Last week I took part in a Commons debate about Mary Portas’ report on the future of town centres and high streets.
Like every town and city in the country, Chester faces a threat to its traditional economy through increased competition from internet shopping and out of town retail parks.
But unlike the vast majority of high streets across the UK, Chester has successfully overcome the recession and seen three years of consecutive growth in footfall, mainly because many of the recommendations in the Portas Review have already been successfully implemented in Chester.
For instance, Ms Portas recommends implementing a “Town Team”, a body of local stakeholders whose focus is on bringing footfall to the high street. This approach was identified in Chester when the Conservatives took over the council in 2007 and resulted in the creation of Chester City Management.
The Report also acknowledges that town centre carparking is vital to the economy of any city or town centre. Over-expensive car parking, or lack of car parking, has just one effect; to discourage people from visiting town centres and encouraging them to travel to out of town centres instead.
In 2008, as the Executive Member responsible for carparking on Chester City Council, I, along with the City Centre Manager Stephen Wundke, thought up and launched Chester’s Free after Three Scheme, offering free parking after 3pm each day in 3 of the city’s major carparks.
It has been a huge success, resulting in a 23% increase in footfall after 3pm and is an example of how a little ingenuity and flexibility can make a significant difference. It has been so successful that it even made its way onto page 27 of the Portas Review as a model of best practice for other towns to follow.
Maximising Chester’s cultural offering has also been a key part of our success; with new festivals, the open air theatre and city centre parades.
High Streets may be symbolised by the shops that are on offer, but in reality, the success of the high street is about a lot more and it is only by maximising all of our assets towards one goal – delivering a vibrant, busy local economy that town centres can thrive and compete in the 21st century.
There are huge opportunities for improvement and I will continue championing Chester as a great place to live, work and visit.
