Ballymena High Street 2020 Vitality and Viability Simon Quin Institute of Place Management

High Street UK 2020 Simon Quin Institute of Place Management High Street planning and #hsuk2020

Vitality & viability

town centre retail spend falling

Share of retail spend that is online 2014

70% of retail sales generated by… retailers 2004

Alsager Altrincham Ballymena BarnsleyCongleton Holmfirth Market Rasen Morley St George, Bristol Wrexham High Street UK 2020 towns

Literature review finding the evidence

156 factors influence vitality and viability

50 additional factors identified by town partners!

22 experts ranked 201 factors

vitality and viability 1.How much influence each factor has on the vitality and viability of the High Street 2.How much control a location has over the factor

Forget it Live with it Not worth it Get on with it! Get on with it! How much each factor influences vitality and viability How much control over a factor HSUK 2020 model

How much control do locations have?

Footfall data indicator of vitality Supplied by Springboard 62 UK towns and cities 30 months of footfall ( ) 563,828,709 people counted!

Spatial Macro Meso Micro FOOTFALL

Potential footfall Spatial Resident population and employment Location Catchment explains more about footfall in smaller towns Tourism and urbanisation increase footfall Footfall varies by region

Maximum footfall Meso Competition Vacancy OOT, EOT and stronger centres take up to 30% of a town’s footfall Town’s attractiveness is weakened by vacancy

Actual footfall Micro Organisation Offer 13% of footfall lost through lack of local control of micro factors Are towns providing an appropriate offer? (Comparison, Convenience or Speciality?) Mansfield, Gravesend, Grimsby

-10% Macro Average monthly footfall in 2020 Economy Internet shopping

What does footfall tell us?

What type of town are you? 1. Comparison Shopping Town.

Comparison Shopping towns  Wide range of retail choice  Strong retail anchor(s)  Large catchment area  Accessible by choice of means of transport  Organise themselves to compete with other comparison towns and channels

What type of town are you? 2. Speciality town

Speciality towns  Offer something unique and special  Anchor(s) not retail  Attract visitors but serve local population  Have longer dwell time  Organise themselves to protect and promote identity and positioning

What type of town are you? 3. Convenience/Community town

Convenience/community town  Focused on local community (offer, opening times, events etc)  Convenience anchor – work, public transport, food shopping, markets  Offers convenient mix of goods and services  Accessible and locally connected

Convenience/community town  Organise themselves to manage accessibility, concentration, reliability, and customer service……and identify additions to augment offer (click & collect etc)  Facilitating/strengthening networks and connections, active on social media, inclusive, passionate and active.

What type of town are you? 4. Market town Functioning market town Ex-market town

ReRe positioning inventing branding structuring Re connecting communities to centres

“..lively, diverse, intense cities contain the seeds of their own regeneration…”

“.. they just need a bit of help, a critical but caring friend, some appreciation and