Revitalising Beccles town centre; a forward framework

www.people-places.net 2 Beccles town centre

Planning Partners The People & Places Partnership has been commissioned by East Council to help develop a ‘Forward Framework’ for Beccles town centre in association with Beccles Town Council and the Beccles Business & Tourism Association. a Forward Framework 3

Understanding a town centre is about people & place. About the customers & the businesses based there. About the built fabric & sense of community created. Positive local perceptions

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hen we asked 199 customers about the hen we surveyed all town centre W positive aspects of Beccles town centre, W businesses, the responses indicated that convenience (95%), customer service (93%), local customers (99%), prosperity (96%), value for money (90%), independent shops (90%), appearance (95%), tourist customers (89%), café/ grocery offer (89%), appearance (87%), ease of walking pubs/restaurants (93%), retail mix (90%), location around (86%) and cafes/restaurants (83%), were all (87%) and public transport (83%), were all valued valued positively compared to towns nationally. compared to towns nationally. 4 Beccles town centre The big picture

o get the ‘big picture’ & understand the wider T context of Beccles town centre, we used a tried & tested process of bringing together existing local research, surveying local stakeholders & collecting a suite of key performance indicators. Our approach has been adopted by the Local Government Association as national good practice for revitalising town centres. In understanding Beccles, we turned first to analysing existing strategies, population data & indicative performance measures.

Proactive planning Changing population Understanding the evidence The Local Plan outlines how Suffolk Observatory data It is vital to develop a response to a continually increasing shows that 37% of Beccles revitalising Beccles town centre that population will support & North & 32% of Beccles is based on an understanding of the help improve the town centre South’s population are evidence of changing performance & & its services to the benefit over 60-years-old. In opportunity. If this is understood, the of residents & tourists alike. comaparison, 40% & 44% various partners can come together to Land is allocated to the respectively, of both areas’ address a common agenda & develop south of the town for 1,250 population is under 40-years- coordinated solutions. By staying focused new homes the Beccles old, with an even distribution on the evidence, the partners can monitor & Garden of ages within this compared progress & clearly demonstrate success. Neighbourhood. to some other local towns. a Forward Framework 5

Ensuring sustainable growth Enhancing access & foot-flow Local Plan policies aim to ensure that Whilst ease of walking around town development will bring infrastructure, (86%) is perceived positively & footfall be of exceptional design quality & can is high, improving pedestrian access is a help divert HGVs from the town centre. top customer priority.

Building the town’s brand Taking Beccles online Whilst customers’ images of Beccles are There is a high customer demand for broadly positve & 95% would recommend more digital services promoting Beccles’ visiting the town centre, 19% of regular businesses, including through social media users think their experience is worsening. (67%) & targeted marketing (60%).

6 Beccles town centre

BUSINESS PEFORMANCE In terms of recent business performance in Beccles town centre, it is encouraging that 73% said their turnover had stayed the same or increased in the last year compared to 69% nationally.

BUSINESS CONFIDENCE It is encouraging that an increased proportion of businesses (83%) were confident that turnover would increase or stay the same. It is concerning, though, that 17% expected a continued decline.

BUSINESS PRIORITIES When businesses in Beccles were asked what two things would improve the town centre, the top priority for 55% of respondents related to parking, followed by a better retail mix (9%), more events to attract visitors (8%) & traffic issues (8%). a Forward Framework 7 Making better use of ‘brand Beccles’

sked if they would recommend a visit to Beccles town centre, a very high proportion of A existing customers (95%) said ‘yes’, compared to 67% of small towns nationally & 85% across towns. Beccles summed-up in a word

When asked to give a single word that summed-up Beccles town centre, all of the most prominent words used were positive & paint a picture of an attractive place to visit that is an appealing facet of everyday life. Customers value existing retail mix

Beccles was amongst the most positively perceived East Suffolk towns for diiferent aspects of the retail offer including groceries, national retailers & value for money. Customers changing experience

When asked how their experience of the town centre had changed recently, a modest proportion of on- street customers surveyed (24%) considered that their experience of Beccles had improved in recent years whilst a similar percentage (19%) considered it had worsened. Customers’ priorities for change

When customers of Beccles were asked what two things would improve the town centre, the overwhelming responses related to parking; traffic & transport; & improving the retail mix. These were all ranked equally. 8 Beccles town centre

Neighbourhood plan proposals

eccle’s draft Neighbourhood Plan proposes new policies to help boost the town centre alongside B improving community facilities, expanding the medical centre, increasing active travel & enhancing the environment.

Town centre policies Community-led actions

Amongst its wide- A range of locally-led actions ranging objectives, the are proposed for improving Neighbourhood Plan the vibrancy & quality contains specific policies of Beccles town centre, for maintaining a thriving including investigating the town centre by minimising possibility of a town centre vacancies through greater management team with flexiibility in the reuse of the Business Association; empty premises. Along encouraging more events with policies to ensure that such as specialist markets proposed new housing is & street entertainment; integrated with the rest of exploring the potential Beccles, the aim is to help for traffic free areas; & boost movement into & increasing policing to serve around the town centre. an expanding community. a Forward Framework 9

