Economic Development Action Plan for Wantage 20143 - 154
Introduction
This is the annual update to theVale of White Horse district District Ccouncil’s action plan for Wantage, authority for which was approved by the Vale Ccouncil’s executive in September 2010. This draws upon information gathered by the economic development team throughout the year using events, group meetings, individual discussions with partners and through partnership working with the Town Council, the Chamber of Commerce and the Joint Economic Forum partnership to identify projects that will deliver significant economic benefit for the town and can realistically be delivered in 20143/154.
It is important to recognise that although the market town agenda is vested with the Vale Cccouncil’s economic development service, successful delivery of the plan is dependent on a commitment from a number of other services departments in the Vale Council council as well as partners in the towns, especially the town councils.
Market towns are a corporate priority for the Vale Ccouncil and this is clearly articulated in the Vale’s Corporate Plan 2012-16 and reflected in the strategic objective: “building the local economy” and corporate priority to “continue to invest to improve the viability and attractiveness of our towns.” Recognising this priority, the Vale council approved a funding growth bid to allow continued significant investment and recruitment of part-time market town co-ordinators who work in partnership to deliver projects that will enhance economic vitality.
Market towns are a corporate priority for Vale council and this is clearly articulated in the Vale’s Corporate Plan 2012-16 and reflected in the corporate priority: “Building the local economy.” Within this priority, it is acknowledged that the Vale will “continue to invest to improve the viability and attractiveness of our towns.”
What’s in the plans?
Although the plans identify the actions where the council will lead, it is committed to delivering the plan in partnership with:
- the town partnership–the Wantage Joint Economic Forum
- Wantage Town Council
- Oxfordshire County Council
- specific interest groups with relevant expertise, such as Wantageand District Chamber of Commerce, Wantage Rejuvenated, the Wantage Betjeman Festival committee, the Vale and Downland Museum and usingthrough the town web-site
Our approach to consultation
The Vale Council’s economic development team hold regular meetings and events with representatives from Wantage. During the last year, the main events included:
Quarterly quarterly meetings with the Joint Economic Forum
Regular regular attendance at Wantage Chamber of Commerce meetings and meetings with the Town Council
‘Have your Say on the Future of Wantage & Grove’ event in November 2012.
The key objectives and themes
The priority actions that we have identified as being capable of being delivered over the 2014/153/14 period will support the Vale Council’s vision for its markets towns and will achieve one of fouthe followingr key objectives[VE1]:
supporting businesses (business)
improving infrastructure, community and business facilities (infrastructure)
increasing awareness of the town as a destination (tourism)
support for businesses (business)
increased awareness of the town as a destination (tourism)
investing in transport links, infrastructure and community and business facilities (infrastructure)
ACTIONS TO IMPROVE TOWN CENTRE VITALITYIN WANTAGE 2014-15through SUPPORTing BUSINESSES, enhancing infrastructure and Improving the visitor experience
Aim / Project / Why? / How will we measure this?Measure - KPIs suggested / Q2 – progress to dateMeasure - impactsImprove town centre vitality / create landlords register in Wantage and Grove / To faciliate town centre initiatives (e.g. WiFi, Xmas decs, empty units) / Describe what have we achieved by using the database e.g. smartened up 3 shop-fronts, assisted 1 new business to move into townNo. of records on landlord database, reasons for use and impact / Landlords register in Wantage being used to identify property owners (e.g. 13 Wallingford Street) and encourage economic uses
work with commercial agents to reduce number of empty units and encourage ‘meanwhile’ uses / Reduce no. of empty units, improve town vitality; increase footfall / No. of new businesses opening up; No. of businesses closing; no. of empty units compared with 2013No. and name of pop up shops opening; No. of new businesses opening up in town centre; Number of businesses closing; no. of empty units / 54 empty units (Jan 2015) Two of those units are newly built units. New businesses include Wildwood RestaurantSept 2014) - new businesses include Buzz Café, Cotswold Kids & Valentinos, Lil Hellers & Soaps n Soaks, Upvamped, Kelly Cook’s Cakes, WowDancer, Occasion Gifts, ‘Luv lou’ gifts and ‘Pictures by Em’ April 2014 - 11 empty units and 4 short term licenses
