Plymouth’s city centre needs to fight back against the decline of bricks-and-mortar retail by becoming a community hub with new uses found for empty shops and a regular programme of outdoor events, a new business plan says.
The Plymouth City Centre Company (PCCC) said the main shopping area, like many around the country now blighted by empty shops and closed businesses, must be reinvented as “the heart and soul of the community”.
In a new five-year business plan, published as city centre retailers go to the polls to vote on the future of the Business Improvement District (BID), PCCC bosses said: “New uses must be found for empty shops; public spaces have to be improved so they can become social hubs where people want to meet friends or family, play games or watch an open-air event.”
They have vowed to find new uses for empty shops – or at least encourage landlords to have them done up, by force if necessary.
The business plan said tackling the plague of empty units is now key and promised to “recognise and adapt to the changing retail climate to ensure landlords and tenants find new uses for empty units.”
It said that if voted to continue until 2025, bosses would take action and said: “We will launch a concerted campaign to persuade landlords to make sure empty units are properly maintained and that shop fronts remain clean and tidy.
“In cases of persistent neglect, we will urge the city council to serve untidy site notices on landlords to ensure action is taken.”
The PCCC is also looking at more street art and events to brighten Plymouth’s city centre and attract visitors.
The five-year business plan, entitled Shaping the Future of Our City Centre, said: “Where possible, we will commission creatives to brighten up empty shop windows.”
The City Centre BID has already introduced a West End Carnival, in summer 2019, and commissioned street artists to paint murals on hoardings around demolished buildings.
The business plan said: “We have introduced elements of street art, colourful street furniture and lamp post banners in parts of the city centre.
“We will look to carry out further projects with partners to include larger scale public art and other projects to brighten up our public spaces.”
It also vowed to “re-invigorate the city centre by pro-actively seeking inward investment and facilitating development.”
PCCC has pledged to work with partners to deliver more homes, offices and leisure space; improve public spaces; find new uses for empty units; and “animate the streets” with more events and public art.
The city centre has, along with shopping drags across the UK, suffered from closed shops and empty retail units as a combination of online shopping, stifled consumer confidence and ongoing costs such as business rates and parking charges have taken their toll.
In fact, retailers have suffered their worst year on record as sales were driven into reverse by a toxic cocktail of collapsing businesses, rising costs and flagging consumer spending.
The British Retail Consortium’s figures revealed a 0.1% fall in total sales – the first decline since 1995.
In Plymouth, PCCC warned retailers that if they did not back the new BID plan none of its proposals will be delivered and the BID will cease to exist from March 31, 2020.
That would mean a loss of funding for marketing and for the PARC (Plymouth Against Retail Crime) officers and tackling anti-social behaviour.
It would also spell the death knell for the West End Carnival, BID Christmas activities, and Flavour Fest.
Funding to maintain the “West End brand” would also go and retailers would lose an advocate to fight their corner.
Steve Hughes, chief executive of the Plymouth City Centre Company, which runs the city centre’s BID, highlighed recent developments, such as The Barcode leisure complex and The Box museum and gallery, and said: “We have £400million of investment under way in the heart of our city and that is a huge vote of confidence in Plymouth.
“Our business plan details how we can take advantage of these developments to breathe new life into a very different high street of the future for the benefit of all our city centre businesses, residents and visitors.
Voting for the BID extension starts on January 28. The business plan can be read in full here
