Your Window of Opportunity

For more information on Town Centre Management in Caerphilly County Borough please contact: Andrew Highway Town Centre Development Manager Caerphilly County Borough Council, Tredomen Business Centre, Hengoed, CF82 7FN Telephone: +44(0)1443 866213 Web: www.caerphilly.gov.uk E-mail: highwa@caerphilly.gov.uk

Town Centres
Caerphilly County Borough

6232/06

Contents
4. The Importance of Town Centres 5. Background 7. Caerphilly Town 9. Blackwood Town 11. Bargoed Town 13. The Role of Town Centre Management 17. Funding & Conclusion 19. Personal Notes

Why are town centres so important? With the recent emergence of out of town retail parks often located away from the traditional centre of the community, the role of the town centre has come under greater scrutiny.

The Importance of Town Centres

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Rhymney

Pontlottyn
A4 6

New Tredegar
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To understand what town centres have to offer you only have to go into them and look around at the buildings that make up their fabric. This rich heritage links todays visitor with the towns cultural and historical past. Each town is different, by taking a moment to appreciate the definitive architecture, you begin to understand the strong sense of individuality they offer. The emotions we feel by being part of a community are difficult to define, but impossible to replace. Town centres deliver a unique sense of ownership for those communities and wider settlements they serve. There is a need to ensure that the focus of a town centre is wider than just its core retail provision. It needs to offer alternatives, which adds to the shopping experience and attracts more visitors, increasing footfall numbers.

In the future the challenge will be to move the town centres forward by providing a wide range of shops, services and other attractions which complement each other, delivering broader appeal and more consumer choice. There is a need to re-examine business success. All retail businesses are built on three cornerstones: quality, value and service. When there are challenging trading conditions it should be seen by retailers and service providers as an opportunity to examine the business and establish again these three core values.

This document sets out a vision for town centre development within the three principle towns of Caerphilly, Blackwood and Bargoed. Town centres are the heart of the community and need to be regarded as the first choice for the retail sector. A strong diverse retail offer, which balances the major high street brands with local independent businesses, is the goal which we work towards.

A4048

Bargoed
Oakdale
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Blackwood
Nelson A
A4 72
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Newbridge

Abercarn

Ystrad Mynach
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A467

Risca

Llanbradach Machen Bedwas

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A 46

Caerphilly

A469

The Council has agreed a ten-year regeneration strategy entitled "The Smart Alternative".

Background
The proposals within the strategy are based on 6 regeneration principles, one of which is to re-establish town centres as a focus of economic activity. Within the document the appointment of a Town Centre Manager was seen as an important step forward in the future development of town centres.

Caerphilly Bus & Train Station

Caerphilly
Tourist Information Centre Caerphilly is the largest town in the County Borough, and a sub-regional centre. The catchment area for the town includes Senghenydd, Abertridwr, Llanbradach, Bedwas, Trethomas, Machen, Rudry, Waterloo and Draethen. This area has a population of approximately 53,000. The town is a popular tourist destination, due to the presence of the second largest fortress in Europe located in the centre of the town and it has 50 multiple retailers. Future developments in the town centre will be focussed on two sites: (1) The area in Cardiff Road, which has been viewed as a development opportunity for the last 10 years. (2) An area in Park Lane has been identified as suitable for development. This area dramatically overlooks the castle and presents an attractive site in a prime town centre location. Caerphillys close proximity to the northern suburbs of Cardiff allows the town to market itself to a much wider customer base capitalising on its proximity to the capital. The unique history and character of the town make it a real alternative to the big city experience. The branding Relaxing Retail Therapy has given the town centre a strong identity and defines the shopping experience it strives to deliver. Since the launch of the Investment Portfolio in Caerphilly Castle in March 2005 there has been renewed interest in the town as an investment opportunity from retailers, investors and developers.