work with the Chamber to support and develop the town-wide loyalty card scheme, using social media, e-newsletters and web presence / To raise awareness of the number of local businesses, to promote specific businesses and product ranges / To increase no. of loyalty card holders from 1,000 members (March 2013) to 1,500 members (March 2014)No. of loyalty card members; no. of card-holders; no. of people using the cards; carholder satisfaction (surveys); town centre footfall / Loyalty card stall in Market Place at Italian Market on 21 June 10 am to 1pm ; artwork for new brochure; brochure reprint; monthly prize draws established July 20141,300 card-holders 43 businesses (March 2014),
provide ongoing support for, and monitor impact on business from free car parking, public Wi Fi / to provide the infrastructure to allow business growth and encourage longer dwell times by visitors and residents / Measure impact of free car parking on businesses (survey); town centre footfall +2%; 240 persons using town centre WiFi every dayMeasure impact of free car parking on businesses (survey); town centre footfall; No. of people using town centre WiFi; No. of businesses advertising / Shoppers survey and business survey underway in Nov 2014; WiFi system has 200 users per day and is now extended down Mill Street; 2013 – 70% of businesses reported free car parking had a positive impact on their business
Create artisan 'hub' / To support artisans and increase retail/business/artisan use in town centre; improve footfall / Create artisan hub, X SQ M floorspace created; No. of10 artisans supported; No. of25 people visiting town centre venues every day to see / buy from artisans / Artisan workshop gave opportunity to scope out options for the hub, artisan window display in 13 Wallingford Street complete; DROVERS Art establishing themselves as formal group and seeking location
Consider options for establishing retail nursery or 'bric a brac' hub in town centre / to add diversity to the existing range of independent businesses, to increase visitors and footfall / Feasibility report for 'bric a brac' hub produced / Artisan market - 12 October (and every 2nd Sunday); promoting regular Wantage markets start 14/7/14, Six new stalls envisaged by the Autumn for hire to new stallholders
Improve existing markets and introduce new market(s) / To increase visitors, spending and footfall in the town centre / Increase no. of stalls by 2, Increase no. of people visiting markets by 10%, 4 'mini' events to support the markets, 4 articles to promote the markets No. of stalls, range of stalls, no. of people visiting markets, no. of short films created (you tube, vines) / Weekly Wednesday and Saturday markets have had 15 new traders; hot and cold food offer and entertainment by Wantage Presents…
Engage the interest of younger people in our town / To increase current and future spending in the town centre businesses / 3 town centre initiatives involving young peopleNo. of town centre initiatives involving young people / Investigating town centre premises for young people; spaces for art work in VC Gallery; Wantage presents to engage with young people; involving younger people in the market; possible Teenage Market
Improving parking provision on Wallingford St and Mill St / To support local businesses and increase local spend / No. of car parking spaces created / A parking plan is being taken to WTC traffic advisory meeting
Supporting local businesses / Update commercial property database / To support business growth and more effectively 'match' business property needs with available property (office, retail, land) / 3 new businesses in the town no. of businesses in the town, no. of businesses assisted; no. of businesses taking property / Commercial property spreadsheet produced by district council
Promote local business successes through Vale4Business, Tourism web-site, Vision newsletter / To promote the district as a great place to do business / Increase nNo. of Vale4Business members from 22 to 30 ; No. of 'Spark Vale' entries; No. of 'tweets' / 10 small businesses assisted in Wantage (March to November 2014) Businesses achievements promoted via social media & newsletter. Events promoted through social media and tourism website.
Vale4Business members increased to 32 in December 2014
Provide businesses with up-to-date news and 121 advice or assistance / To support business growth / No. of businesses in district; No. of Vision e-newsletters issues & read; no. of businesses assisted, business satisfaction survey?support 5 Wantage / Grove businesses
work with local businesses to benefit from national campaigns, such as ‘Independents Day’ on 4 July, Small Business Saturday and English Tourism Week / To promote the district as a great place to do business and support business growth / No. of towns participating in each campaign; no. of 'tweets'; no. of hits on web-pages10 businesses from Wantage engage in national campaigns / Totally locally campaign being developed #Shop Local and Wantage Marketing Contract let to LUNA Branding. LUNA has produced a leaflet promoting Wantage – distributed to local villages, schools, etc, with shopping competition.
