Agenda item

a)    Traders Associations - Tony Broome from Cosham Traders' Association has been invited to attend 

(Jenni Catlow from Albert Road is unable to attend this meeting but will pass her comments to the panel via Barry Walker)

b)    PCC Transport officers - the following officers have been invited to attend to address transport issues:

·         Marc Griffin, Assistant Head of Service, Environment & Transport

·         Nicola Waight, Environmental Change & Sports Development Team Manager

·         Danny Johnson, Passenger Transport Officer

·         Michael Robinson, Parking Operations Manager (has to leave by 7.10 to attend another meeting)

·         Jo Cole, Carbon Reduction Co-ordinator

c)    Report back from High Streets Conference - report attached by Cllr Julie Swan who attended the DCLG conference on 18 September "The Future of UK High Streets: Driving Local Growth and Regeneration" on behalf of the panel, which was also attended by Claire Upton-Brown, City Development Manager

Traders' Associations

The chair agreed to vary the order of business as unfortunately Tony Broome from Cosham Traders' Association had sent his apologies that he would no longer be able to attend this meeting.  Barry Walker had received some comments from Mr Broome and some detailed comments from Jenni Catlow from Albert Road, they would both be invited to the next meeting when the traders' associations and the role of the town centre management officers would be discussed in full.

Public Transport

Danny Johnson, the Passenger Transport Officer produced large maps showing the routes available to the secondary shopping areas and also circulated copies of the published public transport map showing all the bus routes in the city.  The city council does not run the bus services - this is a commercial venture run by bus operators First and Stagecoach in the city.  The bus operators provide 86% of bus service mileage with the council purchasing 14%. This is in areas where the operators will not provide services because they would not be commercially viable but where the council identifies a social need. e.g. the Highbury Estate.  He stressed there had been a large investment in new buses by both bus companies in the city during the last year. The council had also provided excellent infrastructure with the replacement of all 343 bus shelters over the last 6 years, raised kerbs at 580 of the 623 bus stops, new bus stop flags and the current installation of Real Time Passenger Information in 83 bus shelters, which will be completed by March 2015.

The Passenger Transport Officer outlined the frequency of services:

·      all secondary shopping areas are reasonably well served as identified in the large map provided by Danny and the Public Transport Map. The city is covered by 6 ten minute frequency services, with a further 15 services that have a frequency of between 15 and 70 minutes.  For example Highbury buildings is served by 32 buses an hour while Locksway Road shops and Baffins Road shops are served by 2 buses per hour;  

·      in response to questions it was reported that the 18 service into Paulsgrove was not ceasing.  The number 18 provides a half hourly service up to Hillsley Road. Due to some punctuality issues First have introduced an additional bus into the service to improve punctuality. To mitigate the cost of this change a couple of very early morning journeys were withdrawn. This did not affect the shops as the withdrawn journeys operated well before the shops opened. The shops at Allaway Avenue is served by 3 services, the 2 and 3 on a ten minute frequency and the 18 on a 30 minute frequency. 14 buses per hour in each direction;

·      Danny asked if the panel considered Ocean Park to be a secondary shopping area as this area was only served by the 19 service a two hourly frequency. The general concesus was that most customers travelled there by car;

·      Sometimes the outcome of consultation identifies places that some people wish to go to. However many people do not participate in consultatuion. This can lead to making changes, that are after implementation, unpopular with residents. I carried out a change to the 12 service many years ago which at that time served Havant Road shops Drayton and sent the bus via QA hospital instead. However the change had to be reversed as soon as it was made due to our older residents saying they wanted to go to the local shops rather than QA Hospital.  For information the No. 23 Stagecoach service provides a 10 minute frequency at Havant Road shops. 

Funding and Subsidised Routes

Most of the small parades of shops in the city did have reasonably services to them most of which are operated commercially by the bus operators. Where the council purchases bus services they are subject to continuing council funding. This is likely to be the case in the budget setting process for 2015/16. Some cross boundary services can also be dependent on the budget setting process carried out by Hampshire County Council.

The current bus contracts are due to expire in June 2016. Assuming the council still supports bus services a fully EU compliant tender will be started in mid 2015 when operators will be invited to bid for contracts. Danny explained the subsidised services:

·         Numbers 1, 3, 7 and 8 are supported after 9.00 pm to the Portsmouth boundary.

·         Number 12 is supported entirely to allow connectivity to Highbury.

·         The 13 and 14 has a supported late evening journey

·         The 15 and 16 is supported entirely

·         The 17 and 18 is supported after 9.00 pm.

·         The number 19 a two hourly service is entirely supported

·         Stagecoach 21 service is supported in the evening and all day Sunday. The council also receives a contribution from Hampshire CC for their part of the route.

