Newquay Town Centre Manager - The first 8 weeks

Fri 20th Apr

Well, Easter has been and gone and we have seen the first busy weekend of what will hopefully be a very good year for Newquay in terms of visitors, especially if we get the hot summer we are being promised. Time has flown by since I started and I really cannot believe that I am into my eighth week already; there has been lots to do and so many people to meet.

The general cleanliness and look of the town centre has been my main concern in the last few weeks, especially in terms of street furniture, bins and the litter in Bank Street and Fore Street. Working out who is responsible for which area of town, whether it is County Council, Serco or Town Council has sent me in a few circles but now I know who does what I am beginning to make inroads to getting some improvements. I became quite exasperated at the number of cigarette butts in Bank Street and began a daily count (how sad is that?) and the figure reached 393 at its peak, and the best day was an awful 239. We have an odd system where the bins are emptied but not cleaned and one authority cleans around a seat and another has responsibility for the bit we actually sit on. This is not conducive to effective management of the aesthetics of the town. I am pleased to say, however, that after some discussions with Serco they have offered to do some additional cleaning to get the town centre looking better. Bins will be washed, the pavements and concrete spheres will be pressure washed and they will be increasing the patrol of street cleaners in the summer months so that there is a constant presence in the main shopping area. The initial extra clean will be starting very soon and will be repeated periodically throughout the summer months. I am also in discussion with some local youth based groups to have some community projects to tidy up the furniture, and Serco have again offered to support this.

I have been working with the Engineers department at Restormel and am pleased to say that they have now repaired a lot of the seating at the Killacourt and it is in the process of being repainted. They are also going to look at painting all the lamp post planters and bins in the main streets to help give a face lift. County Council has been given a list from broken lampposts to stickers on road signs and I will keep the pressure on to get these completed.

What can be done with the old Bus Station site? I see this mess from the office window every day and have been in regular contact with both the owners and the agents to at least sort their fencing out and make it secure, as yet to no avail. I am also looking to see if we can get a layer of tarmac on it and some seating and at least make it a small civic area whilst it is awaiting development (whenever that might be). As this is private land it is a slow process but it has been in this state for too long and I shall keep pushing.

I am working with East Cornwall Transport Partnership to introduce a shopmobility scheme in town as only two towns in Cornwall have it and a major destination like Newquay could benefit from it. If you are not familiar with Shopmobility, it is a scheme which provides motorised wheelchairs and/or scooters for those with mobility problems to enable them to visit the town and maintain a degree of independence. The equipment is rented out on a daily basis. We have secured funding for this and it is now a matter of working out the logistics. We aim to roll this out as a Borough wide scheme and St Austell are doing something very similar.

I have been in discussion with some local education providers and have secured some free vocational training for the retail sector which will enable the smaller retailers in town to benefit from NVQ training in Retailing Operations and Customer Care should they wish to take advantage of it. Again, the details of how we roll this out are now being finalised and the Newquay Chamber of Commerce and Tourism will be taking the lead on it from hereafter.

The planning for the Falklands 25th Anniversary on 25th May is going well and looks like it will be a wonderful day with the right degree of commemoration and celebration. It will be a wonderful start to a busy May Bank Holiday weekend.

Work is continuing on the introduction of the Best Bar None Scheme which is an initiative to minimise the impact of the night time economy. Local licensees have already done a lot of good work themselves as a self governing group and I am now working with Barbara Pearson who helped introduce it in Truro, as well as a representative from Greater Manchester Police, who established the scheme nationally, to tailor it to Newquay’s needs. The scheme involves a thorough inspection of a licensee’s operation and more importantly their attitude and actions towards reducing the negative impact of the night time economy on the rest of the town. The plan is to use the next few months to establish the assessment criteria for town and then roll it out in the autumn ready for 2008.

Thank you to all of you who have come to see me, whether during the regular surgeries I have held or on the off chance. Your feedback and complaints are vital to me in tackling the real issues of the town. There have been some strong themes coming from you. I meet regularly with Sgt Dave Folland and the PCSOs to look at ways of tackling some of these issues in the immediate and long term. They have already increased patrols around the Killacourt area to stop those drinking alcohol and this will continue, and I was pleased to read Sgt Folland’s article last week highlighting the illegal parking in Bank Street. I am seeing the same cars there every day and I am sure some of these belong to traders in town. As Sgt Folland stated, despite the new look pavements there is still a clear delineation between highway and pavement and parking there is forcing pedestrians out on to the road. I would reiterate his plea to stop parking there.

Due to the amount of time I am now out of the office, I have to regrettably drop my Wednesday surgeries. I shall keep the Tuesday surgery (10am to 1pm), but of course feel free to drop in on the off chance, and if I am in I am always happy to talk to you. My number again if anyone needs to get hold of me is 01637 854046 or you can drop into Marcus Hill. I am slowly getting around to all the traders to introduce myself but there are a lot of you I have not yet been able to visit. Apologies if I haven’t managed to get to your door yet but I hope to have seen you all by the May bank holiday.

Well that’s about it for now. Let’s hope that the good start at Easter is a sign of the summer to come. It was good to see so many families in town. Thank you to everyone who has helped me to settle in during this last couple of months, and if I haven’t yet met you I hope to soon.

With best wishes

Guy Thomas