Upload
lizzie-thatcher
View
221
Download
1
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
The newsletter for all traders and businesses across Lichfield City Centre.
Citation preview
Welcome to the City Speak newsletter Welcome to this festive edition of City Speak. This issue is filled with feedback
from the very successful traders’ ‘Ideas Event’ held recently at the Lichfield
Garrick. I wanted to take this chance to say a personal thank you to everyone
who gave up their time to come along to the event. It was really informative
and as you’ll see reading this edition of City Speak, it has started to build
momentum behind what we hope will be some exiting and successful
initiatives for the city. I hope you enjoy reading this issue of City Speak, and
may I wish you a very busy Christmas and New Year.
Richard Lewis, President of the Lichfield Chamber of Trade & Commerce
on behalf of city centre partners.
In this edition 2 - 5 Feedback from traders’ ‘Ideas Event’
5 Christmas Shopping Crawl
6 Festive city windows
6 City Jewellers launches new floor
6 Christmas lights switch on
6 FREE business website and mobile app listings
7 Active Crime Intelligence System Database
7 Christmas Festival Weekend
8 Dash parking competition and events
8 Let’s work together towards a joint recovery
Lichfield chosen as a Town Team Partner and
scoops £10,000 to boost the city centre Update from Lichfield District Council
In late October, the Lichfield City Centre Coordination Group heard the
fantastic news that it has been named an official Town Team Partner as part of
the government's drive to boost local high streets. On top of being named a
partner, the district council was also awarded a further £10,000 funding to
deliver a range of initiatives in the city - ranging from a city map, to door
stickers, to wider circulation of the What's On events guide, and improvements
to the current special offers card.
Following the announcement, Lichfield City Centre Coordination Group will
now be known as Lichfield Town Team. The team has an open membership of
traders and businesses across the city centre, and is chaired and hosted by
Lichfield District Council.
As part of the government package, the Town Team will also have access to
range of tools to help boost the city. Support includes an advice line, a network
of advisors and mentors, meetings with other Town Teams, as well as an
online community with advice and information from retail experts.
The move to create Town Teams follows the government's Portas Pilot
initiative, in which retail centres were invited to create plans for how they
could rejuvenate their high streets. Lichfield missed out on becoming one of 24
Portas Pilot towns earlier this year. As the government received more than 400
applications from across the country, it invited those who had not been made
Portas Pilots to submit an application and pledge for a further £10,000 in late
autumn, which the district council submitted.
MP for Lichfield, Michael Fabricant, was pleased to sign the city's pledge. He
said: "I am delighted that Lichfield has been named a Town Team Partner. It is
the start of what I am sure will be a constructive partnership between over 30
local traders and organisations and the government. Being able to access
funding and a range of resources will help the group in their work to improve
the city centre experience for both visitors and residents of Lichfield."
Local traders are welcome to come to meetings of the Lichfield Town Team.
To find out more, email [email protected] or call 01543
308781.
Issue 4 November 2012
1
You are invited to a traders’
‘Drop-In Event’ Tuesday 27 November 2012
Lichfield Garrick Theatre Bar (1st floor)
Drop in anytime between 11.30am &
7.30pm
Over 50 local traders came along to an ‘Ideas
Event’ at the Lichfield Garrick in October to
discuss ways to spend £50,000 High Street
Innovation Funding to boost footfall in the city.
On pages 2 - 5 of this edition of City Speak, you’ll
find a full run down of the top 15 ideas traders
came up with.
We’ve also included some suggestion about how
we could implement the ideas, along with some
very rough cost estimates. Our ideas are not
necessarily the right way forward, but we hope
they will give you a good starting point for your
own considerations.
At the ‘Ideas Event’, traders said they would like
the chance to vote again on the ideas they
would like us to invest the money in. To do this,
we are hosting a traders’ ‘Drop-In Event’.
At the ‘Drop-In Event’, you’ll have chance to give
your thoughts on the ideas traders came up with,
tell us which ones you think most money should
be invested in, and let us know if you have
alternative ideas about how to take things
forward. The plans for spending the money will
then be formulated by the Lichfield Town Team,
in line with recommendations from the ‘Drop-In
Event’. See pages 2 - 4 for more, and also page 4
for news of a ‘Traders’ Open Meeting’ in 2013.
