Can the Mary Portas plan boost shopping in Gloucestershire?

“Rather than learning from Gloucester City Centre, Gloucester County Council are forcing its failed policy of introducing parking meters onto Cheltenham, Cirencester and the rest of the Cotswolds in an attempt to drive shoppers out of our town centres to retail parks with free parking or to shop on line.

At the Traffic Regulation Committee meeting on Wednesday the 28th of September at Pittville Pump Rooms in Cheltenham with hundreds of local residents and shop keepers I argued that the policy was outdated and was trying to address a problem of a different era and the difficulty in the future would be to encourage shoppers back into town centres not deterring then from using the car.

I was always doubtful that busy working families would have the time, money and willingness to drag children onto a bus and to turn a 1 hours shopping trip into a half day event, however with online shopping and out of town stores we don't have to face that challenge, I can do my banking on line, my food shopping at the supermarket and I can buy everything else on line or at the retail park.

The council policies are directly opposite to Mary Portas's recommendations. I still believe pedestrianisation of Gloucester has taken the heart out of a "market town" and as for Kings Square and the Bus Station!

I live between Cheltenham, Gloucester and, Tewkesbury. I visit Tewkesbury shopping once every couple of years, Gloucester once or twice a year (perhaps less) and Cheltenham two, three, four times a week because I can park, pick up a few things in Montpellier, pop into a restaurant or wine bar, I can park outside my bank and if the weather is fine walk down to Cavendish House. I have friends who have gloated over the idea of Cheltenham having to suffer some of the policies which have blighted Gloucester, hoping that it might level the playing field. I think Cheltenham is more likely to end up like Gloucester which I am sorry to say is a depressing place to shop.”

“Actually, one of the main points mentioned in this article, her moratorium on out-of-town retail developments, is directly contradicted by this article in the BBC I read this morning

http://tinyurl.com/8xamd5m”

“Can she breathe life into the Dodo !!”

“I'm surprised the owners of the Regent Arcade are spending all that money on tarting up the entrance in High Street with few shoppers buying there, especially after the £millions recently spent on the roof & floors. In my opinion they would be better off offering a free parking voucher with any purchase at the stores in the centre. The Regent Arcade has already had it's best years back in the 80's & 90's with busy shops like Our Price Records & Olympus Sports - now sadly long gone. Tchibo was good too, now closed. I hardly go in there now.”

“Force landlords to make their units attractive when left empty - use art schools. museums art galleries hoardings. mearketing advertising murals etc.”

“TimMessanger didn't you die a gruesome death in Hot Fuzz?!?!?!?”

“And how likely is free or lower parking charges in Cheltenham or Gloucester? The council have spent so much time & effort putting the charges UP! We will get the usual excuses of "if we did that shop workers will fill up the car parks and there won't be spaces for shoppers" As for having market stalls permanently in The Promenade or High Street Cheltenham or the 'Gate' streets in Gloucester - the modern version of these stalls is ALREADY there - they are called pound shops!

So without free parking people will continue to go where parking is free - Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Morrisons, Sainsburys and Tesco, any out-of-town shopping area (many have a Boots, an M&S) or Cribbs Causeway (in the dry with no street beggars!), Swindon Outlet (£1 parking!)”

“Ms Portas raises some excellent points, e.g free parking and the like but any such initiative is sadly doomed to failure for one simple reason. The buying power of the supermarkets distorts the general market to such an extent that the typical high street/corner shop cannot hope to compete on price. The notable exceptions tend to be on the housing estates, e,g Matson and Tuffley where the cost of travelling to the nearest supermarket outweighs the product price differential.
For myself and well remembering the pre supermarket days and as someone who loathes shopping with a passion, I much prefer the one stop shop that the supermarkets offer.
Standing in queues in each shop whilst the person in front of me slowly counts their coins out onto the counter drives me to distraction. The principle of simply zipping round the aisles and then visiting a single checkout for everything is infinitely preferable.
With the new improved Tesco likely to go down the Walmart route and the plethora of goods available on the net, I think it's unlikely that I'll ever need to suffer the high street again.”

“Unlikely to offer free parking - got addicted to the income.”

“So, all we need now is for our local councils (including Gloucestershire County Council) to pay attention, and implement some (if not all) of Mary Portas' recommendations.

RIP our local city & town centres. Damage is already done I fear, and the local muppets (sorry, Councils) don't seem to care.

Agree with mikehibby about the French markets - many villages have at least one market a week, and the place is then heaving. Problem here is when it's fresh produce, it needs to be at a competitive price, or customers will still go to the big supermarkets, complete with their acres of free parking. What good is a weekly produce market in (say) Cheltenham Promenade if the customers all have to pay through the nose to park anywhere nearby?”