·         Stagecoach 23 service is supported in the evening along with some early morning Sunday provision. The council also receives a contribution from Hampshire CC for their part of the route.

The gross cost to the council is £440,000 pa (as at October 2014) but Hampshire County Council make a contribution for the numbers 21 and 23 and there is an element of Department for Transport (DFT) Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) payable to the council for the element of BSOG for tendered bus routes.

The city council also supports the park and ride to the city centre and the Hard Interchange / Gunwharf Quays. 

Discussion took place regarding the definition of the secondary (as opposed to primary) shopping centres - in planning terms the city council protect some retail centres whereas others are not protected in the same way.

Members were grateful for the map showing connectivity between the centres across the city and were mindful of the subsidy in being subject to budget constraints and that any reduction would be to the detriment of the shopping areas.

Parking

Michael Robinson, the Parking Operations Manager explained the parking provision for these shopping centres.  In Fratton, North End and Cosham shoppers needed to pay for parking whereas in the local shopping areas of Milton, Allaway Avenue and Drayton the parking was not paid for but instead there was use of limited waits to ensure there was parking available for customers whilst still encouraging a turnover.

Charges - At Fratton the charge is 90p per hour and it was asked what cost there would be to reduce it to be free for half an hour?  It was noted that the Mary Portas review had looked at the correlation between parking charges and demand but it was noted that Gunwharf was very successful but had the most expensive parking in the city. 

The Parking Operations Manager felt that whilst half hour and one hour limited waiting works at Elm Grove it is more expensive for the parking service to manage, whereas pay and display areas are most effective with the necessary revenue for managing the provision and to ensure a turnover of vehicles.  At Elm Grove there it had been decided that one hour free had been the best compromise (to suit the mix of businesses) before extra parking is charged for.  The challenge at Albert Road was that there was no off-street parking in the vicinity whereas at Marmion Road this was alleviated by the Waitrose car park.

The Cosham traders had not wanted charges introduced but when they were implemented they experienced reduced commuter parking outside the retail units, which had been welcomed.  There customers could press for ticket for one hour's free parking so this did not impact on the parking officers. 

Area of review

Discussion took place regarding the "tertiary" areas covered by the review and the need to see what is practical for the type of area to see if this would work in other retail areas.  Claire Upton-Brown reported that the areas covered were listed within the city plan and there was a question when considering the next development plan of whether the retail offer is being diluted and the need for impact assessments for further retail provision in the city.  Alan Cufley, the Head of Corporate Assets, Business & Standards raised the issue of whether a residential element would increase the sustainability of these smaller retail areas?

Further Information Required

·      The panel felt there was a need to investigate occupancy rates

·      There is a need for a full list of the parking restrictions for the shopping areas and the associated car parks nearby from the Parking Operations Manager. 

·      The panel would also wish to give further consideration to the use of empty retail units

·      Council Tax would be asked if they had records to assist with these requests or other options would be to engage university students in research this or the panel members could look at the extent of empty units within their own areas once the list of areas to be covered had been provided.

Carbon Reduction

Jo Cole, the Carbon Reduction Co-ordinator had been invited to attend the meeting to look at environmental issues and the sustainability agenda.   Other modes of transport should be considered to encourage walkers and cyclists for the local use of retail centres, with the provision of safe places to secure bikes.  It was important to promote sustainable events and promote local produce such as the high quality produce of Bransbury Butchers and the Farmers' Market in Southsea which was a major attraction.

Retail units were major users of energy and there were recycling and waste issues for the shopping centres.  Use of materials for carrier bags and takeaway containers were also of concern.  It was important to encourage businesses to share in environmental schemes such as rubbish and recycling and pooling of resources although this was usually done on a larger scale to be beneficial.  The panel felt it would be useful for the local traders to receive more information regarding low voltage goods.  It was noted that there is some funding available for small businesses for energy efficiency.

Cyclists were provided for well in the main areas.  These were less well provided for in the tertiary areas.  Councillor Winnington reported that the D locks could not be used on the thick lampposts and the crime rates could be off-putting in the smaller areas for those wishing to leave their bikes securely.  Further information was needed regarding the budget for cycling provision (Nicola Waight in Transport & Environment would be asked to provide information to a future meeting).  Claire Upton-Brown reported that when looking at new provision in planning terms cycle lanes and including the use of car park spaces for cycle storage.  The Cycling Forum would also be invited to provide their comments as part the review.

The main concern regarding carbon emission was the high number of cars and therefore there was a need to change behaviour and make the local centres more pleasant experiences to encourage the use of local shops on a regular basis and reduce car journeys.  Councillor Swan reported that one of the ideas raised at the retail conference referred to later on the agenda was the pooling together regarding online ordering via local collection points.  To improve air quality, Alan Cufley suggested there be more encouragement of drivers to stop idling engines when waiting outside shops for their passengers to return.