ACS

The Association of Town Centre Management today launched a project to compile the 100 most effective high street initiatives into a toolkit for local authorities and the retail industry.

Ojay McDonald, of the Association of Town Centre Management said: “For town centres the squeeze has been evident, hurting an environment we depend on everyday, where our local economic, social and political spheres meet. Despite talk of the end of the recession, its physical affects still linger on the high street.

“We are seeing high levels of attrition on the high street with retail analysts Experian estimating 15% of stores will be vacant by the end of 2009 leaving poor prospects for property owners, the remaining traders, a dwindling employee base and ultimately the customers they serve. This however, does not signal the end for the traditional high street.”

The project notes the hard work of town centre managers, local government, businesses and even active members of communities who have come together to make high streets healthy again. Often, the ideas these groups conceive to bring people back to the high street remain hidden from national view. That is why the Association of Town Centre Management is joining forces with the Improvement and Development Agency and the National Skills Academy for Retail to search for 100 schemes the UK’s Town Centre Managers should know about which can help high streets onto the road to recovery.

The 100 most effective initiatives will be compiled into a report ‘tool-kit’. This tool-kit will be made available to all Town Centre Managers, Local Authority Economic Development Officers, Regional Development Agencies, Chambers of Commerce, the retail industry, policy makers and will be freely available on-line.

If you would like to contribute to the recovery of our high streets then please visit the ATCM survey at www.atcm.org/latest-projects/index.php. The survey will close at the end of business on Friday the 8th January 2010.
 
If you have any questions, or would like to get involved with the project, please contact Edward Woodall on 01252 515001, or by email here