Agenda item

The committee to receive presentations from:

·       Kara Mesiano, Watford BID

·       Simon Plumb, Atria

The committee welcomed Kara Mesiano, Watford Business Improvement District (BID), and Simon Plumb, Atria Watford, who made presentations to the committee about the performance of the hight street.

Kara Mesiano made a presentation which introduced the BID, impact of the changes to the levy, footfall and dwell time, vacancy rates, benchmarking, sustainability, recruitment and retention and their response to the cost-of-living crisis.

Simon Plumb, Atria Watford, then presented an update to the committee. This introduced the centre, performance, community focus, cost-of-living initiatives and challenges faced which included recruitment and crime prevention.

The presentations are appended to these minutes.

In the course of the discussion, the following points were made:

·                 The hospitality sector was struggling across the board but businesses were offered support including with marketing and food waste costs. The impact of the closure of Pryzm was not yet clear but the reopening of the Colosseum would provide an opportunity.

·                 The retail market was best-placed to ensure that the range of businesses in the town met the diversity of the community.

·                  The BID had no influence over lettings in the town centre but was looking to recruit a director for the BID board who represented a business that particularly served Watford’s diversity. The team also spoke regularly to lettings agents and were keen to encourage a diverse offer.

·                 The Intu business model had been focused on national brands but the current operators were keen to talk to the community and offered free space to test the viability of new offers within the centre. There was potential for events to mark Black History Month.

·                 Watford Gift Cards were valid for 12 months from the date of purchase.

·                 The BID could not control which suppliers and types of packaging that businesses used but offered a cardboard recycling service to avoid it going to landfill.

·                 Watford Palace Theatre was a BID levy payer and were actively engaged with them. They were also in conversations with Atria about partnering on initiatives.

·                 The idea to develop a ‘BID-lite’ for other areas in the town centre, such as Queen’s Road, was under consideration but would be complex. If the BID’s area were to expand, there was a risk that the BID would not be extended for a further term due to the increase in smaller, independent businesses that would be involved in the ballot. The next ballot was not until 2026 and there were also options for businesses to join as voluntary levy payers.

·                 It was understood that there were copyright issues with the name ‘the Harlequin’ and so the centre could not currently use that name. Any renaming process was costly.

·                 Atria had committed to Purple Tuesday, which focused on accessibility and inclusivity of public spaces. Their approach was for continuous commitment which was likely to include a community-led disability mystery shoppers, who experienced a range of disabilities, who could provide feedback to the centre and businesses.

·                 Vacant units were not identified by their size. For the BID, these covered ground-level units that were vacant and not leased. In Atria, certain units were still leased, even though they were not currently operational, and were therefore not included in the figures. Vacancy rates remained below 10%.

·                 The reduction in the levy funding was likely to impact the provision of Christmas lights. While these would remain in some form, the costs for maintaining the tree lights were looking to be prohibitive at present. The cost of festive lights was not, however, an issue in Atria, although other shopping centres were reviewing their provision.

·                 It was confirmed that there were defibrillators in the Atria Centre as well as in the BID area.

The committee thanked the guests for their time and useful presentations and agreed a number of recommendations.

RESOLVED-

1.               To explore the concept of a ‘BID-lite’ for the Queens Road area.

2.               To remove any barriers to the provision of more retail which caters for Watford’s diverse community.

3.               To encourage councillors and community groups to engage with the BID and the Atria Centre about ideas for events and initiatives.