Vibrant City Centre
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Sheffield Destination Management Plan for a vibrant city 2012 - 2015 Marketing Sheffield First Floor The Fountain Precinct Balm Green Sheffield S1 2JA www.welcometosheffield.co.uk Destination Management Plan Introduction This Destination Management Plan is designed as a strategic guide, to be adopted by all partnership organisations involved in developing Sheffield as an internationally important tourism destination. It is a key instrument to identify the actions and strategic relationships that will deliver a tourism strategy which will transcend into the Sheffield City Region. Marketing Sheffield is key to delivering this Destination Management Plan as cross-sector & partnership working is embedded in its ethos; led by private sector views and aligned to local and national strategies. Marketing Sheffield will provide the lead in delivering positive outcomes. The Plan concentrates on a single area - the need to deliver a ‘vibrant city centre’ - the area with the highest concentration of visitor related facilities and services, and the area which will deliver the highest impact on improving the experience for visitors and residents alike. The planned outcomes for Sheffield are ambitious and transformational. Everyone benefits, and everyone must contribute. By creating a vibrant city centre, we create a visitor destination which presents Sheffield as a Competitive City, as an attractive and successful place to live, work and invest. The DMP is important because it provides a framework and rationale for investment in tourism, which is one of the sectors specified in the Sheffield City Region – Local Enterprise Partnership Business Plan. Executive Summary Sheffield suffers a comparatively low spend from those who visit and use the City Centre. City centre footfall is erratic resulting in a lack of the consistent volume demanded by investors. Physical disconnections exist between areas of the City Centre, particularly the hotels in Victoria Quays being separate from the main retail and leisure areas of the city centre. The city’s hotel stock has grown in recent years, but the proliferation of 3 star and budget hotels is saturating this section of the market, resulting in surplus rooms that in turn depresses room rates and prohibits investment from higher value brands. The city’s cultural offer is threatened by reductions in local and national funding, and the city’s extensive festival programme, including Tramlines and Doc/Fest face funding challenges. Independent leisure in the city centre is relatively strong, linked to venues like the Showroom, but we need a higher quality mainstream offer. 1 The retail offer, particularly for fashion is not of sufficient quality and this is translating into low transaction values in current retailers. This offer is dependent on planned developments, including the proposed New Retail Quarter: Sevenstone. Access to the city from out of the local area is a strength, and should improve with electrification of the Midland mainline and High Speed Rail 2. Anecdotally this accessibility also makes it easy for people to limit their visit to a day trip, raising questions whether the offer in the city centre does not always entice people to stay overnight. Locally, parking is often cited as a key reason for people not visiting the city centre; however our car parking average rates are below those of most other core cities, with only Newcastle being noticeably cheaper. Retaining a distinctive ‘content’ offer by being authentic and independent is important to differentiate Sheffield from other destinations, but we must do this in tandem with sizeable investment from major retail and leisure brands that will give the city centre critical mass. The Economic Strategy, City Centre Masterplan and Major Events Strategy, coupled with new or previously under-utilised instruments such as the New Development Deal, Business Improvement Districts and Tourism Business Improvement Districts, if harnessed appropriately, can start to facilitate growth and change this picture. ‘We’ (the City) have a very real opportunity to address these significant challenges by aligning these strategies in a cohesive way, driven by the unifying vision of a dynamic and vibrant city centre. To do this ‘we’ must also embrace a key theme of the Corporate Plan, ‘Business Friendly’, by working closely with the private sector to support business and ensure Marketing Sheffield & its partners create the right environment to encourage business investment and growth. Purpose We shouldn’t accept that the city centre will operate at a lower level than before the recession. The purpose of this paper is to; 1) Set out the current position 2) Clearly define vibrancy, 3) Describe why this is important to the City, 4) To articulate what we believe the issues to be, and 5) Set out our plan for Sheffield and the opportunities. Our plan will be a clear picture for our city-centre, focused on what we believe to be a sustainable solution. As