Castle Court Shopping Centre

Cardiff Road Shopping Area

Blackwood
The Chartist Bridge

Blackwood is the second largest town in the County Borough area and is one of two sub-regional centres. The catchment area has a population of approximately 34,000 and includes Argoed, Cefn Fforest, Penmaen, Pengam, Pontllanfraith and Ynysddu. There are 59 multiple retailers present in the town. Blackwood has had a unique opportunity to improve its transport infrastructure with the construction of the Sirhowy Enterprise Way at a cost of 35 million. This new road links the town centre via the Chartist Bridge with the Oakdale Business Park opening up the town to 5,000 potential customers.

The town has long been an interchange for bus routes from all over the South East valleys, the construction of a new 2 million bus station will make Blackwood more accessible to people from all over the surrounding area. Both these projects will define the towns future making it more attractive to potential investors. Whilst these are exciting times for the people who live and work in Blackwood it is important to recognise that the process of change will be difficult. There are many challenges to be met as these radical alterations to Blackwood town centre take place. The critical success factor for the towns future will be how the change is managed and communicated.

The investment by national retailers in the new retail parks located at the Northern and the Southern end of the High Street clearly demonstrates how attractive Blackwood is as an investment opportunity. Their confidence in Blackwoods future sends a strong message to the wider retail sector.

Hall Street Redevelopment

New Bus Station

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Bargoed
Public Realm Improvements Ba rgoed is the most northern of the six main retail cent res in the County Bo rough and is located in the Rhymney Valley. It is the third largest town behind the sub-regional cent res of Caerphilly and Blackwood and is the largest of the four district cent res. The catchment area for the town includes Rhymney, Fochriw, Pontlottyn, Abe rtysswg, De ri , New Tredegar, Aberbargoed and Gilfach with a combined population of over 26,000. Since the closure of the colliery in 1977, Bargoed has been in a weak economic position but still has 19 multiple retailers. There are proposals for a new 25 million road, Angel Way, linking the north and south of the Rhymney Valley. This road will significantly increase accessibility of the town and provide an opportunity to attract well-known high street names to improve the existing retail offer. In 2005 consultants Camlin Lonsdale undertook an extensive design study, which drew up radical and far-reaching design concepts detailing how the existing town centre could be transformed into a vibrant place to live, work and visit. It will form the basis for a Master Plan document to strategically develop the town over the next 12 - 15 years. Together with partners in both the public and private sectors, the Council is committed to improving Bargoed town centres transport links and the public realm, to provide an environment which will attract new investment to the area. The new brand image Big Idea Bargoed will be used to market the towns potential to investors and developers.

Potential Development Site

High Street Shopping Area

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Town Centre Management within the County Borough covers the 3 principle towns of Caerphilly, Blackwood and Bargoed.

The Role Of Town Centre Management

The role of Town Centre Management covers five primary areas. 1. Strategic Development 2. Operational Issues (Day to Day) 3. Co-ordinating the Private and Public Sectors (Town Centre Improvement Group) 4. Encouraging Private Sector Investment 5. Engaging the Retail Sector public and private sectors, to form a single cohesive vision and achievable objective. In a strategic capacity Town Centre Management works with various groups and committees within local government to promote the interests of the town centres. Examples of this are the Beacons Group and the three Town Centre Management Groups. addressed through the Town Centre Improvement Group. Issues that frequently require attention in the three towns are graffiti, flyposting, public realm maintenance and damage. By building new partnerships with Police Officers responsible for town centre policing, these issues can be resolved, partnership working can also address the wider problems of retail theft and anti social behaviour. Effective town management can help police officers deliver a better service to the community, by co-ordinating and chanelling resources and expertise across the different service areas of the local authority.

Bargoed Regeneration Proposals

1. Strategic Development The strategic development of the town centres within the County Borough is a commitment set out within the Smart Alternative document. The speed and nature of the development will largely be driven by the vision and commitment of the local authority and the level of financial investment from the private sector. Some of these factors will fall outside the control of local government so one of the roles of Town Centre Management is to draw together the different goals and aspirations of the Hall Street Public Realm Improvements

2. Operational Issues The day-to-day use of the town centre means that operationally there will always be issues to resolve in order to create a better environment and improve the street scene. Many of the issues, whilst not difficult to resolve, require repeated site visits and internal officer meetings as well as persistence to ensure that the matters agreed are actioned on site. Local members are often approached by the people they represent with operational concerns; where appropriate these can be

