Agenda and minutes

At this point in the meeting, Members are asked to declare:

·        Any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests

·        Any prejudicial interests or

·        Any disclosable pecuniary interests

which they may have in respect of business on the agenda.

At this point in the meeting, Members were asked to declare any personal, prejudicial or disclosable pecuniary interests that they might have had in respect of the business on the agenda.

No interests were declared.

It is at this point in the meeting that members of the public who have registered their wish to speak can do so. The deadline for registering is Monday 9 December 2013 at 5.00 pm.

To register please contact the Democracy Officer for the meeting, on the details at the foot of this agenda.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

The Task Group are asked to consider an Interim Report for this review containing consultation feedback and analysis and to agree what additional information is now required to progress the review. A number of consultees will be in attendance at the meeting to support the ongoing work and to provide their views on the findings to date.

Members of the Task Group considered an Interim Report for the Review. This report contained information and analysis of the night- time economy asked Members what additional information would be required to progress the review.

Representatives from the Retail Sector and Transport Sector in York attended the meeting, in order to share their views on what could be done to improve the city’s night-time economy.

Data from the Yorkafter5 survey was shared with attendees at the meeting and formed part of the basis for discussion.

The meeting was told that the consultation had been highly successful and the responses showed that there was willingness for people to stay in or visit the city centre after 5 pm. Some Members concluded that to increase the numbers of those using the city between 5pm-8pm, an approach was needed to make sure that those who worked within the city centre remained in the centre rather than going home.

Discussion took place around retail issues in the Night Time Economy, including why Late Night Shopping had not been as successful over the past few years and the barriers for this. These barriers included;

·        That perhaps the day set aside for Late Night Shopping, Thursday, was not suitable.

·        Car Parking Charges. Free Parking had been offered recently but late promotion had hampered the public knowledge of this.

·        Pedestrianisation in the city centre streets ended at 5 pm, as a result, the streets did not look attractive.

·        There is a diverse range of shops in the city centre, but many have different closing times, so there was a need for co-ordination on this to make late night shopping more attractive.

·        That retailers had requested for the Park and Ride to be open on Boxing Day, but the leaflet that informed residents of Boxing Day services had incorrect times on it.

·        That in some cases, such as at Monks Cross, where there had been extended trading hours, it had taken a long time for businesses to turn a profit.

·        That more people were staying at home and not coming into the city centre for entertainment purposes.

General conclusions that were drawn from the discussion were that Late Night Shopping had not been as successful as hoped due to a clear lack of promotion, and a definite start date for promotion needed to be set so that there could be a longer time to attract customers. Some Members suggested that the run up to the Tour de France in summer 2014 could be a good time to start promotion, as during the summer months light evenings might encourage more people to stay within the city centre for longer.

In response to a question about how the Internet had affected business within the city centre, one retailer stated that they could not compete on price with online retailers, but they could offer a ‘positive’ experience.

Discussion took place in regards to issues around Transport and what improvements could be made in this area to help the Night Time Economy.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.