Thank you to everyone who came to the recent traders’ ‘Ideas
Event’ at the Lichfield Garrick to come up with ways to spend
the £50,000 High Street Innovation Funding in Lichfield City
centre to boost trade. Since the meeting, Lichfield District
Council also heard the fantastic news that the City Centre
Coordination Group, hosted by the council, has been awarded a
further £10,000 and has also been named an official
government Town Team Partner (see front page for details).
Find out on the next four pages what people at the event want
to see developed in the city. Over 30 ideas were put forward,
and when we ranked them, we wanted to create a top ten for
people to vote on, but we have ended up with a top 15 ideas,
because a number of ideas got the same number of votes.
We’ve also included some ideas about how we could
implement the ideas traders came up with, and also some
very rough cost estimates.
We’re hosting a traders’ ‘Drop-In Event’ on 27 November at the
Lichfield Garrick, so you can vote again on which ideas you want
us to invest most funding in, as well as feedback any other ideas
and thoughts. See the front page of City Speak for more details .
1. A brand for the city 15% of the votes Traders want a brand for the city that appeals to shoppers,
restaurant and bar goers, not just to tourists. This scored the
largest percent of the vote with 15%.
Our view for you to consider: This will be relatively simple to
take forward:
� A brainstorm with traders to generate a design brief
� A competitive pitch by passionate local companies
� A selection process
� Development of the brand
� Application to various e-tools and marketing
Rough costs estimates: £1,500 - £2,000
2. A town centre manager 11% of the votes
Our view for you to consider: With the available funding, a
town centre manager could be appointed on a short-term
contract, however with 14 other top ideas, we need to consider
this carefully. Issue to consider:
Sustainability If we appoint a town centre manager, what
would their brief be? Would it be to generate support for a
Business Improvement District, which could fund the post
ongoing?
Impact If we don’t want the role to deliver a Business
Improvement District, what impact will a short-term post have?
Will it make a real difference? Is it a good investment of money,
given there is no ongoing funding to maintain the post in future
years?
2
3. A city website to appeal to local
people, not just visitors 9% of the votes
Our view for you to consider: One of the most challenging
aspects of managing a website is keeping the content up to
date. The city already has a website www.visitlichfield.co.uk
that is targeted primarily at visitors, and lists over 70 city shops,
18 coffee shops, and over 30 pubs, bars and restaurants, and
offers all of these free basic listings. The maintenance of the
site is funded through core council funding, so when we
consider creating a new website targeted at shoppers, it is a
fantastic source of data that we feel should be re-used - think of
it as a database of city centre retailers, events and attractions
data!
So, how would we reuse the data? It would be simple to create
a newly branded sister website to www.visitlichfield.co.uk that
publishes the same data, but in a different order/format to
promote Lichfield to locals and to highlight shops, bars and
restaurants over tourist attractions for example.
The benefits of this approach is that we would not be creating a
whole new website, and a whole new set of data to keep up to
date. The website would also be supported by existing
infrastructures - such as the inhouse web development
resource at the council. www.visitlichfield.co.uk also comes
with a sister mobile website (www.visitlichfield.mobi) and a
soon to be launched app, which could also be developed for the
new city website easily and cheaply.
In the past we have struggled to engage traders to sign up for
the free basic listing, and this will be a challenge we need to
overcome, but hopefully the improved engagement this process
is delivering, will help us to do that.
Rough cost estimates: In addition to the design (see branding)
this could cost in the region of £2,000 - £3,000 to deliver
(one-off cost), including website, mobile website and app.
4. More seasonal events 7% of the votes
Our view for you to consider: Lichfield is rich with events, and
most people visiting from outside the area are amazed at the
breadth of events that take place, and the wide promotion of
them through What’s On. In recent years we have made a
concerted effort to boost the city centre presence and appeal
of existing events, including the Heritage Weekend and the
Christmas Festival Weekend, as well as host new city centre
based events, including the Lichfield Food Festival, the Olympic
Torch Relay and the Jubilee Big Lunch
… continued overleaf
What traders want
Feedback from ‘Ideas Event’
3
The city’s current annual tourism events (Heritage Weekend
and Christmas Festival) are delivered on a shoestring budget
and are only possible thanks to support from attractions,
traders and partners. Additional budget (marketing and event
programming) could enhance these events and others (ideas
could include a Lichfield Festival Fringe and more street arts for
example) and transform their impact. Existing events are well
spaced throughout the year, however traders suggested an
early spring event could be considered.
