Tag Archives: town centre regeneration

The rise in youth markets – “transforming town and city centres with the creativity of young people”

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Credit: National Market Traders Federation (NMTF)

By Heather Cameron

As we recently reported, despite being around for centuries, and following a decline during the recession, traditional retail markets have experienced something of a revival in recent years, with a new generation of innovative young traders coming to the fore.

Latest figures indicate the sector has a collective turnover of £2.7 billion a year from around 32,000 market traders – a gradual increase of around £200 million year on year since 2013.

The last five years has also witnessed the emergence of youth markets and ‘The Teenage Market’ initiative, which are generating income for young people and teaching them valuable entrepreneurial lessons, as well as transforming town and city centres.

Specialist market boom

But this revival is not wholly in the traditional sense of the market sector. Young people entering the sector tend to trade at festivals, fairs and shows rather than traditional markets, contributing to a specialist market boom.

According to a recent survey of the sector by the National Association of British Market Authorities (NABMA), new trends in the most successful product lines – hot and cold food and drink, baked goods, handmade crafts, fruit and vegetables and mobile phone accessories – have fuelled this growth.

Festivals and shows, which are popular with a younger demographic, are increasing in both size and frequency across the UK. Many of these events also take place out of the traditional season.

Such new trends do not come without their challenges, however, as NABMA’s survey also highlighted. Traders reported escalating pitch fees, poor pitch locations and never-ending paperwork. But despite these drawbacks, traders have reported huge returns at such events, where they can turn over tens of thousands of pounds.

Both NABMA and the National Market Traders Federation (NMTF) agree that the sector needs to embrace these new trends and act to engage this new generation of entrepreneurs.

Youth markets

Indeed, national initiatives in support of youth markets have emerged in recent years to do just that.

This September will see the fifth National Youth Market take place in Manchester, an annual event run by the NMTF in partnership with Manchester Markets. Young people between the age of 16 and 30 from all over the UK trade at this event, showcasing their entrepreneurial talent.

The NMTF also supports traditional market organisers to run specialist markets aimed specifically at young people. Many towns and cities from across the UK have launched their own youth markets, such as those in Manchester and Cambridge, with over 100 such events taking place every year.

Also in its fifth year, is The Teenage Market – “a fast-growing national initiative that’s transforming town and city centres with the creativity of young people”. This initiative provides a free platform for young people to trade at specially organised events. In addition to the retail offer, it also provides a platform for young performers to showcase their talents

Created by two teenage brothers from Stockport to support their town’s large population of young people, The Teenage Market initiative has quickly expanded across the country with thousands of young people taking part in events. Following the success of the first event, it was quickly recognised that the initiative could play an important role in the town’s regeneration strategy; a role which was highlighted by Mary Portas in her 2011 review of high streets.

Revitalising town centres

According to Portas, “Markets are a fantastic way to bring a town to life… I believe markets can serve as fundamental traffic drivers back to our high streets.” And one of her recommendations was to build upon current successful initiatives “to help attract young entrepreneurs to markets and really start building the innovative markets of the future.”

Indeed, the positive benefits for the towns and cities running The Teenage Market events include a rise in footfall, an increase in spend in the local area and a rise in the number of visitors to their local market.

Not only this, but the fusion of retail and live performances has succeeded in attracting a new generation of shoppers and visitors to local markets, helping to breathe new life into town and city centres.

Final thoughts

In an era of online shopping and declining high streets, the fact that local markets led by a new generation of traders are flourishing can only be a good thing.

And with an ageing population of traders, it is arguably now more important than ever to encourage young traders in order to secure the future prosperity of the markets industry.

If you enjoyed this blog post, you may also like our previous post on street markets.

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Single sector Business Improvement Districts: the future of BIDS in Scotland?

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As a model to promote economic development, Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) have been a success in Scotland. Under the watchful eye and guidance of the umbrella body BIDS Scotland, the framework has grown and in many ways looks very different from the 5 initial ‘pathfinder BIDs in 2006 (the first being Bathgate BID). However, the underlying principles, values and aims remain constant.

Single sector BIDs

The traditional model sees businesses within a local area enter into a financial partnership, with each member paying a levy towards improving and promoting economic development within a community, in partnership with local authorities and other bodies. By working together businesses can reduce costs, share risks and create new platforms for growth, while for local authorities the benefits include the potential to drive growth and investment in the local area and to obtain help in raising additional funds to do this.

However, the flexibility of the model and the way it fits it with both local and national agendas has been a big part of its success, and groups are now trying to apply the framework to new contexts in alternative and innovative ways. One of these new style frameworks is the idea of single sector BIDs. Their role was part of the discussion at the BIDS Scotland 10 year anniversary conference held in Perth last month.

Image via Rebecca Jackson

Image via Rebecca Jackson

Single sector BIDs, as supporters have pointed out, come with their own unique sets of challenges and benefits compared to the traditional BID model, but they are no less effective. They allow groups of businesses with common interests and common agendas to come together, cooperate, organise and collectively promote their goods and services with a view to develop not only their own businesses but those of others in their area and the local community as a whole.

A BID for food and drink

Within East Lothian plans are currently under way, and awaiting ballot, to officially form what is thought to be the world’s first ‘food and drinks BID’. They have adapted the BID model to cover a wider geographic area than the original BIDs model intended, as it was initially focussed around town and city centres and encompassed a number of different types of business.

