Commended

Summary

Longridge Station is a Victorian railway station which has been recently restored to provide a community facility to serve the residents of Longridge and visitors to the town.

Longridge Station is a cafe, heritage centre and business centre, as well as a centre for information about the local area.

Overview

The last 12 months have been key in moving Longridge Station forward from the development stage into operation. Our Official Opening was on Saturday 9 April 2011.

The building was completed in April 2010. It was then that the project officers were employed in the heritage centre to prepare the building for opening. Work began on designing heritage exhibitions and working with community groups in Longridge to make them aware of the project and gain their support.

The heritage centre
In November 2010, the heritage centre opened with its first exhibition and access to the Town Archive which consisted of 1000 photographs donated by the local history society. Over the five months since first opening, the Town Archive has grown thanks to support from members of the public who are keen to support it.

We have also started to organise monthly coffee afternoons, which provide more opportunities to view the photographs in the Town Archive and share their memories. Visits from schools and community groups have become popular, with Victorian School sessions and Heritage Talks and Trails.

The cafe
Work began on the cafe in July 2010, with a member of the community keen to take it on as a commercial business. It opened to the public on 1 November 2010. Care has been taken to ensure the café is in keeping with the heritage theme and that the food is locally sourced.

In the five months since it opened, the cafe has become a popular space to have a break and for meetings with friends and business clients.

The business centre
The business centre was equipped over the summer of 2010 with projectors, telephones, office furniture and storage space for users. It has been operating since November 2010 with meeting rooms available to hire.

The business centre has been successful over the past five months and many community and business groups now use it on a regular basis. There are also some small businesses that operate from the business centre, including Boundless Communications broadband company, which launched in December 2010.

Need, purpose and community involvement

Community
The Longridge Station project benefits the local community, visitors and the business community.

The heritage centre provides a tourist attraction as well as a resource for local people, community groups and schools to learn about the history of their home town.

The cafe and business centre provide additional facilities for people visiting Longridge and the local community, while also generating an income to ensure the project is sustainable. The cafe supports the local community by selling only locally-sourced products, including cheese and yogurts from a local dairy, eggs and meat from local farms and cakes from local bakers.

The business centre offers room hire for meetings and events. There are special reduced rates for community groups. The business centre also supports small, local businesses by providing them with a space to work for a reasonable price.

Need
The vision for Longridge was defined by the Longridge Partnership:

‘A thriving, prosperous, safe and attractive town with access to quality services and facilities for residents and visitors alike‘.

As the trading arm of the Longridge Partnership, Longridge Social Enterprise Company (LSEC) aimed to fulfil this vision by creating a central hub with facilities for local residents and tourist information for visitors.

This was a decision agreed by the LSEC board, comprising community members, whose aim is to achieve the best possible results for the town. This decision was also supported by a Market Towns Health Check study which identified the project as a community aim in 2004.

Community involvement
Members of the community have been involved in the project since the beginning through LSEC, the local history society and the heritage committee, of which all members are from the local community.

These groups have been involved in the design, management and delivery of the project. The project has been a priority for these community groups and they have always ensured that it did not lose momentum.

The community continues to be involved as volunteers. There is a team of 30 volunteers who are involved with maintaining the gardens, dealing with customer enquiries and volunteering at events, such as monthly coffee afternoons.

Innovation and quality

Quality
The building has been completed to a high standard with every effort made to employ high insulation, natural light, sun tubes, responsive lighting and the use of water limiting features.

With regard to the approach taken the project received a climate change grant award from Lancashire County’s Climate Change team.

Innovation
The project demonstrated innovation when selecting its location. Rather than choosing to locate the project in purpose-built facilities, it was decided to restore the old railway station and locate it there. This has given an old, Victorian railway station, that had become semi-derelict, a new lease of life.

The building was extended using glass panels over the old railway platform in order to ensure it could be restored sympathetically, while also providing space for the necessary facilities.

Transferability and learning points

We have experience of working closely and establishing excellent relationships with members of the local community and local businesses who are extremely supportive of the project. Because local people have been involved from the beginning, the community has a great sense of ownership of the project and is committed to its success and sustainability.

As well as great links with local people and businesses, it has been important to gain support from authorities at the local, borough and county level. This has enabled us to access a network of people who have experience in working on similar projects as well as access to funding.