Bringing together Moving around town Taking town online COVID-19 recovery partners & priorities The draft Neighbourhood New customers can be The short-term impacts Plan includes policies for attracted by a place & its & long-term behavioural Beware the person fo- improving transport & products. Continued sup- changes caused by the cused on single issues movement that can benefit port to assist businesses in outbreak of the COVID-19 and quick fixes! Reviving the foot-flow around Bec- collaboarating to promote virus need to be under- a town centre’s fortunes cles, including enhancing the town & each other on- stood & factored in to fu- involves understanding pedestrian safety to maxi- line is an important part of ture support for the town the issues, the linkages mise walking into the town digital development. From centre. The response to between them and coordi- centre; supporting safe, the surveys we know that the outbreak has boosted nating the work of partners new cycle routes; enhancing 48% of businesses & 67% of community cohesion & with the passion, skills and public & community trans- customers see improved increased online activity resources to tackle them.. port; addressing potential promotion through social though services & busi- car parking shortages. media as an early priority. nesses have suffered. ing

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Two broad themes Taking the ork to revitalise W Beccles town centre could be organised as two distinct themes linked by partnership effective coordination.

1. Managing growth, access & streetscape enhancement to forward boost foot-flow.

2. Strengthening town centre t is important to have a clearly-focused identity, diversification & digital I partnership in place to drive things development to boost appeal. forward. This could focus seperately Work to address these two on key physical and promotional themes with a themes needs to be connected coordinating ‘hub’ communicating & engaging by effective coordination & with the wider community. clear communications with the Partnership working is effective when effort is wider community. put in to get it right. In this way, District, County & Town Councils, the Business Association & key community groups, can all play to their strengths to improve the town centre. A ‘forward framework’ formalises this thinking with a business plan defining how partners will work together & an action plan of agreed projects. a Forward Framework 11 Participating in district-wide work

ork to improve Beccles town centre will benefit from being part of the wider East Suffolk Towns W Initiative (ESTI). As well as providing initial support for planned projects, it could fund cost-saving collaboration with neighbouring towns. It will also enable links to the parallel district-wide parking review and Smart Towns project.

Smart Towns project Town parking review

After being piloted in Roll-out of the district-wide , the East Parking Review will benefit Suffolk Smart Towns project town centre customers is being rolled-out to other & businesses through towns across the district. It simplified tariffs, new offers investment in digital payment technology & smart infrastructure & skills. monitoring of usage. 12 Beccles town centre Creating a collective Forward Framework

ackling town stakeholders together; the T centre issues appropriate organisational can be organised form; finances; and forward in different ways. It is planning that defines the important to plan now to commitment, communication build on Beccle’s track record & coordination of partners in partnership working in with the wider community. ways that will serve the town This enables partners to ‘play for a decade ahead. to their strengths’.

Getting organised Coordinating delivery A ‘forward framework’ helps Delivery of a successful town everyone ‘row in the same centre strategy involves direction’ by defining the the coordination of a range ‘how’ & the ‘what’ of future of functions including activity. Successful delivery ‘place-shaping’; planning & of a town centre framework property; business support; depends on ‘how’ this is community & culture; organised by understanding marketing & events. This is the foundations that bring achieved by locally-led action. a Forward Framework 13

Next Steps

Evidence-led Engaging partners Effective actions A Beccles town A coordinating Delivering centre forward partnership successful 1 framework 2 can play an 3 town centre needs to continue important enabling role change involves to be evidence-led in engaging partners, developing solutions through gathering data, agreeing priorities, to address identified monitoring impacts, coordinating activity, needs, clarifying roles, understanding business involving stakeholders, coordinating activity performance & consulting securing new resources & & monitoring impacts customers. communicating progress. through routine surveys. 14 Beccles town centre Delivering joined-up solutions

Creating a ‘can-do’ attitude with measurable change It can Delivering successful town centre change is a long-term venture involving vision, ambition, a broad approach & be done! coordinated delivery amongst local partners. Here are some suggested building blocks of successful action planning focused on measurable targets for tracking change. It is vital for local partners to keep focused on such outcomes.

Policies for sustainable growth Increased movement around town

Targets: Agreed district & local policies Target: Measurable increases in foot-flow translated into enhanced business & around town & dwell times amongst local services mix; new community facilities residents & visitors. Such improvements & active travel routes into & around the should be mirrored by improved business town centre from new & existing homes. confidence across Beccles town centre.

Enhanced identity & experience Positive engagement & impact

Targets: Improved local customer & Target: Evidence of increased digital visitors’ perceptions of their changing marketing by businesses & community experience reflected in continued posi- groups; greater customer engagement; tive perceptions about the town centre & improved perceptions of the retail & ser- increased business confidence. vices mix; boosted business confidence. a Forward Framework 15

East Suffolk comparisons

ne of the added benefits of surveying East Suffolk O towns simultaneously, is the chance for neighbouring towns to compare & learn from each other.

The detailed town reports that accompany these summaries include an overview of East Suffolk-wide comparisons. As well as giving comparable context, this provides a first step towards towns working together to tackle common issues, share tips on how they operate, see how they might diversify or make the most of distinctive differences that might be jointly marketed.

Valueing retail offer Enhancing appeal Groups can get together Partnerships facilitating from across East Suffolk to joint working including share what works. Beccles, organising events & town- for example, can share how wide marketing can share positive perceptions about its their experiences & learn retail mix & customer service, about successes in engaging are used to boost its local businesses & reaching new resident & tourist footfall. local & visitor markets. Prepared for East Suffolk Council by Chris Wade, Director, aka @man_about_towns The People & Places Partnership Ltd. The Future Business Centre, Kings Hedges Road, Cambridge, CB4 2HY [email protected] www.people-places.net