 |
| Porthcawl could be set for a £9.5million boost to its tourism industry as part of Visit Wales plans to create "attractor destinations" in south east Wales. (Pic : Phil Holden via lowpressure.co.uk) |
Good news for Porthcawl's tourism industry?
Tourism currently contributes £288million to Bridgend's economy and employs more than 4,200 people. It's also withstood the recession pretty well and still maintains potential for further growth (see also : Assembly gives Wales mixed Tripadvisor review).
Visit Wales are looking to prioritise a number of "attractor destinations" as part of a bid for EU funding. Bridgend Council (BCBC) cabinet are drafting a number of potential "priority schemes" for tourism development in the county which would feed into a plan covering the south east of Wales (known as SEWDER). It's said this round of EU funding is likely to be "the last opportunity on this scale", so all parties involved need to make the most of it.
As a result, SEWDER have decided that Porthcawl should be selected as one of these regional "attractor destinations" – the other two so far being the Brecon & Monmouthshire Canal and Rock UK in Trelewis, Merthyr Tydfil (pdf).
BCBC want Porthcawl to become a major "signature destination" in south Wales, with three key aims :
- A bustling waterside – Improved watersport and beach sport facilities, a Maritime Centre, and a surf-inspired cafe.
- A world class golf destination – Want to turn the Royal Porthcawl into a "must play" destination for golfers around the world, with proper links between golfing and the local hospitality sector. They also want to make sure it's a first choice host for major championships and competitions.
- High quality accommodation – Porthcawl should become a "first choice" for tourists visiting the Swansea Bay area to stay, with a vision of a boutique spa development and activity-friendly accommodation.
The total value of the funding available for
the scheme is around £9.5million (£5.7million from the EU and
£3.8million in match-funding). Until match-funds from the private
sector and bodies like the National Lottery are found, BCBC will have
to underwrite the match-funding themselves in order to bid for EU
funds.
BCBC to revise Homeschooling policy
There are a number of reasons why parents might choose to teach their children at home : personal preference, withdrawal from mainstream education due to bullying, distance to the nearest school, religion, a talent which means they can't attend school full-time etc. Home-schooled children must also be registered with the local authority - partly to ensure they meet the required standards, partly so they don't get visited by education welfare officers.
Around 60 pupils in Bridgend county are home-schooled, although the cabinet report (pdf) says the number of de-registrations from schools are "fluid and change daily". 2013-14 appears to have seen a spike in the numbers de-registering.
Although parents have this right, there are serious pitfalls to home-schooling. There's no legal requirement for parents to mark their childrens' work, have a set timetable, teach to the National Curriculum or hold teaching qualifications.
BCBC have decided to revise their home education policy in light of new Welsh Government guidance, although Bridgend's current approach - which involves working with home-educators by hosting formal meetings and guest speakers - has been praised and held up as an example for other local authorities to follow. The new strategy will formalise this "partnership approach".
The other main change to the strategy is that in future BCBC will do more to analyse the reasons why parents withdraw children from schools, or a particular school. There could be issues such as children's mental health or poor bullying policies which aren't being properly addressed.
The new policy will take effect from May this year.
Glanogwr housing development set to get green light
BCBC's Development Control Committee are due to discuss the controversial proposal to demolish the Glanogwr council offices for a small residential development on Thursday (pdf).
The loss of a copse and the rediversion of the footpath to/from Newbridge Fields (pictured above) has prompted protest from local residents and councillors, having also received backing from some AMs too. As the path is well-used by Brynteg pupils, the school's board of governors also oppose the development. Cllrs Gareth Phillips and Edith Hughes (both Lab, Oldcastle) have requested to speak at the meeting.
Some of the key objections are : loss of open space (thought it's a small piece of open space in the first place), concerns that redirecting the path will create a darkened "ledge" which will attract anti-social behaviour and the fact BCBC have an interest as Glanogwr is one of their own buildings - though it's unclear how much BCBC made from its sale.
Planning officers reject most of these concerns, saying : the area is residential anyway and building 4 new homes wouldn't be out of character, there are no legal covenants relating to the copse itself, the Glanogwr building is an eyesore and the replacement footpath would be wider than the existing one.