We also recognise that to maintain the momentum of the project after completion and to coordinate the support from different groups and organisations, it is beneficial to employ project officers.

Funding, future financial viability and outcomes

The Environmental Projects Team at Lancashire County Council, has worked in partnership with the town council, LSEC and Ribble Valley Borough Council, to source £557,996 funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and 12 other funders.

This funding will ensure the continued running of the project until April 2013. Longridge Station aims to be self funding after this period using the income from the cafe and business centre, and product sales and school sessions in the heritage centre.

The breakdown of the funding is as follows:

• Heritage Lottery: £221,606
• Longridge Town Council: £20,000
• Lancashire County Council Cap: £24,000
• Lancashire Environment Fund: £25,000
• Heritage Committee: £2,000
• Ribble Valley Borough Council Heritage: £2,000
• Ribble Valley Borough Council Longridge Fund: £89,900
• Lancashire Rural Futures: £3,990
• Longridge Social Enterprise Company: £5,000
• Lancashire Small Sites (NWDA): £15,000
• Longridge and District Local History Society: £1,500
• Lottery and ex. Supp. Programme (LCC): £50,000
• Lancashire County Council Climate Change: £7,500
• Biffa: £45,000
• Lancashire County Council Environmental Projects Team: £5,000
• In Kind Contribution from Brett Landscaping: £6,000
• Lancashire County Council Environmental Projects Team: £6,500
• In Kind Contribution for Café Fit Out: £20,000
• Ribble Valley Borough Council In Kind Contribution for Office Fit Out: £6,000
• Landscaping Lancashire County Council In Kind Contribution: £2,000

Key partners

• Longridge Town Council
• Ribble Valley Borough Council
• Lancashire County Council

This project forms part of a Towns-4-Towns Exchange Fund project between Congleton and Uppingham.

Summary

In May 2011, Congleton held a two day expo ‘Congleton Means Business‘ to promote business within the town and attract investment.

As part of the event, they wanted to include inspirational case studies showing what had been achieved in other towns and so using an Exchange Grant from AMT, they invited Uppingham to be involved in the expo.

Overview

The aim of the expo was to promote businesses within the town, provide information to developers, retailers and investors to recognise Congleton as an attractive town to invest in. To achieve this we looked for speakers at our breakout events who had successful stories to tell, and who were prepared to share with us their ideas, successes and some of the pitfalls they experienced.

We chose Ron Simpson for our first evening event to talk about ‘The Role of Market Towns in the 21st Century’. We had noted the success of Uppingham First and felt that the vision and partnerships they had formed could be replicated in Congleton. There were two specific elements that we wished to learn more about:

Promoting and stimulating business
We are about to launch a Love Local Life discount card. To further support this and add some extra excitement we felt that Uppingham’s Golden Ticket and Free Lunch projects were something we should learn more about. Following the expo 30 businesses have signed up to Love Local Life.

Wifi Broadband Project
We are currently looking to generate power via a hydro scheme on the River Dane. In addition to grant funding from DEFRA, we are interested in setting up a social enterprise share scheme and we felt that Uppingham’s experience of something similar in its WIFI Project could give us some very important learning issues.

The expo itself ran over two days, we had 34 exhibitors and 6 breakout sessions. Two major portfolio documents were produced, one for use with developers and the other for potential new retailers/businesses.

Results of Exchange

Ron visited Congleton initially in March 2011, to get a feel for the town and meet some of the key players.

We shared the aims of the expo with him and discussed the main areas of interest (Golden Ticket/WIFI).

This meeting in itself was useful as it enabled us to discuss our town and organisational issues in general and share experience related to the set up and philosophies of the two partnerships.

Ron’s session at the expo in May was attended by approximately 40 invited guests, including our Town Clerk, Cheshire East Economic senior personnel, Town Centre Management and the Chair of the Traders Association among others.

Ron not only covered the two subjects which interested us most, but led an interesting and informative session explaining how website usage had been increased by some clever marketing and about the development of a neighborhood forum, something we are keen to develop.

He also shared a vision of projects that would feedback profit to be used for other community developments. The attendees from Cheshire East Economic department were so impressed that they are looking to organise a visit to Uppingham for members of their 14 Sustainable Towns Network and to invite Ron to speak at one of their network meetings.

