To debate the idea of Salisbury becoming a 24 hour city.
Minutes:
The Chairman noted that it was not in the Boards remit to discuss planning apps in any way shape or form but to instead discuss the principle of whether Salisbury was ready for a 24hr economy.
Currently, everything inside the city centre had a closing time and opening time. Other areas such as Southampton had an economy and activity around the clock.
The Chairman invited discussion, the following points were raised:
· The BID wanted to have any activity that extends the life and vibrancy of the City. If 24 hour businesses were well managed and attracted people in to the city this was good.
· If the nature of the business meant that people would be coming and going to use it, this would not create large crowds. A 24hr city would give additional options to those who work 24/7 such as hospital staff. We should be providing for them and be open to such things.
· As a shift worker, my start and finish times vary throughout the year, and on my commute to and from work at various hours through the night, I can say that we see more people through these hours than we ever used to. Salisbury was already more vibrant at night than most people realise. We should embrace 24 hr businesses; the licensing regulations were changes years ago.
· I think we should support this absolutely, to be more like neighbouring cities. In the town centre, there were lots of people working through the night, we should see it as a positive move and welcome it.
· To have this discussion in theory had little value, as it would depend on what types of businesses we were considering and why. For example, a gym would be ok but a nightclub may be different. The 24 hr wouldn’t help the night time footfall.
· It’s was personal choice for people to stay up late at night. There would be impact on residents, hospital, Police and other organisations which support and serve the city. Some services needed some down time to catch up. The human body was not geared up for all night activity, there were side effects due to people staying up later. Cleaning the city would also become more complex.
· This debate is odd as you have not defined anything, such as are we talking about retail or entertainment? It was not a matter of are we ready for it but can we afford it. Tesco had to employ people to fill the shelves through the night, so the fact they open 24 hours was not for our benefit. Define what you mean and then have a debate.
· Churchfields was open 24hrs, but there were knock on effects for the roads coming in to the city. We would need to get a balance, do the benefits outweigh the detriments?
· Things will find their natural level.
· The solution to the decline in the night-time economy was not to increase the hours for nightclubs, but to increase the number of nightclubs.
· For shift workers, it could be nice to go to Tesco at early hours when no one was in there. The tourists need to be taken on board. If you have a 24 hour city then you would need a 24 hour public transport system.