Agenda item

To receive a report from Patrick Doherty, Principal Strategy Officer and Councillor Jason Ochere Cabinet member for Jobs, Business and Town Centres on the Town Centre Action Plan - Revitalising Southwark’s Town Centres & High Streets.

The commission then received a report from Councillor Jason Ochere Cabinet member for Jobs Business and Town Centres on the Town Centre Action Plan. There are three main pillars in revitalising the high streets and town centres the first being investment in the high streets which is related to the question asked by the commission on the High Street Recovery Fund. The regeneration projects that happen across the borough of greatly contribute to towns and high streets, however there is also a need to continue with the high street recovery fund which in previous years has been known as High Street Challenge Initiatives which has dedicated money to various projects run by community groups and businesses or individuals and it’s also a way of attracting people to our high streets and helping to increase activity.

The commission heard that great progress has been made with regards to investment of about £300,000 in high street businesses, individuals and community groups. Councillor Ochere explained further that within his own ward of Camberwell, SE5 area forum have been supporting businesses by employing a dedicated business marketing officer. Local business meetings involving diverse range of businesses from Easy Gym to Caravaggio have been held to find out some of their key concerns and talk about improvements they would like to see. As a result a number of business have been signposted to finding business support programs in conjunction with GLA, this has helped businesses improve their online presence, develop their legal acumen around contracts and provide them with accounting support.

On sustainable transport businesses investment, Pedal My Wheels has been supported with their cargo bike pilot by investment through the high street recovery fund, they have procured fitted and branded bikes for local freight and also developed their app to facilitate track and monitor cargo trips. In the north of the borough in areas like Peckham business facilitating discussions have been held and money has been given to Tree Shepherd who have had organised market events for  black people and women owned small businesses. Also in the north money from hardship recovery fund has been given to Better Backside Business Improvement District for their Inns and Yards project in an effort to reinvigorate public spaces.

In relation to the second pillar of revitalising high streets is around night time economy plan which is in process of being issued to the GLA providing a clear blueprint of objectives to be achieved. One of the key themes emerging from the night time economy plan are economic and social benefits that can be achieved through planning and regeneration activities, contribution of arts and cultural organisations by reinvigorating talent centres and keeping them open beyond 6 pm, also looking at using galleries and libraries to attract people at night time. Another key theme would be looking at Southwark Chamber of Commerce and business improvement districts and understanding how to better help small and medium enterprises in the area to get them thinking more innovatively to attract people at night time.

The third key theme in night time economy plan is to look at public safety at night especially with regards to violence against women and girls with sign posted and well lit streets. The fourth key theme is strategic improvement to key transport infrastructure projects such as extension of the Bakerloo line and other key stations in the areas of Peckham, Camberwell and East Dulwich.

Councillor Ochere explained to the commission that action plans are necessary to hold the local authority accountable for short, medium and long term planning. The long term objectives of this action plan is to have areas with their own business improvement districts which would allow businesses to self-determine what they would like to see in their areas. In addition promoting businesses with the help of their town centre manager to replicate the successes in London Bridge areas of Peckham, Camberwell and East Dulwich. The medium term priorities would be to hire dedicated town centre managers to connect with businesses and organisations and feeding back to the Council on improvements needed. Short term priorities would include basic things like street cleaning and street lighting.

Councillor Ochere then answered the commission’s questions on:

• Progress update on Southwark Pioneer’s Fund
• Community improvement district compared to traditional business improvement districts
• Effect of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTN) vehicular traffic flowing into active travel and footfall areas hence affecting air quality in High Streets such as Lordship Lane. Coordination between Local Economy and Highways over strategic improvement of vehicular traffic in and around high streets.
• Lack of diversity in businesses on high streets consisting mainly of coffee shops, bars and eateries, driving people to big shops and retail outlets.

On Southwark Pioneer’s Fund, pre pandemic in 2019 about £40,000 was given to businesses and then due to the pandemic that money was repurposed to be given as grants for businesses. Currently, a commitment of £2m funding has been made for aspiring start-up businesses in Southwark and also for start-up ventures at the idea stage, this has been incorporated for funding under the refreshed model of Southwark Pioneer’s Fund; resulting from the commission’s suggestion at previous discussions during meetings. Funds would be delivered over a four year period without a loan element, this is after discussions with business and local access partnerships which concluded the need for businesses not to be heavily indebted, as there are already existing loans that have been taken out during the COVID period. The fund will also have business support elements with regards to digital visibility, advertising, developing products and procuring affordable spaces. The first element would be the start-up programme, supporting aspiring start-ups and entrepreneurs, second element would be the Growth Programme focused on later stage enterprises. Two other elements of the fund are to be rolled out over the next 18 months focusing on enterprises that deal with decarbonising and reducing environmental impacts called the Green Programme and the final element would be a Social and Community Programme focused on supporting social and community enterprises that are led by women and people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds.