such, this cannot be wholly reliant on specific interventions, either large scale development projects or major events, but also must look at the incremental changes we can make to our services or the influence we can have with others to make Sheffield City Centre a more vibrant place. Current Position Over the last 15 years Sheffield's City Centre has experienced a dramatic transformation. However, the over-whelming impact of the recession has been to reduce the confidence and 2 capacity for investment and regeneration, stalling a number of planned public realm developments. Whilst some are now progressing this has inevitably had an impact on the vibrancy in Sheffield City Centre. As well as long-term mainstream projects we must be open to short term or experimental initiatives. Some may have only a short term impact, but others may turn out to be valuable seedbeds for the next generation of new ideas and talent. The City Centre remains a key driver of the City Region economy and we need to re-focus our vision for the future. Major development and public realm projects will continue to contribute to vibrancy, but we also need a more holistic approach and to take action to make the City Centre a place with a well-rounded offer which people choose to come and enjoy using. This includes visitors, businesses and local residents. New financial tools for growth The Government is beginning to devolve more powers and finance for delivery and greater flexibilities at city and city-region level. A number of new financial instruments to support growth in the economy are emerging, such as New Development Deal’s (NDDs) and Tourism Business Improvement Districts (TBIDs). We need to become more entrepreneurial and commercially smart as a city to look at how we can use these tools to benefit the city for more than just large-scale physical infrastructure projects. Many of the conditions for vibrancy rely on a competitive offer in the city centre. We need to work proactively with the private sector to address these challenges, but also ensure we get the basics right and fulfil our commitment to being a ‘Business Friendly City’. What do we mean when we talk about vibrancy? Vibrancy is about people using and enjoying the City Centre. This means: ! people are coming to the city centre, ! people are staying in the city centre, and ! people are spending money in the city centre. A vibrant City Centre provides the services and facilities that businesses, customers, residents and visitors demand. It creates jobs, attracts investment, generates income and is a key contributor towards economic growth. Sheffield needs to be competitive with neighbouring towns and, importantly, other core cities. We think this relies on: ! Culture and leisure – the scale and breadth of opportunities and things to do including events and animation and a quality evening/ night-time offer ! Hospitality – by this we mean quality hotels and great restaurants ! Retail – with a wide range of shopping opportunities from the big brands to small independent shops catering for niche markets ! Public realm – including venues that people travel to visit, a modern and well-connected urban landscape and a well maintained and safe place. 3 ! Accessibility – people being able to get into and out of the city centre, including parking As such there is no single answer to increase vibrancy. Instead there are a number of conditions that need to be right to attract visitors, businesses and residents to use the city centre. Proposed framework for defining vibrancy: People!coming!to!the! People!staying!in!the! People!spending!in!the! city!centre! city!centre! city!centre! Conditions for vibrancy Culture!and!Leisure!! Hospitality Retail! Range!of!cultural!&! A!diverse!hotel!and! A!strong!retail!offer! leisure!venues!with!a! restaurant!offer! which!appeals!to! strong!events! different!market! programme!and! segments! ongoing!‘animation’! Brand Marketing Public!realm Access An!attractive,!well"managed! A!city!centre!that!is!easy!to!get!to,!from! physical!environment! within!and!beyond!Sheffield! What’s the impact? A vibrant City Centre offer is key to our economic success. The experience of the City Centre is vital as this is often the first part of the city that people encounter and is likely to influence their decision about whether to invest, work, study or live here. We need an offer which both attracts people to the City Centre, encourages them to spend time here and to spend money during their visit. Many of the conditions for vibrancy rely on a competitive offer in the city centre. We need to work proactively with the private sector to address these challenges, but also ensure we get the basics right and fulfil our commitment to being a ‘Business Friendly City’. What is vibrancy like at the moment? Are people coming to Sheffield? Footfall is a good indicator that people are using the city centre. This captures people using the main thoroughfares and indicates they are able to access the wider offer in the city centre if they choose to.