FRANK SOBEY: Changing shape of town centres
WE live in interesting times where change is so rapid that it too often leaves us spinning in the wind.
Perhaps the most obvious recent change has been in the traditional high street and neighbourhood shopping venues.
Ah, you might say, that is simply urban evolution!
But sadly it is, in my opinion, much more than that.
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Watching retail guru Mary Portas and David Cameron visiting beleaguered high streets made me want to raise an eyebrow.
As an increasing number of high streets start to look like a dental nightmare with gap after gap appearing, so the level of rhetoric continues to build as everyone seems to have a view.
We hear the clever words and look at exciting initiatives like BID (Business Improvement Districts) hoping that each signals a new horizon.
But you know you can do all you like about street furniture, colourful works of art, lovely flowers while meekly accepting high business rates, crippling rents and aggressive parking charges.
There has been a change, of course, where once vibrant businesses have been replaced by endless charity shops, transient pop up shops, betting shops, takeaways and second hand shops!
That, of course, may not be a bad thing if that is what we all want.
Perhaps we are happy enough to watch town centres change shape and accept the new landscape.
The question has been asked as to whether new town centre is actually the supermarket with free parking on the urban outskirts?
If it is then why should we worry?
Perhaps we should worry because who wants to run the risk of a hurtful parking fine from aggressive meter control policed by ever-vigilant civil enforcement officers while parking in town yet celebrate the free supermarket parking.
These are serious questions for any town but are actually hugely important here on the English Riviera.
We live in a conurbation of three towns on perhaps one of the most stunningly beautiful coastlines in the world.
We cannot allow our town centres to fall over and take with them the tourist industry!
While much of tourism becomes a product of wall-to-wall sunshine our visitors need to be captivated by the shopping experience, whether it is simply buying an ice cream, interesting food or colourful clothing. It's not that complicated is it?
So if we want to make folk celebrate the coastal urban experience then serious work needs to done about the economic infrastructure.
It would be newsworthy to have Mrs Portas and Mr Cameron striding down Torbay Road as a call to action, but part of that action has to be a serious look at those basic business costs dominated by shocking business rates and rents.
For me, those two should underpin any sort of business improvement scheme.
Rents can and have been negotiated locally but business rate change will require Government action.
Getting folk into town centres also requires a willingness to make motorists feel wanted.
If we accept that the out of town supermarkets might have become the new town centres with easy parking then the obvious question has to be asked about car access in the, if you like, old town centres.
Banging on about the tourist offering and then frightening visitors (and residents) with an army of parking attendants waiting to leap upon luckless motorists who overstay their allotted times is, in my opinion, imbecilic.
You either want to welcome folk or you don't.
Seeing the motorist visiting the town centre as a target for increased civic income has to be ultimately very damaging.
Watching visitors argue with the meter man having arrived back a few minutes too late will not do much for the tourism offering does it?
Torbay is the most wonderful place with a coastline that is simply mouth-watering plus lovely harbours dotted around the waters edge.
Certainly something that we all need to celebrate and encourage in any way that we can, but the worry is that poorly thought through policy coupled with expensive charges will let to obvious rot develop.
It will take more than a paintbrush and potted plants to bring new life to the English Riviera.
Although not in the way Mr Cameron intended, we are all in this together and must not let community apathy get too tight a grip.
Rattle the cage and seek for a change in town centre development that is something more than the endless empty rhetoric.
Get hold of the decision makers and state the obvious about business rates in particular before it is too late.
Too much is still being taken from too many by too few and simply must change.
Let's get it right and let it start now. Use your voice and your vote!
Keep the smile.
5 Comments
by RivieraPalms
Friday, January 25 2013, 4:21PM
“Walking around Princess Gardens last summer for a moment I was struck more than usual by the sheer beauty of the gardens and the fountain and immediately an idea followed through which is something I'd never thought of before and wasn't expecting, and it was wouldn't it be wonderful if the gardens stretched around in to Fleet Walk and up Union Street all the way up to the Town Hall. Palm trees and fountains, and flower beds throughout the town.
