Organisers of this year’s Future High Street Summit are pleased to announce one of the event’s leading sessions will focus on the growing popularity and proven achievements of one of the UK’s most up-and-coming cities, Nottingham. Attendees can look forward to hearing an inspiring, results-driven case study from several Nottingham stakeholders at the event, which will be held in the city at the Nottingham Conference Centre in March.
The session will open on the second day of the conference, and will feature speakers from various organisations in the city, including:
* Jeff Allen, chair, Nottingham BID
* David Bishop, deputy chief executive, corporate director for Development and Growth, Nottingham City Council
* Alison Farrell, Nottingham BID operations manager
* Jonathan Smith, managing partner, Poppleston Allen
* James Anderson, partner, Poppleston Allen
With such a great line-up of expert speakers, the session is earmarked as one of the top reasons to attend the summit – and at no surprise, as the city continues to deliver great results for its high street and local businesses as a result of the collaboration and hard work of these dedicated organisations.
The announcement comes hot on the heels of a great result from the Nottingham Crime & Drugs Partnership’s Respect Survey for 2014, carried out by Information by Design, which found that Nottingham residents feel safer than ever in the city centre.
The survey explores the views of local residents in relation to anti-social behaviour, crime and community safety, as well as the partnership between the police and the council. The results show that as well as being perceived as especially clean, the city centre is viewed as safe by a majority for the first time since the annual survey began in 2011.
In fact, Nottingham continues to grow from strength to strength as a result of collaboration between its partners, including the emergency services, the councils, the BID, and its plethora of businesses, consultants and other organisations. Over the years, the city has become a great example of how partners working together can achieve great results – one of the primary beliefs behind the Future High Street Summit.
“We’re really excited to be holding the Summit in Nottingham this year,” enthuses Clare Rayner, founder of the event and avid high street campaigner. “The city has proven year after year that it’s possible to keep the high street alive through a range of events and activities. On top of that, the dedication of the local authorities and emergency services to improve facilities and perceptions of local residents and visitors goes a long way towards a more prosperous future high street.
“I can’t wait to hear how the various Nottingham stakeholders view their journey so far. The session is sure to serve as an inspiration to delegates and I’m hoping that they leave the conference fired up with new knowledge to take back to their own communities.”
Among these stakeholders is Nottingham BID – the organisation born of a merge between the Leisure and Retail BIDs and now in the last year of its first term. The BID is responsible for several activities and events within Nottingham city centre, including 48 Hours of Fashion; Independents Month; and a Food and Drink campaign.
Through these activities, the BID – which is also hosting the evening reception at the Future High Street Summit – has seen impressive results, including over 200,000 unique visitors to its website last year, a 22% increase in footfall from 48 Hours of Fashion, £424,000 positive PR generated for the city and £131,000 additional BID income in 2014.
Notably, Nottingham BID spends £200,000 on a safe Late Night Economy every year and has secured exemption from the Late Night Levy for all of the BID members who were eligible, whilst the BID is in operation. This exemption has successfully avoided a reduction in opening hours, saving many jobs in the late night economy.
Jeff Allen, chair of Nottingham BID, says: “The Nottingham BID works hard to deliver a range of initiatives that our members – retailers and licensed premises in the city centre – tell us are important to their businesses. These initiatives are all designed to make Nottingham the shopping and leisure destination of choice in the East Midlands during the daytime and evening, in order to maximise the city’s trading potential for the benefit of our members and to enhance its national reputation.
“As we approach renewal, we are drawing up plans for how we build on the success of these initiatives and deliver a programme of activities to meet members’ needs for the next five years.”
Nottingham’s Purple Flag – run at a national level by Future High Street Summit partner ATCM, and promoted locally by Nottingham BID – last year received accreditation for the fifth consecutive year. The recognition highlights the important work carried out by the team in making Nottingham a safe, clean and exciting place to be during the evenings and night-time.
Alison Farrell, Nottingham BID’s operations manager, says: “Purple Flag is held in high regard in the city and it’s excellent news for Nottingham as a city, the businesses in the city centre and the people that live here that Nottingham has received the Purple Flag for five consecutive years.
“It is great recognition of the excellent work done by both the BID and its partner agencies that operate in the city centre. Nottingham has a great nightlife with lots of excellent restaurants, bars, pubs and clubs, attracting people from a wide geographic area.”
All of these organisations are committed to improving Nottingham’s standing as an up-and-coming UK city, whilst ensuring that the area continues to provide a safe, prosperous and lively environment for local residents. As part of these changes, Nottingham City Council has set out a Retail Strategy and a Time and Place plan to continue this success.
David Bishop, the deputy chief executive and corporate director for Development and Growth at the council, is going to describe Nottingham’s transformation into the thriving centre it is today, as well as the initiatives and promotions which will continue to strengthen the city as a destination for shopping and leisure visitors.
David says: “Nottingham is facing exciting times in the development of the city centre. From the regeneration of our two shopping centres to the opening of the National Videogame Arcade and the improvements to the Castle, we are committed to maintaining a vibrant, welcoming, clean and safe city centre and boosting visitor numbers.
“Nottingham City Council will continue to work closely with our partners to secure the future of the city centre and we welcome the results of the Respect Survey, showing that we are becoming recognised as a family friendly destination with a lot to offer.”
James Anderson and Jonathan Smith from Poppleston Allen will continue the conversation by analysing the interaction between Licensing Authorities’ Statements of Licensing Policy and the development of night-time economies.
Poppleston Allen is based in Nottingham, and the speakers will use the city as a case study throughout their presentation – offering insight and understanding on several policies which affect evening economies across the UK.
The Future High Street will be held at Nottingham Conference Centre within Nottingham Trent University on 25th and 26th March. For more information on the event and to see an outline agenda with the other featured high street factors, delegates can visit the Future High Street Summit website.