Officers have recommended approval, subject to a £50,000 Section 106 agreement to contribute towards affordable housing elsewhere in the county and other standard planning conditions.
Are car parking charges harming town centres?
The issue of town centre
car parking charges is something that causes arguments in pretty much
every single local authority in Wales – Y Cneifiwr (The politics of parking) and Carmarthen Planning have more on the arguments in Carmarthenshire, while it's cropped up recently in Neath. It's also a
matter often flagged up by traders as contributing to the perceived
decline of Porthcawl and Bridgend town centres.
A report into car parks and their impact on town centre footfall was commissioned by the Economy & Business Minister, Edwina Hart (Lab, Gower), and sent to the National Assembly's Business & Enterprise Committee last week (pdf) as part of a follow-up inquiry into town centre management. The research was carried out using a mix of literature reviews, interviews and surveys.
The findings, in broad terms, were that :
One of the key recommendations from the report is that parking charges shouldn't be "treated in isolation" but be part of a much broader strategy to boost town centre trade. Local authorities should also be encouraged to provide better data relating to the impact of car park charges.
So the issue isn't the amount councils charge to park, but how good the shops next to the car parks are, the number of spaces and how easy parking spaces are to find.
There's an anecdote from Bridgend underlining this argument. I'm sure many people remember, but when ASDA opened their Bridgend supermarket in 2008, the car park was run by BCBC because the store was built on one of the Cheapside multi-storey car parks. Due to a "blunder" by BCBC, ASDA never signed the car park over to them, meaning ASDA could (legally) offer free parking for up to three hours. Quite understandably they immediately did so.
As a result, drivers deserted nearby council-run car parks. It's estimated to have cost BCBC up to £500,000 and negatively impacted footfall into the town centre – which is a 5 minute walk away as ASDA is classed as an "out of centre" supermarket (like Tesco at Brewery Lane) not an "out of town" one (like Tesco at Cowbridge Road or Sainsbury's). On balance, things have evened out now that ASDA no longer has a novelty factor.
So if there's a take away message from this it's that changes to parking fees do have an impact, but to increase footfall in town centres, give people a reason to choose them over an out-of-town retail park or supermarket. In town centres like Bridgend, and even smaller ones like Ammanford, that's a huge challenge in its own right.
BCBC to revise Homeschooling policy
 |
| Bridgend Council's approach to homeschooling has been praised. (Pic : The Telegraph) |
There are a number of reasons why parents might choose to teach their children at home : personal preference, withdrawal from mainstream education due to bullying, distance to the nearest school, religion, a talent which means they can't attend school full-time etc. Home-schooled children must also be registered with the local authority - partly to ensure they meet the required standards, partly so they don't get visited by education welfare officers.
Around 60 pupils in Bridgend county are home-schooled, although the cabinet report (pdf) says the number of de-registrations from schools are "fluid and change daily". 2013-14 appears to have seen a spike in the numbers de-registering.
Although parents have this right, there are serious pitfalls to home-schooling. There's no legal requirement for parents to mark their childrens' work, have a set timetable, teach to the National Curriculum or hold teaching qualifications.
BCBC have decided to revise their home education policy in light of new Welsh Government guidance, although Bridgend's current approach - which involves working with home-educators by hosting formal meetings and guest speakers - has been praised and held up as an example for other local authorities to follow. The new strategy will formalise this "partnership approach".
The other main change to the strategy is that in future BCBC will do more to analyse the reasons why parents withdraw children from schools, or a particular school. There could be issues such as children's mental health or poor bullying policies which aren't being properly addressed.
The new policy will take effect from May this year.
Glanogwr housing development set to get green light
 |
The loss of a copse and the rediversion of the footpath to/from Newbridge Fields (pictured above) has prompted protest from local residents and councillors, having also received backing from some AMs too. As the path is well-used by Brynteg pupils, the school's board of governors also oppose the development. Cllrs Gareth Phillips and Edith Hughes (both Lab, Oldcastle) have requested to speak at the meeting.
