Wallace Community Planning Forum
Note of meeting held in Riverbank Centre
On Thursday 24th November 2011
Present
Joan Beattie,
Elaine Wyllie,
Jim Wyllie
Ann Graham
Pat McBeth
M Watson
B Whitby
John Aitken
Robert Pears
Athina Papamagarit
Mercat Cross and City Centre CC
Cambuskenneth CC
Cambuskenneth CC
Riverside CC
Riverside CC
Bridge of Allan CC
Bridge of Allan CC
Resident Mercat Cross
Start up Street
Anti Static Art
Officers
Barbara Allan, Manager, Communities and Culture, Stirling Council
Wilma Comrie, Stirling Council
Anne Marie Timmoney, Stirling Council
Shirley Blair, Minute taker, Stirling Council
Others
Paul Fleming,
Councillor Graham Reed
Central Scotland Police
Castle Ward
Apologies
Des Friel, Stirling Council
George Sutherland
Councillor Brown
Stirling Council
David Black
Mercat Cross & City Centre CC
The chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and made introductions.
Note of previous meeting
Notes passed
Matters arising
Local development plan has been delayed and will not go back to the Council
in January so there is still a chance for people to comment.
Councillor Reed said there had been discussion at the Licensing Forum about
over provision in the Stirling area.
The open space strategy is out to the public for consultation.
Andy Kennedy, City Centre, Start up Street presentation
At the moment there is a fare bit going on in the Stirling area. This is one of
the things that were done on the back of the Urban Idea’s Bakery, this
included where people could go in the Stirling area. Stirling has potential so
its not all bad news.
Headlines
This is all about High Street shops shutting as this would have an impact on
the whole area. A fair chunk of businesses and space involved. A few things
are changing including internet shopping but people still want to go shopping
on the High Street, not everyone wants to buy online.
Too many towns in Britain are starting to look the same, the same layout and
a whole range of issues that can not just be attributed to the recession.
Key driver – Planning, Transport and constraints.
Speed of access to the town
Additional costs – including parking charges.
Property costs
Upward only rent reviews. The Irish Government are trying to revoke this.
Business rates evaluation, rates rarely go down usually increase.
There is still the small business bonus scheme, this applies to all small
businesses.
Increased regulation has a disproportionate impact
Increased choice including the internet, ie Catalogues and Home Delivery
A change in working patterns, some centres have changed to reflect this
including 24 hours.
A report out last week shows the amount of things available in the area. Andy
explained about the content of this report.
One of the issues that came out at the Urban Idea’s bakery was King Street.
Andy explained about the Stirling vacancy rate of all the property in Stirling.
Some areas are way below a level where they will struggle to come back.
Stirling has traditionally had less small businesses. Some of the local towns
are looking very healthy.
Venue Score
Stirling are in the top 10 in Scotland and nationally is about 161. Its not all
bad news for Stirling. Glasgow is 2nd in the national rankings.
A pocket of concern for Stirling is King Street, the number of vacant units in
the street is 8. The vacant units are not owned by Stirling Council. It would
be easier to deal with. One complete building is up for sale.
Concerns evidenced
Vision exercise
City Game
Urban Idea’s bakery
Lynn Jones Research
Resident survey – people asked to comment
Investors
Businesses
Start up street
OPS
Barriers
Vacant space
Create better environment
Sense of place
Avoid waste of assets
Achieve direct outcomes
Experimentation
Civic Pride
Landlords rents
Business rate relief
Bureaucracy
Change of use
Legal delays
Grant dependent culture
Funding to develop.
Going forward will see much less money spent. This has been seen in many
areas.
Bureaucracy gets in the way and people can work to different agenda’s
Change of uses - Property used to have to lie but this is out of date and
needs to change
Legal – trying to get to one leasing arrangement.
Grant dependent culture – not getting business to stay once the grant runs
out.
Some funding to look at creative industries.
Start up street programme
There are some really bright idea’s to take forward. There are also some
different suggestions to be part of the mix. Authorities are looking at different
leasing. This will not be a quick project. High Streets will die if people don’t
try to move it forward.
Wilma asked if the Forum could support this project.
Andy said there has been an information day and there has also been some
interest from the creative sector.
Barbara Allan said there were people out there who have buildings but are not
receiving any income but are happy to let them sit empty.
Andy said things are changing. There has been contact from the council but
this takes time. What the area used to have was investors.
Brian said the Grimley report released today sounded depressing.
Andy said this was why they need to get behind Town Centres to move this
forward.
Brian asked about rents?
Ann Graham said the Urban Idea’s Bakery had indicated that King Street is
not solely retail. This area is also residential and social.
Andy agreed and said that the upper floor residents space is very popular and
this also includes lots of HMO.
Mike said as some of these units are privately owned, is it right that the
council has no say what is done.
Andy said the use can change without going to Stirling Council but it needs to
fall within the category. Barbara said the down turn in the market makes it
easier to change usage.
Mike said it would surely be beneficial to work in partnership with everyone
concerned.
Out of town Development?
Barbara agreed that people do go right out of town.
Andy said the plan has been good at protecting the local area.
Who owns the Arcade? – this is a sad place to go through.