Traders felt the impact of the Christmas Lights switch-on on a
week night, and the corresponding late date of the Christmas
Festival Weekend should also be considered. Two traders want
to know if we can move the lights switch-on and festival
weekend to create an early Christmas weekend event that
could impact positively on trade at this hugely important time.
Rough cost estimates: £1,000 - £2,000 per event
5. More business & networking
opportunities 7% of the votes
Our view for you to consider: Lichfield is rich with trader
organisations – from the Lichfield Town Team, to the Lichfield
Chamber of Trade & Commerce, to business breakfasts that
take place regularly. A sensible question is, ‘do we really need
to create more, or do we need to strengthen and improve
existing structures?’ Issues to consider include:
Fees Four traders requested membership/networking
organisations that don’t charge fees. The fees charged by most
organisations are very low. Could some of the money be used
to offer businesses a free year’s membership/discounted
membership to encourage new members to join and try it out?
Timings & regularity Six traders mentioned the timings of
meetings. Should we speak to traders to see when traders want
meetings to take place and what locations are easy to get to?
Above all, before we re-invent the wheel and duplicate costs
through creating another business partnership, is it worth first
looking at how we can better shape what we already have, and
encourage more traders to get involved?
Rough cost estimates: Cost of covering membership for a set
time/number of free membership taken up.
6. More social media 6% of the votes Our view for you to consider: Without a brand/identity and
underpinning structure (i.e. someone given the responsibility to
keep social media up to date) it is difficult to deliver in a
meaningful way. If a city website is developed (see idea 3) for
shopping, eating, drinking in Lichfield, it will create the
necessary brand/identify to kick-start more social media.
Maintenance and management If a town centre manager is
appointed, that person would be ideally positioned to deliver
social media. If not, the Visit Lichfield team could add this to
their work on tourism social media, including twitter and
facebook, however the frequency of updates would be less.
Rough cost estimates: Dependent on who delivers it.
7. Appoint street champions 6% of votes
This links to comments traders made about the difficulties of
attending networking meetings and events, particularly during
the day. 6% of traders suggested appointing ‘street champions’
in each street/area of this city. This trader would then be
invited to attend Town Team meetings, and would be the main
point of contact for other traders in their street/area.
Our view for you to consider: Issues to consider include:
� Would enough traders be happy to take on the role of
street champions to cover the entire city?
� What could we do to support street champions?
� Could we offer training/ support to help them carry out
their role of street champion?
� Would the role be rotating annually?
� How do the Town Team meetings need to change
(timings etc) to allow all street champions to attend?
Rough cost estimates: Training costs
8. More parking offers 6% of the votes To set this into context, cheaper short-stay parking received
five votes and free parking received only one vote, but more
‘parking offers’ received 15 votes.
Our view for you to consider: The district council operates over
1,800 car parking spaces across 19 car parks in the city centre.
Our car parks cost £556,000 a year to run - from maintaining
the car parks and paying wardens, to cleaning and ticket
machines. Like other businesses, we pass 20% of our income
from ticket sales to the government in VAT charges. And,
despite facing steep increases in our costs over recent years,
such as rates and electricity, we haven’t been able to put our
charges up since 2008. Having said all that, we do generate a
profit each year which helps to pay for essential local services,
such as street cleaning, public toilets, local leisure centres, and
even our local waste and recycling scheme. The contribution
our car park income makes is vital as it funds services, but also
helps to keep local people’s council tax bills down.
We know how important local car parks are to city businesses
which is why we try to keep parking charges down whilst
making sure that our car parks are of the quality visitors to the
city expect, as well as create attractive parking offers. But offers
come at a cost. When the VAT went up last year, in response to
calls from traders, we didn’t increase our parking charges, but
instead absorbed the extra cost (£32,000 a year). We’ve deliver
offers like Free after Three (cost around £16,000) and this year
parking after 4pm on the Christmas Lights Switch On will be
free (£700 cost) and we’re working on a Christmas promotion
for our DASH parking system (£300 cost).
We’re keen to hear your ideas for parking promotions that we
might be able to support through the High Street Innovation
fund work. We’re also keen to develop offers that will increase
footfall in the city overall, rather than just benefit existing
customers, who would have come into the city regardless
parking charges.
Rough cost estimates:
Research and cost to council.
4
9. More and better communications 5% of the votes Our view for you to consider: If you are reading this, you will
know that we recently launched a reformatted City Speak (now
in its 5th issue). Those traders that are aware of the publication
tell us it is very good and delivers them all the information
they need.