New Twitter account set up to promote Wantage businesses and events - @WantageTownTeam
develop projects to support non retail businesses (e.g. café scientifique, business celebrations, home workers hub, business events) / To promote the district as a great place to do business and to support business growth / 100 residents participate on business celebrations
Homeworkers of tech hub supports 6 businesses No. of businesses entering business awards, no. attending home-workers hub, no. attending councils' business events and café scientifique / café scientifique likely to go in Vale & Downland Museumwill start in Feb 2015, there are three talks lined up so far; homeworkers hub meet in The Beacon café . Currently supporting existing homeworkers meetings in Buzz Café etc
encourage business engagement in the Wantage Neighbourhood Plan / To support business growth by increasing the quantity of employment land; to increase retail/office/other floorspace in town centre / X HA of employment land created / protected; xx SQ M of business floorspace created in town centre50 businesses participate in the Wantage Neighbourhood Plan / ED are involved in NP steering group
Create, print and install new Grove maps and create events poster to drive footfall into the town centre / To support businesses in Grove and increase footfall in both Wantage and Grove / MNo. of maps installed
One story written to promote maps
20 ‘hits’ on tourism web-site , and promoted on the tourism web-site, footfall survey / Grove Parish council have installed new maps in noticeboards
Supporting the visitor economy / Improve Wantage pages on / To increase visitors to Wantage / Establish baseline for no. of hits on Wantage pageNo. of web-hits on the Wantage page / 400 page views per monthIncreased hits to the Wantage page by 1,632 in December (compared to Nov). Improved Wantage content on tourism web-site, added Ridgeway map and walking trails
improve Wantage content on third party web-sites such as Trip Advisor, Visit Oxfordshire, Enjoy England, Visit South East England, Walking Britain / To increase visitors to Wantage / No. of pages of improved copy / Two Trip Advisor reviews written (for Vale and Downland and Umami)
promote the town to visitors though social media, events and news stories / To increase awareness of Wantage and ultimately visitors to Wantage / No. of tweets about Wantage, no. of stories created, no. of events heldestablish baseline data for Wantage social media / 30 Wantage tweets April – June 2014weekly tweets and facebook posts
produce a crowdfunding video and promote on You Tube / To increase awareness of Wantage and ensure sustainability of the MIX community space / Video created, £3,000 funding raised / £3,200 raised via crowd-funder; project to run from May - October 2014
TOTAL
Ref
OObjectives / Action / Lead / Resources / Timescale
Supporting business Improve town centre vitality / to deliver projects funded by the High Street Innovation Fundwork with commercial agents to reduce number of empty units and encourage ‘meanwhile’ uses
to work with the Chamber to support and develop the town-wide loyalty card scheme, using social media, e-newsletters and the web presencesites
to encourage businesses to take advantage of promotional opportunities (e.g. Oxtrails)
promote the town to potential investors using the Experian reports, responding to inquiries from UKTI and invest in Oxfordshire and using social media
bi-monthly update of the Council’s vacant commercial property database which is used to promote vacant retail and commercial units
promote business in Wantage using the tourism and Vale4Business web-sites and social media.press releases and /
host at least one themed networking event “”the High Street is changing” to share best-practice and generate project ideas
work with Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire LEP to support market towns
improve Council support for small businesses through ( e-newsletterVision newsletter, social media, the web-sites, 121advice & finance.
Encourage social media activity throughout business community Also set up Wantage twitter account to connect with small businesses.)
to uundertake town centre surveys to capture ‘vitality’ (footfall and and shop vacancy)
compile landlords register for Wantage and Grove to complete the Commercial Property Audit in Wantage and consider expanding to Grove. )
wwork with local businesses to maximise and exploit opportunityopportunities leading from national campaigns, such as ‘Independents Day’ on 4th July, Small Business Saturday and English Tourism Week.
develop projects to support the non retail businesses (home workers, B2B businesses) e.g. and to set up and support a home workers hub, working with Civic Centre
Introduce ‘cafe scientifique’ to Wantage and projects to tie-in with ‘SVUK’
continue to support and publicise existing community shop and pop up shops in the town / ED / MTCs
Chamber / ED
ED
ED
ED
ED / WTC / Chamber / What’s in Wantage?