Andy said the arcade has changed hands recently and are currently doing
some work on it. They are very supportive of the plans that are being looked
at in King Street. They are also supporting the local schools and recently
allowed one of the High schools to use one of the units. The biggest
problems is the entrances.
Brian said that when you go into town people head straight for the centre and
not the outlying streets. How to they encourage people to move go out of the
shopping centre.
Barbara Allan said King Street was one of the nicest streets in Stirling.
Councillor Reid said they are working hard on the facades of King Street and
Barton Street. There are a number of marketing things that the retailers can
do. There is an enterprise park but everywhere needs a bit of a revamp.
Some of the shops in King Street have online facilities. Shops like McAree’s
have a very unique style. The manage of the shop is very good at attending
meetings etc. Ann noted that you get the old fashioned customer service in
McAree’s.
Barbara said she was in Callander for 5 days and the same thing is coming up
there. They have looked at the same problems and how to connect with
residents and tourists. This was very interesting. Andy said they would keep
things more local. Barbara said Callander was very tourist orientated and
looking at bringing in money.
Mike said the main difference between online and instore shopping is getting
the experience of going into shops like McAree’s.
Barbara thanked Andy for his presentation.
City Centre North Action Plan
Lesley Gallagher gave a presentation on the Safe Base.
The Community Safe Base is operating for the 3rd Year in Stirling. This will be
over the festive period and offers community safety and reassurance to
people who might feel vulnerable at this time. The base is at Stirling library,
with activity in the area outside with patrols engaging with people. There will
also be taxi marshals on duty. Things including during the year include street
pastors and door stewards. This all comes under the safe base and everyone
knows what and where it is happening. People get into trouble and are
brought back to the base. This could be because they have lost money,
phones etc. Staff will make sure that they get home safely. Workers will be
wearing red and black jackets. They have now got people out on the street
and are all connected to the base by radio. This service is financed from the
Council and gives people a feeling of safety. Andy said some other areas
have picked up on the same idea. Stirling’s service has been honed and has
now got a pretty good model. Lesley said one of the biggest things that they
give out is flip flops as some young people were walking around the streets
with their shoes off.
Paul said this is a very good resource and finds that there is reassurance in
the presence of the people in the red and black jackets.
Mike asked if there was any transferable lessons, ie for the summer as this
could make using the city centre more attractive for visitors. Andy said that its
been some time since the community wardens into operation but they do not
use the city centre. This is something that Stirling Council will need to think
about as 2014 is just around the corner. Between 6 and 8 pm there are not a
lot of people around. Lesley said they might look at a more watered down
version for different busy times of the year. Barbara said Bridge of Allan have
developed an early evening business strategy.
Councillor Reid asked about looking at making part of King Street, Port Street
and Murray Place into a covered area. This would be like a tented roof that
would mean that people would be dry at all times and not just in the Thistle
Centre. Andy said they had thought about this for King Street. Councillor
Reid said places like Princes Square in Glasgow are beautiful. This was
suggested at a meeting this morning but thrown out. The covering would be
along the lines as the same as O2 arena. Andy said Hexham was a really
nice place for shopping as it was covered. Councillor Reid said it could be
transparent and for this climate it would be brilliant.
Stirling City Centre North Action Plan – Lesley Gallagher
Friar Street and the surrounding area is what is covered by this initiative. This
includes lots of complex issues like illegal dumping, theft, low income
transient housing. There is a wide range of different tenants and different
communities. There is lots going on in a tight area and this is costly in human
terms including the highest rate of opiate addiction in Forth Valley. Cowane
Street has the highest level of robbery. All of this is costing the police.
This was the challenge that was brought to the fore by the police. There are
also a lot of different partners involved.
Some of this is short term and some still revolves around drug and alcohol
misuse.
The action plan is running until the end of this financial year. This went to the
Community Councils involved for their consultation. There was a drop in open
day at Cowane Centre. They didn’t want people to see things happen then
nothing after that. Is this a model that can be transferred to other areas. The
Headline in the Stirling Observer was a bit negative but the article answered
the headline. The deep clean proposed has happened and other issues are
still to be dealt with. This was very much a pilot that would give people a
taster of what is being done.
The impression from the Community Council was that they were being
negative of the plan. Residents were saying positive things about and Lesley
noted that this was all positive. Lesley said they had had positive headlines up
until then. Barbara said one of the challenges is getting information to people
to work with and Merkat Community Council is very important in this plan.
Wilma said there was work being done at the university.
Lesley said the plan is running and this is to enable them to do what they
already are. There are lessons that can be taken to other communities.
Barbara said Bridge of Allan have just finished a Community Action Plan.
Mike said it would be interesting to see the sustainability of the plan. Lesley
said people are coming into the area from out with the Stirling area. Barbara
said this area used to be a very settled area. Some of the challenges is the
mixture of students and transient people. Ann said they also have students
and transient people in the Riverside area. Barbara said they could look at
this project going out to the local areas. Ann said this was reassuring to
know.
Paul Fleming noted that Catrina Paton has moved on and is being replaced
by Patrick Scrogie.
Barbara Allan thanked everyone for attending and speaking at tonight’s
meeting.
The programme for future forums has not been discussed due to timing and
Barbara said she would write out to forum members with suggestions and
dates for future meetings. The next meeting will be in February.