We could look to boost City Speak, but before we do that, we
are keen to know whether traders read it, and whether we
should delay a decision on this until people have had the
chance to look out for it and start to rely on it as a key
publication.
We are also updating the City Speak website
www.cityspeak.info to ensure there is an online version of
City Speak for traders to rely on.
Rough costs estimates: Dependent on decision.
10. More city advertising and
promotion 5% of the votes Our view for you to consider: The district council and Chamber
of Trade & Commerce have never advertised Lichfield City as a
shopping, eating and drinking destination to neighbouring
areas. Often times you will see advertising campaigns for
nearby areas (Stafford at Christmas / Solihull at Easter) on
buses, trains and more. Whilst Lichfield markets itself to the
tourist trade (funded by tourist attraction contributions), a
similar approach has not been applied to retail marketing. In
many other cities, this type of marketing is delivered through
partnership campaigns and trader contributions.
Issues to consider include: The branding for the marketing
activity would be delivered from the city branding workshop
(see idea 1), and would direct people to the website (see idea
3). Without the branding exercise and website development,
the success of the marketing campaign would be limited. In our
view it would be essential that this idea is delivered in
partnership with ideas 1 and 3 to be successful.
Rough costs estimates: Anywhere between £5,000 and
£20,000, depending on media chosen and frequency - from
billboard advertising, to radio advertising, to trainline
advertising costs vary dramatically and further research is
required.
11. A mobile application or website 4% of the votes Traders would like a mobile phone application or mobile
website to promote shops, restaurants and bars. They would
like this to be widely marketed throughout the town – think
door stickers encouraging people to use the mobile phone app
to find their way around. Issues to consider include:
Our view for you to consider: If we develop a city website (idea
3) using www.visitlichfield.co.uk as a base, we have the option
to also replicate www.visitlichfield.mobi that lists all the
content included on the Visit Lichfield website, including shops,
restaurants, events and special offers, for a limited cost. Much
like the website, we could reskin, or duplicate the existing
visitor mobile site to create a shopping mobile site, using the
same data.
Rough costs estimates: Mobile website design (£150 - £200),
plus a small amount of development costs (£500 max). Plus
costs of window stickers. The window stickers can be paid for
from the Town Team funding (£10,000 pot), and not out of the
£50,000 High Street Innovation Fund, as these were included
in the application
12 & 13. A loyalty card scheme and/or a
shopping crawl passport A loyalty card scored 5% of the votes, and a
shopping crawl scored 4% of the votes Loyalty card schemes can come in all different shapes and sizes.
From the idea of winning a car every month for shopping in
Lichfield, through to a paper card that is stamped every time a
customer makes a purchase in a local independent shop, and
then when full, the shopper can claim 10% off in shops, or be
entered into a prize draw.
Our view for you to consider: We currently have a special
offers card scheme that is free for traders and card holders free
to take part in. The offers also link into www.visitlichfield.co.uk
and www.visitlichfield.mobi, and will soon link to a mobile
phone app. The scheme is maintained by Visit Lichfield (issuing
cards, maintaining database, sourcing offers, providing shops
with promotional material to support offers etc). By creating a
sister special offers card (or possibly a jointly branded one) we
could benefit from the considerable processes already in place/
funded. A sister/co-branded card would accompany the new
city brand (idea 1) website (idea 3) and window stickers (idea
11). The Visit Lichfield card/offers are also supported by emails
to over 3,000 customers every month that promote the offers.
Again, these emails could be co-branded between Visit Lichfield
and the new shopping brand. We could also look to do seasonal
card promotions, such as Christmas shopping crawl passports,
one of which is taking place this year,
thanks to local independent shops
(see page 5).
Rough costs estimates:
Cost of card reprint, email rebrand,
monthly emails and any seasonal promotions.
Come to a traders’ ‘Open Meeting’ At the traders’ ‘Ideas Event’, an overwhelming number of
those present asked us to host further open meetings. As
such, we plan to hold an traders’ ‘Open Meeting’ in early
2013, to both feedback on the ‘Drop-In Event’ set to be held
on 27 November, and to also update traders about any of the
plans the Lichfield Town Team will have developed by that
date to invest the funds.