Continental Market in Blackwood

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Blackwood Town Centre Action Plan

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3.Co-ordinating The Private and Public Sectors Central to achieving operational success in the managing of the town centres has been the establishing of the Town Centre Improvement Group in 2005. This group is officer led, its membership comprising of senior managers responsible for key service areas within the local authority. In addition, the three Police Inspectors who have responsibility for each of the three principle town centres attend. To ensure that the Town Centre Management Groups gain an insight into how issues are progressing the Chairperson for each of the Town Centre Management Groups is invited to attend meetings. The cabinet member for Economic Development chairs the group; their role is to encourage progress on issues giving authority and direction to the meetings. Each meeting, held at the Councils Tredomen Business & Technology Centre, looks at Environmental Audits for each of the 3 town centres that have been produced by the Town Centre Development Manager. The audits highlight both operational and strategic issues and give details of how each of the items are progressing. The success of this group forms a major part of the Town Centre Management process and enables the local authority to deliver an effective provision of its services in each town centre. Tredomen Business & Technology Centre

4. Encouraging Private Sector Investment Developing a brand for the town centre is vital to ensuring future investment from the private and public sectors. The use of lamppost banners creates a more vibrant and colourful street scene, this approach is used in all three principle town centres. The development of an Investment Portfolio for Caerphilly has attracted additional interest and investment to the town centre. The launch of this portfolio was held in Caerphilly Castle and attracted over 100 investors developers and retailers. The importance of the Internet needs to be understood within the context of marketing a towns image. A strong, positive image will dispel the stereotypes and preconceptions, which the South Wales Valleys have to overcome. The installation of town centre web cams showing attractive views of the town will enhance peoples opinion of the area and encourage visitors. Through the Councils own web site new shopping pages for each town will be developed, these will include interactive visitor maps, car park locations and tariffs, event details, business opportunities, photographs and travel details by road and rail. These initiatives are designed to harness the technology of the internet to demonstrate to potential visitors, investors and developers what the three town centres have to offer.

The expectation of todays consumer is that town centres offer a varied and individual shopping experience, the staging of Continental Markets at different times of the year will draw people into the towns from outside their existing catchment areas. Markets staged in the right location have demonstrated that they can dramatically increase visitor numbers and boost the business of existing High Street stores. Incorporating this type of market into the towns annual events calendar is an important part of improving the retail offer. 5. Engaging the Retail Sector Engagement with the retail sector is an area that local government has found difficult in the past. The Town Centre Manager visits the three principle towns each week to communicate with both the national and independent retailers. A weekly Retail News is produced to update retailers on issues that are affecting the retail sector. This ensures that in particular small businesses are informed of the national market and trading conditions enabling them to put local performances into a wider context.

Caerphilly Investment Portfolio Launch

The Route for Angel Way

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Funding
The Council provides the funding for Town Centre Management in its entirety. In October 2004 a new post of Town Centre Development Manager was created. This post receives a budget to proactively market the three town centres. A portion of money is also allocated to each of the Town Centre Management Groups, enabling them to consider requests from the Town Centre Development Manager to support projects through this funding. There is also a provision for a maintenance budget for town centres. This allocation will be used within the 3 principle towns to ensure that the environment in the town centres reflects their status as the shop windows of the County Borough.

Big Cheese Event, Caerphilly

Conclusion
The importance of town centres to the wider regional economy of Caerphilly County Borough is now clearly recognised by the local authority. Within the scope of Town Centre Management the strategic and operational needs of the town centres are being addressed for the first time in a coordinated, accountable way. Each individual town is benefiting from the vision and enthusiasm that Town Centre Management brings. The challenge will be to continue to develop the concept of Town Centre Management within the County Borough to secure additional resources. By investing in Town Centre Management the authority will deliver a better service and improve the town centre environment, attracting additional visitors and encouraging renewed private sector investment.

Public Artwork from Parc Coetir Bargod

Big Balloon Event, Blackwood

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