The funding programme will follow a staggered approach across the four elements with the contract commissioning various organisations to support these businesses and the money will be given concurrently. The criteria for money to be given for the aspiring and start-up businesses would be; residents interested in self-employment at the idea stage of the business, enterprises that have just been registered and started trading and/or are in the business model development stage and lastly businesses in early stage life cycles typically up to three years. In terms of the Growth programme, criteria would be enterprises that have been trading for three years or more and have a turnover of £50,000 in the last 12 months. The start-up and growth programme would be going for tender in two weeks’ time and by June 2022 people would be able to apply for the first tranche of funding; green programme and the social and community programme will start from the year 2023 onwards.

On community improvements districts the commission learned that more work needs to be done in looking at finding areas that could be owned by the community in Peckham, Waterloo road and East Dulwich areas.

The commission heard from Councillor Ochere that it’s critical for the local economy team to be involved in decision making of traffic calming measures, more than 50% of the East Dulwich business group who have about 140 members have customers visiting from outside the borough and LTNs may have a potential detrimental impact on these businesses. It’s critical that proper consultations are carried out with these businesses which rely on increasing footfall activity to thrive. The local economy team has already begun working with Highways and are embedded in future decision making processes. The introduction of market at Melbourne Grove has gone through two rounds of consultations where explanations have been made to the public that introduction of markets should not be based on keeping or removing LTNs instead it should be based on; the ability to bring in retail activity in an area, feedback from consultation with its residents and the impact on existing businesses and retail activity.

In relation to lack of diversity of businesses, in areas like Camberwell where farmers markets have been transformed to selling Caribbean style hot-food, books and flowers for Ukraine, such unique and innovative ideas should be encouraged. Also more work needs to be done from a licensing perspective to tackle lack of diversity, ensuring there are a mixture of businesses or traders that are not saturated and are able to diversify.

Councillor Ochere then answered the commission’s questions on:

• Support for struggling small and medium businesses through interacting with Voluntary Community Sector (VCS)
• Influence of local cultures and identities on the local Economy in some areas of the Borough
• Increasing capacity and expediting processes within the local economy team to help support people trying to procure Peckham Park road shops and business spaces. Issues with current system failing to bring community groups together on Peckham Park road with regards to issues of parking.

On the VCS interacting with businesses, there is a need to develop cultural and creative economies with the objective of bringing people to areas of Peckham, Camberwell etc. with help of events like street dancing festivals and charity events.

With regards to local identities, Team London Bridge has been making excellent progress in attracting people with the help of the health SE1 hub with Lambeth colleagues and also the life sciences hub. Local identities and cultures need to be respected by trying to remove the narrative of false and misleading historic claims with the goal of attracting people to visit Southwark for its vibrant culture and identity.

In relation to Peckham Road Shops and smaller town centres simple improvements need to be made to shop frontages like heritage funds used for East Street shops frontages, attracting more people by improving the look of the shopping areas. In addition having dedicated town centre managers would help businesses feedback on simple issues that make businesses unhappy such as waste collections, shop fronts and dealing with Thames water.

Councillor Ochere then answered the commission’s questions on:

• Parking issues for smaller business while bigger businesses increase vehicular traffic with large parking areas causing more pollution
• Local Access Partnership exploring social investments models complementing Southwark Pioneer’s Fund 
• Lack of diversity and a framework of support providers for Southwark Pioneer’s fund start-up and growth programmes

The commission learned that there is a need to have more progressive ways of asking small and large businesses to contribute to reducing their climate change impact by encouraging them to sign up to climate change agreements with the Environment Agency and in return the government could perhaps subsidise 90% reduction rates for electricity and 65% for gas, coal and solid fuels. The local transport network needs to have more services connecting these businesses to change people’s habits of the use of their vehicles.

In relation to Local Access Partnership that compliments Southwark Pioneer’s Fund, the commission learned that it will have loans as a part of their social investment programme for businesses to apply for, however Southwark Pioneer’s Fund will remain a grant over a four year period for businesses to grow and to be self-sufficiently growing in the fifth year without the need for any other loans or grants.

On the framework of support provided for businesses, Councillor Ochere explained to the commission his understanding; that there were a range of ideas that were looked at, which included having a single and multiple organisations to contribute to the business support elements and that it’s not a one size fits all businesses approach, presumably it’s a variety of organisations working together to support various businesses, however confirmation on this aspect will be sent to the commission in due course by Councillor Ochere.