We’ll include details of the ‘Open Meeting’ in the next issue
of City Speak, but if you want us to email you to notify you,
please email [email protected]
5
14. More Covent Garden style
entertainers 3% of the votes Traders see the benefit of making streets a more exciting place
to be, and the benefit of well regulated and well managed
street entertainers.
Our view for you to consider: The city’s Town Team has
discussed this idea in length before and issues the team feel
need to be considered include:
Branded entertainment spaces The Town Team has discussed
the possibility of branded entertainment spaces, marked with
floor vinyls. Issues include planning permission, how long the
vinyls last, how they are maintained, how quickly they look
scruffy, any limitations on cleaning, as well as ongoing costs.
Entertainers It is possible we could use the money to recruit
a series of entertainers to provide quality on-street
entertainment over a set period of time. This is a short-term fix
and will not necessarily result in a long-term street
entertainment reputation.
Busking strategy Another alternative is to develop a busking
strategy to attempt to support and encourage quality buskers
to frequent Lichfield City centre. There are examples of
successful busking strategies elsewhere, and it may be worth
investigating.
Rough costs estimates: £2,000 - £5,000 for street entertainers,
depending on frequency and duration. Floor vinyls – needs
research. Busking strategy - free of charge and could generate
some income.
15. A city map 3% of the votes Traders expressed a desire for a city centre map, to advertise
the shopping, eating and drinking areas of the city.
Our view for you to consider: A city map that includes detailed
listings of all shops etc, is likely to go out of date as soon as it is
printed, due to the frequency of shop openings and closures.
An alternative would be a leaflet that includes a very clear map,
and clearly zoned areas – for example, Visit Tamworth Street for
a wonderful variety of independent stores, from beads,
to sewing and children’s clothes, Tamworth Street is a lovely
place to mooch for a unique gift or purchase.
Whilst the first map could be delivered free of charge within the
funding, long-term, traders could pay for advertising on the
reverse of the map to ensure it remains self-funding. The leaflet
could also include editorial about why to come to Lichfield and
promote the mobile phone application and website for store
listings, so that it could be put in information points further
afield to draw in shoppers.
Rough costs estimates: £1,000 - £2,000 depending on design
and print run. The first issue of the city map leaflet can be paid
for from the Town Team funding (£10,000 pot), and not out of
the £50,000 High Street Innovation Fund, as it was included in
the application.
Festive shopping crawl Update from independent Lichfield Stores
This Christmas shoppers and visitors to Lichfield City centre will
be in with an exclusive chance to win £800 cash and £250
vouchers as part of a new Shopping Crawl, launched by local
independent shops and the newly named Lichfield Town Team.
Anna Riley from Cure (pictured right), said: “Twenty
independent stores have joined together to give shoppers and
visitors a fantastic chance to win more than £1,000 in cash and
vouchers this festive season. Thanks to all the stores who
signed up and committed cash and vouchers to the prize fund.
We think the crawl will have a really positive impact on local
stores, and we know in other areas these initiatives have really
helped to boost footfall. To be in with the chance to win, all
passport holders need to do is visit each of the venues on the
Shopping Crawl, including Cure, Mooch, The Kitchen Shop, The
Spark Café Bar and many more, between Monday 12 November
and Monday 24 December 2012, to get their passport stamped.
They don’t need to buy anything to collect stamps, just visit the
shops to see what they are offering this Christmas.”
The Independent Shopping Crawl is part of a nationwide
initiative, launched by Independent Retailer Month, which
aims to boost footfall on high streets up and down the country.
Locally the campaign is supported by more than 20 local
retailers, as well as the new Lichfield Town Team, Lichfield
District Council, Lichfield Chamber of Trade & Commerce, The
Best of Lichfield, the Lichfield Gazette and Design Pit, who
helped to put the passport together.
Louie Clegg from The Best of Lichfield (pictured left) said: “We
sent over 17,000 passports to local homes in November
through the Lichfield Gazette for free. People can also pick
them up from the tourist information centre in the Lichfield
Garrick, or any of the shops on the crawl. Thanks to everyone
who helped us to put this initiative together, in particular the
Lichfield Gazette, Cure, the Design Pit, the district council and
the Chamber of Trade & Commerce, and fingers crossed it will
add to our festive trade, and have even have a positive impact
on those stores not on the trail! If it’s successful we’ll look to do
it regularly so even more stores will have chance to take part.”
The prize will be drawn in January 2013.
