Agenda item

To consider a recommendation from the meeting of the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 3 March 2020 on the Council’s Retail Strategy.

Cabinet agreed that the ‘Town Centres Strategy’ be incorporated into the work of the Business and Economic sub-group.

Members of the EOSC Committee agreed a dynamic strategy was needed to help arrest the decline of the Borough’s town centres. This would build on town centres being not only commercial but also social meeting places that online can never be.

The strategy would include:

•      Working with landowners to provider smaller units to help starter and innovative businesses,

•      Learning from and adoption of approaches used elsewhere,

•      Working with the local Chamber of Commerce and similar local business support organisations,

•      The presence of an active town centre manager or in Welwyn Garden City, the Welwyn Garden City Improvement District, to bring in the necessary dynamism,

•      Closer join working of the teams whose work affects the town centres,

•      In accordance with the Government’s own review into High Streets in 2012, this Council maintain free parking in town centres where it currently exists and review the position where there is not.

Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council and Herts County Council were working closely to

plan for re-opening of high streets to ensure they are safe for workers and shoppers.

The Council had created a Business and Economic sub-group to consider resilience

and recovery action for the Borough.

Councillor B.Sarson, (Executive Member, Regeneration, Economic Development and Partnerships), made it clear that the principle of the motion now needs to be agreed or rejected by Cabinet.  This meant that the individual aims do not need to be formally endorsed at this stage but will be subject to scrutiny.

If agreed, in normal circumstances, Officers would have then got on with the task of  drafting a Retail Strategy which took account of the issues identified above.  In light of the current coronavirus crisis however, Councillor B.Sarson advised Cabinet that corporate recovery and resilience arrangements are being implemented which includes a Business and Economy sub-group.  This is in addition to an Economic Resilience Cell which forms part of the countywide response to the crisis, Herts Growth Board and its ongoing engagement with government to agree a growth deal and the ongoing work of WGC Town Centre BID and Hatfield Town Centre Manager. 

Councillor B.Sarson therefore considered that the best course of action is that the EOSC motion would be incorporated into the objectives of the Business and Economy sub-group so that it can consider the immediate, short-term and long term recovery and resilience of the borough’s town centres, high streets, neighbourhood centres and village centres as part of the wider economy.  A timetable for the work and its outputs will be presented to a future Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Cabinet.

Councillors D.Bell and T.Mitchinson agreed that the strategy should be changed to ‘Town Centres Strategy’ and not ‘Retail Strategy’ as the strategy looked at improving the Borough’s town centres.

RESOLVED:

Cabinet agreed that the ‘Town Centres Strategy’ be incorporated into the work of the Business and Economic sub-group to consider all the actions in the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee motion. A timetable for the work and its outputs will be presented to a future Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Cabinet.