An update on the Salisbury Recovery following the major incidents.
In Attendance:
Alistair Cunningham - Corporate Director, & Cllr Pauline Church – Cabinet Member for Salisbury Recovery
Minutes:
Councillor Pauline Church - Cabinet member for Economy and South Wiltshire Recovery and Alistair Cunningham - Chair of the South Wiltshire Recovery Coordinating Group gave an update on the Salisbury Recovery, some of the points covered were:
Salisbury - The good news is all City centre sites had now been handed back clean and were getting back to normal.
Amesbury - Amesbury Baptist Church had been returned to its owners. The clean-up was underway at Boots pharmacy in Stonehenge Walk and at Charlie Rowley’s home in Muggleton Road.
The barricades along the river would come down on Sunday and those at Zizi in a few weeks.
There had been some reports of dead ducks, these ducks were taken away for analysis and all cleared as the cause identified as a bacterial problem.
Impact on Footfall:
•
Before the second major incident, footfall in
Salisbury had
recovered to 4.2% below the 2017 figure
• Footfall in Salisbury is 13.7% down compared to 2017 figure
• Nationally – town centre footfall is steady at 0.1% below the 2017 figure
• Recent retail survey identifies 17 retail units available - vacancy rate of 7.4%, national average is 11.1% (from BID)
Support to boost the economy:
• Our focus is on supporting businesses and boosting tourism and visitor numbers
• From next Monday - October 1 – parking in council run city centre car parks will be free after 3pm until Christmas Eve
• Five park and ride sites will be free Monday – Saturday
• Around £3.6m has been provided to support the economy by the government, LEP and Wiltshire Council in financial support
Long term support boost to the economy:
• High Street
Reposition the local economy to be more resilient and sustainable by revitalising and modernising the high street.
• Culture
Expand and diversify the market base, in particular the visitor market.
• Perception
Transform global perception of the city and replace associations of nerve agent with Salisbury’s culture, heritage and retail offer as the quintessential medieval city.
• Growth
Set the recovery in the context of the wider development of the Salisbury/A303 Growth Zone (Boscombe and Boeing, Porton Science Park, A303, A36, Army rebasing)
Short term support to boost the economy:
• Cllr Pauline Church publishes a weekly blog
• Hosting and promoting range of events in 2018 and 2019
• Salisbury Literary Festival - 16-22 October
• Food and drink markets
• Salisbury Christmas Lights switch on - Thursday 15 November
• A Very Vintage Christmas at The Guildhall - Sunday 25 November
• Salisbury Christmas Market - 29 November - 23 December
• The OVO Energy Cycling Tour
• National Armed Forces Day - 28-30 June
The following comments and questions were received:
· Recovery and your plans going forward are all about taking Salisbury back to a medieval city, but what are your plans to incorporate a low carbon future? Answer: We are working very closely with LEP, a low carbon future will be a part of that. There has been a lot of noise around carparking, but our park and rides are free, so people do not need to pay to park. Around growth, a lot of that will be low carbon. We want partners to put forward ideas on how we can develop the recovery plan. To help us drive the plan and how we can benefit from the returning military personnel, do get in touch and engage, to bring us some of your ideas.
· Cllr Walsh – The environment of the city is important, will Zizi have a more subdued paint job on the outside? Answer: It will have a relaxed background colour. We have asked LEP to think about spending funds on things that add value to the centre of Salisbury.
· Does this money have to spent by 2021? Answer: The plans we have are deliverable, the development partner is onboard. We have good quality names working with us to take space within the development were the library walk is.
· When working with an old city it is better to retain the old look, Salisbury has not always managed to do this. Building new shops is not helping. Answer: A market walk façade is to be retained.
· The figure of 13.7% drop in footfall is quite an eyeopener. Will the change in the free carparking to 3pm be a bit premature? Answer: We will keep an eye on the footfall to see impact.
· Can we have a full list of the costs published at future area boards? Answer: This is something the Board will request for future updates.