For full competition terms and conditions visit
www.lichfielddc.gov.uk/shoppingcrawl
City Jewellers launches new boutique
showroom Update from City Jewellers The team at City Jewellers is delighted to announce that it has
opened the doors to a new Designer Brand Jewellery Boutique
Showroom on the city store’s first floor. The showroom features
lots of stunning new brands, including Sean Lean, Babbette
Wasserman, Sho Jewellery, Missoma, and London Road, to
complement the store’s existing range of delightful Trollbeads.
To find out more, or view the new showroom, visit the city
based jewellers on Market Street, Monday - Saturday or email
the team at [email protected]
Is your business listed for FREE on
www.visitlichfield.co.uk and
www.visitlichfield.mobi Update from Visit Lichfield Visit Lichfield is the district council’s tourism team. It works to
encourage tourists, visitors, coach parties and more into the
district and city centre. The team produces a variety of guides,
including the annual visitor guide and the much loved What’s
On events guides. The team also maintains two websites -
www.visitlichfield.co.uk (receives over 370,000 visitors a year)
and www.visitlichfield.mobi which is a mobile site that works
much like an ’app’ on smart phones.
Currently both websites list over 70 city shops, 18 coffee
shops, and over 30 pubs, bars and restaurants. It’s completely
free to get a basic listing on the site, and you can pay for
enhanced listings (with photos and more information) if you
want to. You can also offer special offers on the sites for free.
It’s really easy to sign up for a free basic listing in the shops
or eating and drinking categories - just email
[email protected] and we’ll send you a
simple form to complete.
Being listed on the websites is a great way to
get your business noticed, so don’t miss out!
6
City shop windows get Christmas
make-over Update from Lichfield Chamber of Trade & Commerce and
Lichfield District Council This festive season eight shops in the city will get a festive
facelift, thanks to pupils from schools across the district. The
pupils are hard at work coming up with designs to both
brighten up the city, and to celebrate the themes of
Christmas, working alongside the Chamber of Trade &
Commerce and the district council’s community development
team.
The shops that are set for the festive treatment include
Buxton & Bonnett, Heaven Scent - Florist of Lichfield, Ivisons
Florist, S&J Music, St Mary’s Heritage Centre, The Tudor of
Lichfield, as well as two empty units in the Three Spires
Shopping Centre.
The schools involved in the project include St Peters & St
Paul’s in Lichfield, Scotch Orchard in Lichfield, Thomas Barnes
in Hopwas, Longwood in Mile Oak, The Croft in Armitage,
Chadsmead in Lichfield, Whittington and Maple Hayes in
Lichfield.
The festive themed window displays will start to appear in
late November/early December.
To find out more about the project, email community
development worker [email protected] or call
01543 308231 Christmas lights
switch-on Update from Lichfield City
Council and the Chamber of Trade
& Commerce
This year’s Christmas lights switch-
on is taking place on Thursday 22 November, and is set to be
bigger and better than ever before. The event is starting earlier,
and we hope this will encourage even more people into the city
centre, and into shops and eateries, to enjoy the festive spirit.
The entertainment will start at 4pm with live music on the
Market Square, on a bigger, better and louder stage, thanks to a
contribution from the High Street Innovation Fund and
sponsorship from Friary Shoes, Lichfield Chamber of Trade &
Commerce, Lichfield City Council, the Lichfield Gazette and
Councillor Alan White and Councillor Janet Eagland, through
their County Council Members’ Initiative Fund. The musical
programme is being provided by Lichfield Arts. Alongside the
entertainment, stalls selling a variety of arts, crafts and festive
produce will be up and down Market Street.
Local schools will sing carols from 6.30pm, and at 7pm the lights
will be switched on by TV’s Steve Huison who is playing the
White Rabbit in the Garrick’s Christmas production Alice in
Wonderland, and who will be ably assisted by two local school
children and the mayor. This will be followed by the arrival of
Father Christmas, and music until 8pm. Free parking after 4pm is
being provided by Lichfield District Council in city car parks.
Visit www.visitlichfield.co.uk/christmaslights
7
Helping you to fight business crime Update from the Townsafe Partnership To help city businesses in their fight against business crimes, such as
shoplifting, the city’s Business Crime Manager, Richard Lewis has
been working to set up an Active Crime Intelligence System (ACIS)
database for the city.
The database includes details of all recorded business crime that
takes place in Lichfield City centre, and is available to all Townsafe
Partnership member stores.