Now I'm not suggesting this as an actual idea for now because we don't have the room, but if the time comes when the council does want to seriously look at knocking some of the town down to reduce the amount of retail space we should look at Town Centre Gardens as well as residential buildings. If we did one day have room, imagine if the whole area of Fleet Walk and Union Street had a Mediterranean garden snaking up along one side of it? Perhaps one day we will see one side of Fleet Walk and one side of Union Street with exotic gardens, cafes, picnic areas, along side some new residential buildings. We could call the new town centre "The Mediterranean Gardens" and make an attraction out of it, heck now we've got all that space with the exotic gardens there's no reason why in an attractive environment like that an hotel or two wouldn't want to move in bringing facilities into the town that can be enjoyed by those staying at the hotel plus residents and tourists. Roof top restaurants, spa's, even a 3D Cinema like what was in the original plan for the Torwood Street development where those going to see the movie sit at tables and are served food and drink by waiters as they watch, which is what Torquay would have had if the original plans had been approved. If we are going to change the town (and we will have to sooner rather than later) we should go with wide open spaces incorporating, gardens, cafes, retail, residential, and perhaps a couple of hotels bringing fantastic facilities.
You know if we do this right we may end up with the best town centre that Torquay has ever had. A small part of our Resort as a Shopping-Resort. Isn't this what shopping on the Riviera is supposed to be like anyway? So why not do it? Its true we don't need a town as big as we've got so lets open it up.
Have you ever seen in Italy or some South American country where in the summer in the town square they will get a projector and beam a movie onto the side of one of the buildings? The town comes out its such an event, what if in the new town centre we had a side of a building specifically for that purpose, strategically placed near open seating areas and grassy gardens. Don't you think during the summer months it would change weekends in Torquay? Families bringing the children down into town, tourists, others who would normally just go to the pub coming to this event instead. It would be a great opportunity for local business people maybe even some that currently operate in the town to provide stalls and stands with hot food and drinks. Movie Night every summer weekend in Torquay, the atmosphere would be awesome and importantly we would be taking ground from the louts and drunks. I think that if the new town centre was specifically designed to allow this and other regular events to occur then not only will we have a place more fit for purpose, but we can kill two birds here and radically change what it means to go out at night in Torquay. Town centre event space created where there's entertainment and food + drink, rather than just drink.
Anyway for me, what we will have to do soon is probably the most exciting thing to ever happen in our town centre. Lets not be gloomy about it and instead realize that in the future we could be looking back and thinking "this is much better than what we had!" The future is very bright, the only people that can spoil it is people with no vision. Lets open up the town and do Leisure and shopping and Events together in wide open spaces on the Riviera.”
by eponymice
Thursday, January 24 2013, 6:31PM
“I am somewhat surprised that Frank Sobey has taken a rather narrow view of the problems effecting our town centres. Once again we have the spectre of the traffic warden together with 'aggressive parking charges', rents and rates being raised as the cause of retail ills. As I have mentioned elsewhere these are contributory factors, but have a minor impact compared to the evolution of the retail market with its out of town retail parks and accelerating growth in internet shopping.
We should realise that the number of empty and temporary retail units is very unlikely to fall and accept that with national 'bricks and mortar' retailers mainly interested in out of town retail areas, the only viable future is in encouraging a Totnes like environment of individual entrepreneurs to occupy the most viable units (as far as Torquay is concerned probably Fleet Walk and the lower end of Union Street) and for the council to allow change of use of retail outlets to residential and other commercial elsewhere, to bring the numbers down to a more realistic level.
This would bring about a steep reduction in the number of empty and unattractive short term let shops which in turn would alleviate the poor image problem that Frank Sobey feels is damaging the local tourism industry.”
by SidneyNuff
Thursday, January 24 2013, 5:20PM
“Look at this weeks Around the courts and see how many times NFA (usually means a town centre hostel in Torquay) and Factory Row appear. This is the current shape of OUR town centre shopping experience. AND YOU WONDER WHY WE ARE SINKING.”
by realityzone
Thursday, January 24 2013, 2:44PM
“"We cannot allow our town centres to fall over and take with them the tourist industry! he says. Really? is FS not aware that there is scant connection between successful tourists destinations the need to have a high powered town centre. Torbay has never been a resort which is a destination for shopping. You can enjoy Torbay as a tourist area and take a day trip to Exeter or Plymouth for shopping, as many people clearly do”
by SidneyNuff
Thursday, January 24 2013, 2:23PM
“We should be in a better position than most to have an interesting and vibrant town centre. We have a town centre by the sea, we have a tourist resort with tourists, some come with cars some don't, but no tourist wants to walk up to the wilows to see the sort of thing they do better in their city. They want to stay by the sea, they want restaurants and they want to be entertained. We should have them captive BUT instead we fill the centre of Torquay with drug rehab centres, doss houses and hostels for criminals and sex offenders. We drive them away. Where does your family like to holiday and how far up your list of sights to see are drug hostels.”
by iainwilliams
Thursday, January 24 2013, 9:05AM
“Every town centre has a chamber of commerce that is supposed to lobby the local authority about these problems. What are they doing? Nothing apparently.”