The expo was just the first stage of our drive to increase investment in Congleton. We are putting together a Legacy Team with Business Ambassadors to both sell to and smooth the path for developers to choose Congleton as their desired development location.

Key learning points & transferability

One area we are very interested to pursue is developing a community forum group and getting a greater usage of our town council website. Ron demonstrated how by using the Golden Ticket project, he could drive more usage of the website, increasing opportunities for wider community consultation.

The Golden Ticket and Free Lunch schemes have demonstrated positive results in terms of the promotion of business within the town and increase in footfall that results. While creating and siting the clues would be a challenge, the rewards would be worthwhile.

We feel we still need to learn more about developing a social enterprise scheme, but close working with Ron and his team will be a great help here.

We can only thank AMT, not only for their support in terms of a grant and the resulting informative and thought-provoking session, but also for pointing us in Uppingham’s direction. This is hopefully the start of a long working relationship between Congleton, Uppingham and Cheshire East.

Funding

The expo itself was fully funded by sponsorship and grants from local business, local trusts, organisations, local councils and AMT’s Exchange Fund.

This project forms part of a Towns-4-Towns Exchange Fund project between Princes Risborough and Woodbridge. Princes Risborough wanted to understand how other towns have managed to successfully engage with local businesses to fund town centre regeneration and increase footfall to their towns.

With the help of an Exchange Fund grant from AMT they arranged to visit examples of best practice in four different towns to inform their planning.  They visited Woodbridge in August 2010.

For all the towns involved in the Princes Risborough Towns-4-Towns Exchange visits access full case studies here

Summary

Woodbridge Town Centre Management has been tackling the recession with a number of unique initiatives. This field trip assessed two in particular:
- A web-based shopping guide
- A retail campaign to raise the profile of the town

Overview

Woodbridge Town Centre Management has been instrumental in helping local businesses survive in a tough environment.

It has launched a Woodbridge ‘Real Shopping Guide’ online. The guide promotes the concept of ‘Real Shopping’ as ‘shopping in an environment where you feel you can take your time, where you are served by friendly people who know what they are selling, take a pride in it and can give informed advice about their goods quite often because you are dealing with the proprietor.

Real shopping is also about having a range of specialist shops stocking the less common goods that even the biggest supermarket cannot offer.’

The town has also launched a successful Campaign to combat the effects of the recession on small towns. A large furniture store in the town, Barretts of Woodbridge, decided to create a poster to emulate the World War 2 slogan ‘Stay Calm and Carry On’.

Bright red posters carrying the slogan were displayed by most Woodbridge shops throughout 2010.

The Campaign centred on the need to keep businesses confident during the recession and generate a positive attitude and it generated a lot of publicity both national and local. The Guardian, Telegraph and national radio all ran articles on the campaign and as a result the town enjoyed an increase in visitors and greater footfall to the commercial centre.

During the Field Trip delegates were taken to Barretts to hear about the campaign first hand. They also visited The Moorish Lounge, a new restaurant in Quay Street. The proprietor explained how essential the Town Centre Network had been to her business. She was able to benefit from the extensive marketing and promotions activities which help to generate footfall to the Moorish Lounge and she has been able to meet like minded people to discuss solutions to important issues.

Need, purpose & community involvement

The recession has hit businesses in small towns particularly hard as they are already vulnerable due to the increase in Internet shoppers and out of town shopping centres. Retailers in Woodbridge decided that they needed to promote their strengths – excellent, personal service and a unique shopping offer in a very attractive environment.

Their advertising budget was limited and so the campaign to ‘Keep Calm and Carry on’ was key to reaching potential visitors across the country. The local community was involved in the campaign by supporting the local businesses and shopping local wherever they could.

The role of a town centre manager was highlighted clearly in Woodbridge; where many towns are cutting back on this resource this field trip illustrated that a good town centre manager can provide valuable expertise and more than pay for themselves through innovative activity.

Innovation, learning points & transferability

The ‘Keep Calm’ Campaign was a prime example of an affordable yet innovative public relations exercise which reached a wide; both national and local target audience.  Delegates learned that you don’t have to spend a lot of money on printed advertising material and advertising space in the local and national media to raise awareness of your town; a creative solution to a local issue can generate a great deal of wider interest.