To report an incident, members fill in a short report form, and the
details are then entered on the ACIS database. Since it was first
launched in early July, over 70 incidents have been recorded by
Townsafe members, ranging from suspicious behaviour and
shoplifting to armed robbery. As the information held on the
database builds, it will start to reveal patterns and trends that will
help partner stores to identify the days and times they are most at
risk and from which groups of people.
Linking to CCTV
The Townsafe Partnership, through StoreNet, works with the city’s
CCTV control room. The police produce (under strict data protection
controls) images of suspects and these are provided to Townsafe
members to help prevent business crime.
Linking up across the region
Townsafe is also linked into Partnerships Against Business Crime in
Staffordshire (PABCIS) which means we will be able to start
identifying criminals that are travelling between towns and cities
across the region, including Tamworth, Cannock, Stafford, Burton and
Stoke-on-Trent. In turn, PABCIS is also linked into crime teams in the
West Midlands and other nearby areas, so we can share even wider
information about travelling criminals.
What is Townsafe?
Stores that join the Townsafe partnership, have the opportunity to
link their store to the city’s Storenet radio system. Storenet works
directly with the city’s CCTV system operators to help identify and
share intelligence around the movements of suspected criminals
operating in city centre shops and businesses.
Over fifty businesses are signed up to partnership, and as a result of
Storenet scheme, over 30 offenders have been excluded from local
stores as they have been found guilty of shop crime, and 14 offenders
have been excluded from pubs, bars and clubs for violent or abusive
behaviour.
Townsafe is a civil scheme that is supported by the police and the
district council’s Safer Communities Partnership, and has been
working to fight business crime in the city for over 15 years.
How to join?
There is a small joining fee for the Townsafe partnership, to cover
administration costs and the costs of running the database etc. There
is also a charge for the Storenet handset. If you are interested in
joining the partnership, or signing up for the Storenet Radio scheme,
contact Richard Lewis on 01543 250016 or email
Christmas Festival Saturday 15 & Sunday 16
December Update from Visit Lichfield
This Christmas, partners across the city are joining forces
to celebrate the festive season with a weekend of festive
events and activities, targeted at boosting footfall across
the city..
On Saturday (10am - 4pm) The Market Square will be a
hive of activity. From the traditional market, to mulled
wine, music from the Salvation Army, and carols by
Walsall Operatic society. There’ll be free face painting, a
visit from Santa and a Christmas Trail for all the family.
Erasmus Darwin House (10am - 4pm) will be offering free
entry and Georgian festivities including stalls, a tea room,
cakes and gifts. And in the evening (4pm - 6pm), the
Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum will be open for 'A
Georgian Family Christmas' with festive music, storytelling
and activities for all the family.
On Sunday The Lichfield Chamber of Trade & Commerce’s
Christmas Fayre and Lichfield Christmas Farmers' Market
(10am - 4pm) will take on the Market Square. Visitors will
be able to enjoy live music and dancing, free face painting
and a festive market trail. The Lichfield Mysteries will also
perform the traditional Nativity and a 'King and Angels'
fancy dress competition will take place at 2.45pm.
Don’t miss out: Are you opening on
Sunday 16 December? Lichfield is always busy when the Christmas market
comes to town. If you don’t traditionally open on a
Sunday, why not consider opening to snap up some last
minute pre-Christmas trade? If you do open, we can help
to encourage people to your shop by signposting from the
information tent on the Market Square.
To find out more about the festival weekend, email
[email protected] or call 01543 308215.
Three Spires
Lantern Parade Update from Three Spires
Before the city’s Christmas lights switch-on on Thursday
22 November, local schoolchildren from St Michael’s,
St Joseph’s and St Chad’s will parade handmade lanterns
through Three Spires Shopping Centre. The parade will
start at 5.30pm, and will be a magical experience for all
involved. The event has been funded by Three Spires
Shopping Centre, and the lanterns will be created by the
pupils, under the watchful eye of Celia Houghton, the
district council’s Arts Development Officer and local artist
Henrietta Ellis.
For more details contact Gwen Youlden on behalf of
Three Spires Shopping Centre [email protected]
8
November events
Thursday 22 Christmas lights switch-on
Thursday 22 Three Spires Lantern Parade at 5.30pm
Thursday 22 Lichfield & Tamworth Chamber Business
Luncheon ‘Seven steps to targeting, winning
and keeping profitable clients.’
