To consider observations on the impact of Covid-19 and prospects for future reset and recovery from representatives of the following organisations:
• Business Improvement Districts operating within BCP Council area,
• BH Area Hospitality Association
• Destination Management Board
The following Cabinet Portfolio Holders are also invited to attend the Board meeting for consideration of this item:
• Portfolio Holder for Regeneration and Culture
• Portfolio Holder for Tourism, Leisure and Communities
The purpose of this scrutiny is to listen to a wide range of stakeholders to gain a greater understanding of the wider effects of Covid-19 and to take into account the views of the external stakeholder in future scrutiny of the impact of Covid-19, in line with the Board’s role as enabler of the voice and concerns of the public.
Minutes:
The Chairman welcomed the representatives from the local Business Improvement Districts, the Destination Management Board and the BH Area Hospitality Association.
Poole BID – The Director of the BID outlined to the Board a number of issues which were being faced by the members of the BID. It was noted that the situation regarding levy collection was currently unclear, but the independents were the biggest paying group by type. The BID had been very active in supporting the business directly in improving the area during lockdown. A community project was underway to improve various aspects of the high street and surrounding areas with painting utility facilities with the aim of trying to build confidence and make it a n improved place to visit. It was noted that travel schemes had allowed seating areas outside some businesses to be increased. An area had been pedestrianised in order to allow for local arts and crafts and food stalls to attract people to the area. Poole was aiming to gain entry to a heritage scheme to enhance this aspect of the town. The CSAS officers were also welcomed in order to help reduced anti-social behaviour.
Bournemouth Town Centre BID – The Chairman and the Chief Operating Officer provided the Board with information on the challenges and operations and some ideas for ways to work together in the future. Overall it was noted that the consensus from the town centre business was that the Council had done a fairly good job during the crisis. The Shop Local / Stay Local message had been rolled out. It was noted that the future of High Streets/ Town Centres was already changing prior to Covid-19 but that the impact of Covid had accelerated the process. The Board was told that the change in criteria for the second round of the discretionary grants was of vital importance. The message around wearing masks was being rolled out with messages in windows thanking people for wearing one. It was noted that with the calling of the major incident in Bournemouth resources tended to be diverted away from the Town Centre. It was noted that the challenge going forward was what we wanted the Town Centre to look like in the future and how this could be shaped through the planning and highways processes. The life in the Town Centre would be different from how it was previously.
Bournemouth Coastal BID – The Chairman of the Coastal BID advised that they had been doing lots of campaigning locally and there were lots of people who should have bee holidaying abroad who would be staying in Bournemouth. The ‘eat out to help out’ initiative was seen as a positive. The BID requested that the Council consider a reduction in parking charges as this would have a serious benefit for local businesses. The Chairman commented that it was encouraging to see what was happening on Poole Quay and there were similar initiatives for Boscombe, Southbourne and Westbourne. Further work was needed on the power infrastructure in place for Southbourne and Westbourne. The BID requested that the Council share its plans for measures should there be a second wave, with t he BIDs. As a more informed position would allow business to be more proactive. It was explained that some hotels had experienced bookings being cancelled following the declaration of a major incident. However last weekend hotels were at 86 percent which was inline with that expected for this time of year. However, rates for the while month were much lower in comparison to the previous year.
Christchurch BID Steering Group – The representative for the steering group advised that one of the main challenges for Christchurch businesses was that they did not yet have a BID in place to represent them and provide professional support during this difficult time period. However, the high street was starting to become busier again and the overall mood could be summed up as nervous optimism.
In response to a question regarding the reduction of VAT it was noted that there were national issues with regards to online sales and potential differential VAT rates or an online sales tax. It was noted that it would be helpful if the Council could retain all business rates not just some. The Board was advised that local businesses promoted the social aspects of coming into shops and worked on improving customer service. A suggestion was also made regarding reduced parking rates for later on in the day. Another suggestion was for a Town Centre gift card which could only be spent when physically in a shop rather than online. Another suggestion made was for some kind of loyalty scheme with the local bus companies in a similar vein to the reductions that supermarkets offer to shoppers for car parking.
BH Area Hospitality Association: The Chairman advised the Board that hotels had remained positive during the Covid-19 lockdown period. The Association was also working with other local areas on Tourism issues including Weymouth and Southampton. It was noted that there were hotels which closed down during the Covid period. A number had reopened on 4 July but with lower occupancy rates than expected. It was explained that some hotels had experienced bookings being cancelled following the declaration of a major incident. It was explained that it would be beneficial for all hotels in the area for the Council to consider the long term calendar of events moving forward. In particular confirming events such as the air show for several years in advance. It was noted that the tourism team needed to be even stronger to support events throughout the year.
Destination Management Board – The Chair and Vice-Chair of the Board were in attendance. They informed the Board that the impact of Covid on the areas tourism had been significant. It was suggested that the Council’s support was required in order to ensure that the less salubrious hotels were removed in order to allow greater opportunity to allow quality hotels to succeed. One of those suffering the biggest impact from Covid 19 was the coach industry. Hotels had closed during the epidemic as they were owned by a major coach company. The other area seriously impacted that the Board had not yet heard from was the international education sector. It was expected that students would not return to this sector until next year at the earliest. It was noted that the local organisation representing restaurants and hospitality businesses, Wonky Table, included venues of a number of different sizes and had reported that there had been a slow start to reopening but things appeared to be improving. The Board was also advised that with regards to outdoor events the lead in period to organising these on a national scale was two years and therefore the impact from this had been significant for events which had been cancelled.
A Board member expressed concern regarding the impact of the major incident. It was noted that the response when it was announced that hotels were to reopen was very positive but that older guest who would normally visit outside of the summer season had been put off and this also appeared to effect Christchurch and Poole as well.
A Councillor asked about the potential road closures/pedestrianisation around hotels on the East Cliff which was provided in emails. The Leader confirmed that this was not taking place. The ward Councillor asked about why they didn’t receive information about this and asked if further information regarding this could be provided outside of the meeting.
The Chairman suggested that an informal working group would be useful to continue to conversations on this topic to come up with a number of ideas regarding tourism and economy recovery moving forward, in particular to further consider practical ideas which had been suggested during this meeting.
RESOLVED: That a working group on Tourism and Economy Recovery Post Covid-19 be established.
This was agreed by unanimous consent.