Some of the key objections are : loss of open space (thought it's a small piece of open space in the first place), concerns that redirecting the path will create a darkened "ledge" which will attract anti-social behaviour and the fact BCBC have an interest as Glanogwr is one of their own buildings - though it's unclear how much BCBC made from its sale.
Planning officers reject most of these concerns, saying : the area is residential anyway and building 4 new homes wouldn't be out of character, there are no legal covenants relating to the copse itself, the Glanogwr building is an eyesore and the replacement footpath would be wider than the existing one.
Officers have recommended approval, subject to a £50,000 Section 106 agreement to contribute towards affordable housing elsewhere in the county and other standard planning conditions.
Are car parking charges harming town centres?
 |
| Excessive car parking charges are blamed for the decline of high streets. The Welsh Government recently commissioned research to get to the bottom of it. The result....inconclusive. (Pic : Wales Online) |
A report into car parks and their impact on town centre footfall was commissioned by the Economy & Business Minister, Edwina Hart (Lab, Gower), and sent to the National Assembly's Business & Enterprise Committee last week (pdf) as part of a follow-up inquiry into town centre management. The research was carried out using a mix of literature reviews, interviews and surveys.
The findings, in broad terms, were that :
- Parking charges (generally) make little difference to footfall. On average, there's little difference in footfall between town/city centres that charge more for parking and those that charge less. In fact, areas with the highest footfall generally have the highest parking charges. When Newport introduced two hours free parking in 2010 it had a negligible impact on footfall, similarly when they introduced three hours parking for £1.
- There's little to no hard evidence of a link between parking charges and footfall, but an informal/anecdotal relationship exists. Most of the information is anecdotal and comes from business owners and politicians, rarely from visitors/shoppers. Small businesses generally support free or cheap car parking and have the backing of bodies like the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), but there's little hard evidence to support their case. Local authorities are also accused of using parking charges as a "revenue stream" whilst ignoring the impact this has on local businesses.
- Convenience is the main reason shoppers choose a particular town centre. Ease of finding a parking space, traffic flows and parking signage were cited as "spontaneous" factors in a person's decision to visit a town centre. Improved availability of parking spaces was again cited in on-street surveys as the most popular way to get people to shop locally. The cost of parking generally determines how long someone will stay in a town centre, not whether they'll go there in the first place. Also, when free parking schemes are introduced they tend to be taken up by town centre workers (who presumably get there early), not visitors and shoppers.
- The overall retail offer in a town centre is more likely to have an impact on footfall than parking charges. As said earlier, higher parking charges are considered a "trade-off" for a better retail experience. So Cardiff can get away with charging more for parking than Swansea, Llanelli or Bridgend, while places which offer free parking but much better retail choice – like Cwmbran – perform well.
One of the key recommendations from the report is that parking charges shouldn't be "treated in isolation" but be part of a much broader strategy to boost town centre trade. Local authorities should also be encouraged to provide better data relating to the impact of car park charges.
So the issue isn't the amount councils charge to park, but how good the shops next to the car parks are, the number of spaces and how easy parking spaces are to find.
There's an anecdote from Bridgend underlining this argument. I'm sure many people remember, but when ASDA opened their Bridgend supermarket in 2008, the car park was run by BCBC because the store was built on one of the Cheapside multi-storey car parks. Due to a "blunder" by BCBC, ASDA never signed the car park over to them, meaning ASDA could (legally) offer free parking for up to three hours. Quite understandably they immediately did so.
As a result, drivers deserted nearby council-run car parks. It's estimated to have cost BCBC up to £500,000 and negatively impacted footfall into the town centre – which is a 5 minute walk away as ASDA is classed as an "out of centre" supermarket (like Tesco at Brewery Lane) not an "out of town" one (like Tesco at Cowbridge Road or Sainsbury's). On balance, things have evened out now that ASDA no longer has a novelty factor.
So if there's a take away message from this it's that changes to parking fees do have an impact, but to increase footfall in town centres, give people a reason to choose them over an out-of-town retail park or supermarket. In town centres like Bridgend, and even smaller ones like Ammanford, that's a huge challenge in its own right.
0 comments:
Post a Comment