Instead the single sector BID model encompasses businesses which sit within the food and drink industry, with a view to promoting East Lothian food and drink, support local business and create a unified voice and brand to market themselves and East Lothian as a quality provider of exquisite produce. They have had strong support from their local authority as well as from national bodies like Scotland Food and Drink. Together, local producers and sellers have been working with these statutory bodies to form their BID partnership. In May 2015 the partnership was awarded a seedcorn grant to develop their Food and Drink BID in East Lothian.

Because the businesses within the proposed BID are varied in terms of size and scope, it was decided to create levy bands relating to the number of employees, rather than rateable value, as had previously been the traditional model. The BID group also introduced a voluntary levy scheme for businesses such as farmers, who wanted to be included in the BID group as producers but were not eligible to under the current BID legislation.

The issue with legislation regarding urban and rural BIDs and the increased difficulty rural businesses have in joining BIDS, (both because of their geographic isolation and their size and categorisation within current legislation) is something which the BID group in East Lothian have stated they are trying to address and mitigate as best they can.

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Many observers are watching keenly to see if the single sector BID model could be applied across a wider geographical area, or across additional sectors. Suggestions have already been put forward for a canals BID within Scotland, a universities BID, as well as potentially creating food and drink BIDS in other areas such as Ayrshire and Perthshire. These could potentially form a network of BIDS across the food and drink sector, enabling individual businesses to create a stronger lobbying voice.

The future of BIDs in Scotland?

It is now the case that BIDs in Scotland are not restricted to town and city centres and can be developed in areas such as the tourism and visitor sector, commercial or industrial districts areas, rural areas, agriculture or, as this blog has highlighted, single sector business groups. The flexibility of the model and the increased levels of partnership working act as ways to spread accountability, create legitimacy through collective action and generate additional funding for a local area.

Together these elements make BIDs an interesting proposition for many businesses in Scotland and it is this flexibility, legitimacy and promotion of partnership which has driven the BID model into new and innovative areas, transforming the nature of the relationship between local businesses and statutory bodies within communities and transforming the nature of economic development and community resilience agendas.

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Parking charges and the death of the high street

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By Heather Cameron

“High streets are not just about shops; we have to consider what local people want” (Mary Portas)

Councils called for a scrap in parking charges recently following reports of booming trade in Cardigan, Mid-Wales, after pay-and-display machines were broken by vandals. Shopkeepers reported huge increases in turnover, with some up as much as 50%.

Three years on from her independent review of high streets, Mary Portas has said that the main source of dissatisfaction with our high streets is – you’ve guessed it – parking charges. Portas highlights research by Deloitte that shows 34% of us are unhappy with the cost of parking to access high streets otherwise regarded as convenient. The research suggested that consumers want to see more of:

  • Free parking (60%)
  • Choice of stores (59%)
  • Independent stores (57%)
  • Specialists e.g butchers (50%)
  • Parking spaces (48%)

Portas also notes that the more progressive local authorities are providing free parking at certain times or are freezing parking charges.

This begs the question – should parking charges be removed or changed to aid our declining high streets?

Decline of the high street?

It’s no secret that since the growth in large out-of-town shopping centres, local high street stores have struggled to compete. Business owners in Cardigan suggested that the temporary removal of parking restrictions “levelled the playing field” when it comes to competing with these shopping centres where parking is often free.

Despite efforts to regenerate high streets and make them more appealing to consumers, the latest BDO high street sales tracker  recorded a further month of decline in August, with sales falling by 4.3% compared to the same month last year – the worst performance since November 2008.

Much of this can be attributed to an increase in spending on leisure activities, including holidays abroad. The strong pound hasn’t helped the high streets as consumers are spending more on items abroad while tourists are more reluctant to spend.

As it is often cheaper to shop online and pay for delivery charges than it is to pay for parking for a couple of hours, it is little wonder people are less likely to shop on the high street. The threat of parking tickets is also a deterrent for many.

Earlier this year, high streets minister, Marcus Jones, claimed “unfair parking fines push up the cost of living and undermine high streets”.

So what is being done to address this issue?

New parking initiatives

Many of the Portas pilots trialled parking initiatives to bring more people to the high street. The ‘free after three’ initiative is one that has been introduced in a number of places since and has shown to have made a difference. Visitor numbers increased in Salisbury following a six month experimental period of the initiative. Nearly double the number of cars used the car park per week, making the town noticeably busier.

Just last month, Chippenham launched its own ‘free after three’ pilot initiative on Thursdays to support local businesses. It’s hoped that this will help shops and offices as well as improve the evening economy.

Rotherham Borough Council, for the fifth consecutive financial year in 2014/15, planned for no increases in the cost of parking. Portas suggests that it is no coincidence that 55% of shoppers in the town centre came by car, compared to 29% in 2009.

A way forward

Despite the evidence in support of free parking in town centres, it is also something that could easily be met with opposition. With calls to reduce car use and tackle emissions from vehicles, particularly in larger towns and cities, a balance needs to be struck.

And free parking alone is unlikely to save the high street. As Portas argues, a combination of actions are required. She suggests that while moves have been made in the right direction, more commitment and action is needed from government, specifically on:

  • Access and parking
  • Reforming business rates
  • Landlord registers
  • Long term support for Town Teams and simplification of the process of forming BIDs.

Clearly, parking is an important part of the picture in our smaller towns and cities, particularly in an age where convenience is key. If our high streets are to be viable, it’s something that councils need to think about carefully as part of a strategic approach to local economic development, rather than only as a way to manage traffic and generate revenue for traffic improvements.

 

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