The delegates were keen to transfer the idea of a business web directory to their own town. The web solution is cheaper and there is greater opportunity to change business details as new businesses arrive in the town and existing ones close. Delegates learned that a simple web format, professional designed and maintained is more cost effective in the long run.

Funding, future financial viability & outcomes

The original seed funding came as a result of a section 106 agreement in Woodbridge when Tesco Supermarket expanded. The other projects were not expensive and often ran on a shoestring; with individual businesses contributing to the overall budget.

What next?

• Find out how your town could benefit from an Exchange Fund grant

This project forms part of a Towns-4-Towns Exchange Fund project between Princes Risborough and Hitchin. Princes Risborough wanted to understand how other towns have managed to successfully engage with local businesses to fund town centre regeneration and increase footfall to their towns.

With the help of an Exchange Fund grant from AMT they arranged to visit examples of best practice in four different towns to inform their planning.

For all the towns involved in the Princes Risborough Towns-4-Towns Exchange visits access full case studies here

Summary

In April 2009, Hitchin businesses voted to turn the local Town Centre Management scheme into a Business Improvement District (BID). All the businesses involved pay a small annual levy to fund projects and services that will benefit the area they work in, their customers, clients and employees – with the overall aim of improving their whole business environment

Overview

Hitchin in Hertfordshire is one of the first small towns in the county to gain BID status. This has largely been due to the hard work of Keith Hoskins, the Town Centre Manager.

For the next five years (the period BID status lasts before the next vote is due) the Heart of Hitchin BID management team set a series of objectives, covering 5 areas of activity:

1. Safety & Security
2. Clean & Gleam
3. Access & Parking
4. Hitchin ‘Look & Feel’ and Marketing
5. Promotions & Events

The actions to date have included the appointment of three Town Centre Rangers to patrol the BID area for 120 hours each week – keeping in touch with BID members, acting as ‘eyes and ears’ and logging and organising action on graffiti, littering, cleaning, antisocial behaviour and shoplifting incidents.

CCTV has been improved or introduced in hard-to-supervise areas of the town centre and lighting improved in poorly lit areas. A full Shopwatch survey has been completed to enable the service to be improved and updated. Grafitti has been logged when spotted and dealt with, the Community Payback Team has been clearing and cleaning access routes to stores. Alleyways are regularly disinfected. A survey of car park usage has been completed so the viability of free or lower cost parking can be assessed.

Market improvements have been supported and have resulted in more stallholders and greater footfall.

Need, purpose & community involvement

To achieve sustainability and autonomy town centres need to access funding for essential economic activities like CCTV, marketing and promotions. As public funding for these activities dries up forward thinking business communities are voting to participate in Business Improvement District schemes. Hitchin Initiative, a ten year old town centre management company, highlighted a need for a BID and finally achieved BID status in April 2009.

A Business Improvement District for the heart of Hitchin has been made possible by national legislation. This permits local businesses to form a partnership, in conjunction with the local authority, to improve the trading environment around their premises. It is paid for by levying a small charge based on the UBR, the nationally generated council tax to pay for services delivered to businesses by each local authority.

North Hertfordshire District Council (NHDC) collects business rates on behalf of National Government who then return a small part of what is raised to meet the cost of the council’s statutory services. All business and commercial organisations that pay business rates in the BID area were able to vote on the detailed propositions and the funding mechanism to pay for them.

A simple majority of all the votes returned (by number and by rateable) generated the mandate for the BID Company to come into being and to levy all rate-paying businesses within the BID area, by law. It then became compulsory for all businesses to pay the levy, regardless of whether they voted, or not, and whether they voted in favour or not.

Innovation, learning points & transferability

The BID model is relatively new, especially for small towns. Now that spending cuts has begun to affect town centre initiatives, businesses need to look elsewhere for essential town centre funding. Delegates were interested to hear how the model works and understand the legislative requirements. BIDs are transferrable but difficult to achieve in towns with small populations and with a low percentage of multiple retailers.

Many of the projects funded through the Hitchin BID were interesting for the delegates, particularly a refuse wagon which picks up recyclable rubbish from businesses to dispose of locally.

Funding, future financial viability & outcomes

Business levy as per the BID model, fully sustainable and enforceable through law.

What next?

• Find out how your town could benefit from an Exchange Fund grant