A group of our Stafford Chamber Local Area Advisory Board (LAAB) members recently joined the Deputy CEO of Stafford Borough Council, Gregg Stott, to have a look at the centre of our County Town and identify some key discussion points on how to boost footfall and improve access.
In the space of an hour, we identified a number of areas which, if addressed, could help to significantly improve the appearance of the County Town. Commercial waste bins are an eyesore and moving these to the back of premises helps to increase space for pedestrians. Many commercial premises are blighted by graffiti, which creates a negative image.
During the previous week, it was announced that Stafford Borough Council had agreed to buy the town’s old Co-op department store as part of major transformation plans for the area. We welcome this news and see it as a very positive step in addressing the decline in both footfall and trade in the north end of Stafford Town Centre. The acquisition of the former Co-op Department store will bring empty commercial premises back into use.
Like many towns across the country, Stafford has seen a drop in footfall, largely driven by changes in shopping patterns/habits and changes in working patterns following the pandemic, with many workers opting to work from home for part, or even all of the week. Aspirations to fill empty commercial premises with retail continues to be a challenge and we acknowledge that one option is to look at conversion from retail into residential. A growing town centre population will use town centre retailers and spend money in the many leisure and hospitality venues across the centre of Stafford and we very much recognise the positive benefits that this can bring.
However, we continue make the call for more public services to be brought into the centre of Stafford. We really believe that this will drive footfall into the County Town. One example could be the transfer of certain outpatient services. At present, service users are travelling to County Hospital, which either involves a journey of two buses or driving around and looking for a car park space. Having outpatient services in the centre of Stafford would bring users into town by bus or train or using some of the town’s car parks.
Once in town, service users are likely to support other retailers, whether in the form of grabbing a coffee, collecting some dry cleaning or doing a food shop. It supports our hard-pressed town centre retailers and can make a real difference. Having a retail option at the former Co-op store is a good thing but we would really welcome the scope to bring in more service provision for businesses, with office space and even business hubs for start-up entrepreneurs, as well as hot-desking space for those wanting to work for part of the week.
If you have any suggestions about how we can drive footfall into our County Town, our Stafford Chamber LAAB would be delighted to hear from you. Your suggestions can be forwarded to: declan.riddell@staffordshirechambers.co.uk
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