Study says council can help prevent shoppers going out of town
Monday, 30th January 2012.
More than half of shopping for clothes, shoes, furniture and household goods by Haverhill residents is done in Cambridge and other centres away from the town, a study has found.
And it says the borough council has it in its power to improve matters by sorting out the now empty area around the former Co-op, which it owns.
An independent retail study of Haverhill says the challenge for the next ten years is to make the town more attractive to shoppers, so fewer people spend their money in larger towns.
The study found that people travelled to Cambridge and other places for nearly 60 per cent of their comparison shopping.
The study was commissioned by St Edmundsbury Borough Council and carried out by Drivers Jonas Deloitte in Haverhill and Bury St Edmunds to help planners allow for the right kind of retail growth until 2021.
It was an update of a study carried out in 2007 and acknowledged some improvement in Haverhill, particularly along Ehringshausen Way.
But it says this area is cut off from the main town centre by the busy road, and now by the closure of the Co-op as well.
The multi-million investment in the Leisure Centre area of the town, including the new cinema, restaurants and the opening of a new supermarket had made a ‘major positive impact’ on the town centre, says the report.
In the coming years, the benefits of this major new development needed to be spread to the main shopping area - from Queen Street to the end of the High Street, says the study.
The study says: "The traffic calming measures that have been undertaken in High Street have provided a reasonably safe and attractive shopping environment in this area.
"Any further traffic control measures in the centre would need to be judged against the need to retain a feeling of activity in the centre. The fully pedestrianised Queen Street is noticeably quiet."
It also sees the Co-op situation as firmly in St Edmundsbury Borough Council's court.
It says: "The former Co-op premises/Jubilee Walk car parks/bus station should be the priority area within which to encourage new investment and development that would assist the vitality and viability of the core shopping area.
"We understand the council is the freehold owner of land in this area and therefore should have the opportunity to bring this about.
"The attraction of appropriate forms of new retail investment to this area could have a major positive impact on the town centre."
The findings will be reported to the council's sustainable development working party on January 31.
And it says the borough council has it in its power to improve matters by sorting out the now empty area around the former Co-op, which it owns.
An independent retail study of Haverhill says the challenge for the next ten years is to make the town more attractive to shoppers, so fewer people spend their money in larger towns.
The study found that people travelled to Cambridge and other places for nearly 60 per cent of their comparison shopping.
The study was commissioned by St Edmundsbury Borough Council and carried out by Drivers Jonas Deloitte in Haverhill and Bury St Edmunds to help planners allow for the right kind of retail growth until 2021.
It was an update of a study carried out in 2007 and acknowledged some improvement in Haverhill, particularly along Ehringshausen Way.
But it says this area is cut off from the main town centre by the busy road, and now by the closure of the Co-op as well.
The multi-million investment in the Leisure Centre area of the town, including the new cinema, restaurants and the opening of a new supermarket had made a ‘major positive impact’ on the town centre, says the report.
In the coming years, the benefits of this major new development needed to be spread to the main shopping area - from Queen Street to the end of the High Street, says the study.
The study says: "The traffic calming measures that have been undertaken in High Street have provided a reasonably safe and attractive shopping environment in this area.
"Any further traffic control measures in the centre would need to be judged against the need to retain a feeling of activity in the centre. The fully pedestrianised Queen Street is noticeably quiet."
It also sees the Co-op situation as firmly in St Edmundsbury Borough Council's court.
It says: "The former Co-op premises/Jubilee Walk car parks/bus station should be the priority area within which to encourage new investment and development that would assist the vitality and viability of the core shopping area.
"We understand the council is the freehold owner of land in this area and therefore should have the opportunity to bring this about.
"The attraction of appropriate forms of new retail investment to this area could have a major positive impact on the town centre."
The findings will be reported to the council's sustainable development working party on January 31.
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