ED
ED
ED/WTC
ED
ED / Chamber
ED
ED/Chamber
ED/Civic Hall
MTC
MTC/ED / HSIFVWHDC - £1,200
Chamber
officer time
officer time
officer time
officer time
officer timeexisting resources
existing resources
officer time
existing resources
Existing resources
JEF £500
VWHDC £300
Officer time
In kind
Officer time / Feb 2014
April / May
ongoing
ongoing
ongoing
ongoing
ongoing
ongoing
ongoing
2014 Q13/4
ongoing
2013 Qongoing2
20143 Q3
2013 Q2
2014 Q13
2014 Q1/3/4
2014 Q3
2014
2014
Improving infrastructure, community and business facilitiesImprove infrastructure, community and business facilities / investigate options to improve broadband provision
work with CTS Group to monitor, support, develop and maximise benefits from the free wi fi in the town centre
be an active partner in consultations initiated by OCC
support businesses who submit planning applications, where appropriate
work with planning colleagues to develop Wantage Neighbourhood Local Plan, encourage business engagement and implement
mMonitor impact of ‘free 2 hours’ car parking and send survey to businesses to report on the effect it has had on footfallon businesses through surveys
Artisan Hub – investigate options for a create a business plan to establish a hub for artisans in Wantage / Grove and surrounding areas
consider options for establishing antiques/ bric a brac hub in the town
improve the existing Mmarkets and introduce a new market, such as an artisan marketpromote widely
introduce a ‘young people’ project to engageengage the interest of younger people in our town (aged 14-25)
consider options for develop community shop/space (the MIX) – extend the timeframe beyond April 2014 and explore permanent presence in the town
produce a retail nursery business plan
promote the ByBox scheme at the Civic CentreHall and develop business opportunities
investigate options for improving parking provision in Wallingford St. and Mill St. undertake a hotel audit of the town and action from results where appropriate. / ED
Planning/ED
ED
ED/MTC/WTC
MTC
MTC/ED/Chamber
MTC/ED/Arts Development Officer
MTC/ED/WTC
ED
WTCOCC / ED
ED
ED
ED
ED
ED
ED
ED
ED/WTC
ED
ED
ED
ED
ED
ED/ / Oxonline project
funding securedofficer time
officer time
officer time
officer time
officer time
officer time
Chamber £500
TBC
TBC
Officer time
Wantage JEF / Ongoing
ongoing
ongoing
ongoing
ongoing
20134 Q4
ongoing
Ongoing
2014 Q1/2
Ongoing
2014
Ongoing
Ongoing
2014
2014
ongoing
2014 Q?4
Increasinge awareness of Wantage as a destination / improve the Wantage pages of the Council’s tourism tourism web-site
promote the southern Oxfordshire ‘trails’ - Oxtrails – Oxfood, Oxlit, Oxhistory, Oxfilm, Oxoutdoors.
improve Wantage content on third party web-sites such as Trip Advisor, Visit Oxfordshire, Enjoy England, Visit South East England, Walking Britain
organise a tourism networking event to explore possibilities and encourage joint-working
promote the town to visitors though social media, events and news stories
create Grove maps, similar to those in Wantage
produce a crowdfunding video and promote on You Tube
promote Wantage markets and independent traders using short videos / ED / WTC
ED / businesses / Chamber
ED / WTC
ED / Hidden Britain
ED
MTC/ED/GPC
MTC/Comms
MTC / existing resourcesOfficer time
existing resourcesOfficer time
existing resourcesofficer time
existing resources
officer time
JEF Budget
Officer time
Officer time / ongoing
ongoing
ongoing2014
20143 Q2
ongoing
2014
2014 Q1/2
2014 Q2
1
[VE1]Only 3 listed here – these need to be consistent with what is in the table below.