The relevant Portfolio Holder will be in attendance to give a briefing and answer questions on the latest position of the Newcastle Town Centre Partnership and the Kidsgrove Town Centre Partnership.
Minutes:
The Chairman stated that the Portfolio Holder, Cllr Terry Tuner, was the Council’s representative on the Newcastle Town Centre Partnership Board. He invited the Portfolio Holder to update the Committee on the latest position of the Newcastle and Kidsgrove Town Centre Partnerships. He described the composition of the Newcastle Town Centre Partnership board as a great success. The Board comprised of a range of very capable people all of which were voluntary Members.
The amount of events held in the last twelve months represented an immediate success. The Dragon’s Den event had been particularly well received. The long-term aim of the Newcastle Town Centre Partnership was to achieve self-sufficiency. Work was currently taking place on developing a medium-term financial strategy. A key task was to convince people in the Town that it was worth their while paying a levy to keep the Town Centre Partnership in place. The Partnership were encouraging students from Keele to come into the Town. The night time economy was another key issue where work was taking place. Another initiative making progress was the purple flag scheme. A Film Festival would be held shortly and this year the Christmas lights switch on event would be at a weekend linked to a series of activities.
The Portfolio Holder stated that he believed the Kidsgrove Town Centre Partnership to be a positive idea. The main focus of the partnership at the present time was to stem the flow of business closures in the Kidsgrove area. The aim was to also make the Kidsgove Town Centre Partnership self sufficient. He believed the partnership was being successful. Whilst there were currently no figures and statistics, there would be in the future. The board of the Kidsgrove Partnership was smaller at five Members but was likely to increase over the coming months. The Kidsgrove Town Centre Partnership was officially a CIC with its own Bank Account.
A Member stated that they believed there should be figures and statistics in place. It was important to have these to be able to accurately assess how well the partnerships were performing. In response the Portfolio Holder stated that it was important to convince the businesses within both Towns that the Partnerships were worthwhile to ensure their future sustainability.
A Member stated that the partnerships should focus on providing activities for families in the early evening to attract them to the town. He stressed the importance of the Council working with the Town Centre Partnership to help promote them. The Portfolio Holder agreed that it was important to attract young families to the Towns. He also believed that marketing was important. He emphasised that the partnerships relied on volunteers who were only able to give some of their time.
In response to a question from a Member about rolling out the concept to other areas within the Borough, the Portfolio Holder responded that the Council had decided to focus on two areas. If these were to become a long-term success then consideration would be given to further partnerships in other areas in the future.
A Member asked the Portfolio Holder if he had any figures on business closures in Kidsgrove since the partnership had formed. The Portfolio Holder said he would endeavoure to obtain the data.
A Member asked what the Newcastle Town Centre Partnership was doing to encourage small shops in the Town. In response the Portfolio Holder stated that the Dragon’s Den event had actually led to two new shops being taken up. There were other initiatives being undertaken. The Council were currently looking at how business rates were calculated as they were causing an issue for some small businesses. The Chairman asked what could be done to help businesses that were struggling in the Town. The Executive Director for Regeneration and Development stated that there were discussions about forming a business support framework but there was currently no funding. Another project was the concept of having a sponsor to give advice to businesses.