partners that the Council cannot.

Councillor Birnie asked the Portfolio Holder if he was concerned that attention to detail would be lost.

Councillor G Sutton said that Sue Lea had done excellent job in promoting Dacorum. It is now important to seek expertise from elsewhere. There is a slight concern that people do not know where Dacorum is and there is a need to target individual towns not as an umbrella. There is a tremendous amount to offer and build on.

Councillor Birnie said there are local hotspots county wide which will not be getting the attention they deserve.

Councillor G Sutton thinks it is important to take Hertfordshire as a whole, one town can feed and build strength of another.

R Oblein said they will agree with Gotoplaces on the delivery. The team will manage events and tourism partnership.

Councillor C Wyatt-Lowe said the Town Centre Partnership needs a new focus. There are a large number of residents in the in Town Centre, are you going to be encouraging them to take part?

P Rayner said the Town Centre Partnership does have resident representatives that work with officers. It is important to find the right forum which is something that can be taken away and worked on.

Councillor C Wyatt-Lowe said it was important to include residents and focus on providing things that residents want and this needs effective resident representation. Also, whilst building work has been ongoing, the footfall counters have not been working. When they are switched on again, there should be a significant increase due to the regeneration works.

P Rayner said they did have the historical data to compare new figures too. The counters are being checked to make sure they are in the correct position and no street furniture is in the way.

Councillor Hicks thought linking Hertfordshire together was a good idea. Will the Visit Tring website link into Herts?

S Lea said a lot of work had been done with Tring. Visit Herts are up to date with all the work done and ongoing by Dacorum and they are keen to listen and continue with these projects.

Councillor G Sutton thanked the team for their hard work and it is encouraging to see an increase in footfall in the car parks. The Town Centre has only been completed for a few months and is already vibrant.

Councillor Anderson proposed that the committee support the ongoing efforts by the team.

Outcome

That the Strategic Planning and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee note the report.