To book your place call 08450 710 191 or email
Thursday 22 -
Sunday 25
Christmas Tree Festival at Lichfield Cathedral.
For more information please call the cathedral
reception on 01543 306100.
Wednesday
27
Traders’ ‘Drop-In Event’
Lichfield Garrick Theatre Bar (1st floor)
Friday 29 Think Local4Business at St George’s Park
www.thinklocal4business.co.uk/show
December events
Tuesday 4
All welcome
Songs for a City, Lichfield Cathedral. Celebrates
business, industry and voluntary sectors.
Thursday 6 Alice in Wonderland at the Garrick opens.
Wednesday
12
Lichfield Town Team Meeting
Email [email protected]
Saturday 15
& Sunday 16
Lichfield Christmas Festival Weekend, including
Chamber of Trade & Commerce Xmas Market
Thursday 20 Christmas Farmers’ Market, Market Square
Saturday 22 Shoppers’ Carol Services (12noon & 4pm) at
Lichfield Cathedral.
Sunday 23 General and Farmers’ Market, Market Square
Monday 24 General Market, Market Square
The editorial team Partners and organisations across the
city provide articles for City Speak. These are brought together
and published by the communications team at Lichfield District
Council. If you would like to add anything into future
issues of City Speak, or give us your comments, email
Distribution City Speak is distributed free to businesses
across Lichfield City. If you are not on the mailing list and would
like to be added, email [email protected]
When is it distributed We issue six editions a year. In
between these times we update www.cityspeak.info
Let’s work together towards a
joint recovery An opinion piece by Paul Oakley from the Lichfield Gazette
Through Lichfield Gazette's links with local businesses, we think
recently there has been much more of an optimistic feeling
about trade in the city centre, than at anytime in the past four
years. I don't know if it is the Debenhams factor, but there is a
much more positive mood in the air. Look at Tamworth Street
with almost every shop filled, except Julian Graves and the old
Victoria Wines premises, which is now under offer. It seems
there is the feeling 'we are all in this together' and when the
Friarsgate development gets under way, in our opinion, there
will be no stopping us!
We know from statistics that Lichfield has a well above average
proportion of self employed businesses. It seems Lichfield is
'the' place to have a business, a great place to do business and is
a terrific place to live. If we could get landlords on board with
reduced rents and encourage a wider range of interesting
retailers into the city, added to the great shops we already have,
we could become a real destination for shoppers throughout the
region. More importantly we need to keep locals spending here
in their own town, rather than in neighbouring towns.
When you look regionally, we’re not alone in facing challenges.
I recently saw an Oswestry local newspaper article bemoaning a
massive 46 shops vacant, which is far more than in Lichfield. I
also visited Ashbourne where they have half-day closing and
£1.10 an hour parking, which is more expensive than in Lichfield,
and are they holding on to their independent traders? We all
know it is extremely difficult for businesses to open in vacant
units, given the costs of rental, rates and more, not just in
Lichfield, but everywhere and we need to make sure we are not
only helping independent traders to cross this barrier, but to
stay open. There may never be a time when 100% of our shops
filled, but at last we are seeing some kind of recovery - let's all
work together now to boost our city and let’s not stifle it.
This is the first opinion piece we have included in City Speak. Let
us know what you think about it, and whether you would like us
to feature more opinion pieces. If you would like to submit an
opinion piece for a further edition or give your views, email
City Speak is brought to you in partnership by Lichfield District Council, Lichfield Chamber of Trade & Commerce, the
TownSafe Partnership, Lichfield City Council and other city partners.
Win FREE parking this December! Everyday in December a lucky Dash car parking customer is
set to receive a refund on their parking which they have
bought through the Dash cashless parking system.
Dash is a new payment system that allows you to pay for your
parking with a debit or credit card, using a mobile phone, text
or smartphone. Using Dash, you only pay for the parking you
want, and can top up your parking if you are late getting back
to the car park, or want to stay in the city for longer - so fines
and dashing back to your car is a thing of the past!
Last month over 600 people used Dash to park in our city car
parks, and this figure is on the up. We’re keen to encourage
even more people to use the system, as we know it’s easy to
use and once people get to grips with it, they love its
convenience, and use it again and again. To encourage even
more people to use the system, we’ll be putting posters up in
all the car parks promoting the win free parking offer, and also
offering posters to local shops to put up in their windows.
To find out more about Dash visit www.dashpark.co.uk or
email [email protected] or call 01543 687550