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Councillor Bick:

Meeting: 01/03/2021 - Council (Item 10)

Councillor Bick: The future of Cambridge city centre

Council is aware of the large structural changes in the retail sector occurring during the pandemic, both reflecting and accelerating the trend towards online shopping, and that recent bankruptcies impact a significant proportion of retail space in Cambridge city centre;

 

Council believes that this has the potential for profound impact not only on the precious environment in the centre itself but also on the economic and social contribution it makes to the whole of our city and beyond; that this represents a challenge beyond straight-forward bounce-back recovery; and that it is therefore timely and opportune to start a conversation to take stock of the centre's recent evolution and to re-imagine it for the future, using a placemaking approach in the public interest. 

 

It resolves that the council, as the city’s representative body and, with its key roles in planning, streets & open spaces and commercial property ownership, should lead this process, working with partners and stakeholders and involving the public: the broad aim of the exercise to maintain the city centre as a destination of vitality and jobs for local people, and of hospitality to its many visitors, in a way which complements its identity as historic university city encircled by public open spaces and residential areas and growing city quarters with neighbourhood centres of their own. 

 

In the process it urges consideration of:

  • means of facilitating a larger and much stronger range of local independent shops, including start-ups, making the centre a destination for retail that is genuinely differentiated from elsewhere and what is online
  • ensuring a secure future for a thriving, popular 7-day market which works for customers and traders
  • the changing nature of physical retail for ongoing high street businesses, in particular the key anchor presences 
  • the demand for co-working spaces which builds on remote and flexible working trends outside the home, which seem likely to have a post pandemic legacy
  • the role that a larger arts and culture offering might play
  • the importance of conserving the city’s heritage
  • developing a pipeline of public realm schemes such as the market square, available to capitalise on the likely availability of government funding for city centre improvements
  • faster development of improved public transport access and cycle parking and completion of the traffic-free goal envisaged in our “Making space for People” process
  • the need for continued strong challenge to national planning policy proposals under which even more switches between use classes may become 'permitted development' and therefore beyond local planning policy and control.

Council requests the Chief Executive to bring an initial report to the July meeting of Strategy & Resources Scrutiny Committee on how the council can most effectively start to take this matter forward. 

 

Minutes:

Councillor Bick proposed and Councillor Porrer seconded the following motion:

 

Council is aware of the large structural changes in the retail sector occurring during the pandemic, both reflecting and accelerating the trend towards online shopping, and that recent bankruptcies impact a significant proportion of retail space in Cambridge city centre;

 

Council believes that this has the potential for profound impact not only on the precious environment in the centre itself but also on the economic and social contribution it makes to the whole of our city and beyond; that this represents a challenge beyond straight-forward bounce-back recovery; and that it is therefore timely and opportune to start a conversation to take stock of the centre's recent evolution and to re-imagine it for the future, using a placemaking approach in the public interest. 

 

It resolves that the council, as the city’s representative body and, with its key roles in planning, streets & open spaces and commercial property ownership, should lead this process, working with partners and stakeholders and involving the public: the broad aim of the exercise to maintain the city centre as a destination of vitality and jobs for local people, and of hospitality to its many visitors, in a way which complements its identity as historic university city encircled by public open spaces and residential areas and growing city quarters with neighbourhood centres of their own. 

 

In the process it urges consideration of:

  • means of facilitating a larger and much stronger range of local independent shops, including start-ups, making the centre a destination for retail that is genuinely differentiated from elsewhere and what is online
  • ensuring a secure future for a thriving, popular 7-day market which works for customers and traders
  • the changing nature of physical retail for ongoing high street businesses, in particular the key anchor presences 
  • the demand for co-working spaces which builds on remote and flexible working trends outside the home, which seem likely to have a post pandemic legacy
  • the role that a larger arts and culture offering might play
  • the importance of conserving the city’s heritage
  • developing a pipeline of public realm schemes such as the market square, available to capitalise on the likely availability of government funding for city centre improvements
  • faster development of improved public transport access and cycle parking and completion of the traffic-free goal envisaged in our “Making space for People” process
  • the need for continued strong challenge to national planning policy proposals under which even more switches between use classes may become 'permitted development' and therefore beyond local planning policy and control.

Council requests the Chief Executive to bring an initial report to the July meeting of Strategy & Resources Scrutiny Committee on how the council can most effectively start to take this matter forward. 

 

Councillor Davey proposed and Councillor Moore seconded the following amendment to motion (deleted text struck through and additional text underlined):

 

Council is aware of the large structural changes in the retail sector occurring during the pandemic, both reflecting and accelerating the trend towards online shopping, and that recent bankruptcies impact a significant proportion of retail space in Cambridge city centre;

 

The pandemic has had a major impact on theCouncil believes that this has the potential for profound impact not only on the precious environment in of the city centre itself but and also on the economic and social contribution it makes to the whole of our city and beyond;. Equally concerning has been the effect of COVID 19 on neighbourhood shopping areas such as Mill Rd, Cherry Hinton Rd, Arbury Ct., Chesterton Road and Chesterton High St. Council recognises the work undertaken to date to prepare for the future and thanks all City Council staff for their outstanding endeavours over the last 12 months. Council notes the structural changes in the retail sector that have occurred over the last twelve months and of the significant challenge still to come. Therefore, it is timely to take stock, and review and coordinate our ongoing activity with an eye to the future.

that this represents a challenge beyond straight-forward bounce-back recovery; and that it is therefore timely and opportune to start a conversation to take stock of the centre's recent evolution and to re-imagine it for the future, using a placemaking approach in the public interest. 

 

We therefore welcome the proposed appointment of the Economic Recovery Officer as set out in the Budget Setting Report. It We also resolves that the council, as the city’s representative body and, with its key roles in planning, streets & open spaces and commercial property ownership, should continue to lead the process of preparing the City’s recovery, building on the effective work undertaken to date to respond to COVID19. This work should be undertaken in conjunction with the Cambridge Business Development (BID), established partnerships such as the GCP and the Combined Authority, working with stakeholders and actively involving the public.

lead this process, working with partners and stakeholders and involving the public: the broad aim of the exercise to maintain the city centre as a destination of vitality and jobs for local people, and of hospitality to its many visitors, in a way which complements its identity as historic university city encircled by public open spaces and residential areas and growing city quarters with neighbourhood centres of their own. 

 

In the process it urges consideration of: The proposed Review will consider:

·       The work of the Economic Recovery Officer in facilitating the recovery of the city centre and neighbourhood shopping areas

  • means of facilitating offering a larger and much stronger broader range of local independent shops, including start-ups, making the centre a destination for retail and supporting the recovery of neighbourhood areas. that is genuinely differentiated from elsewhere and what is online
  • ensuring a secure future for a thriving, popular 7-day market which works for customers and traders
  • the changing nature of physical retail for ongoing high street businesses, in particular the key anchor presences 
  • the demand for co-working spaces which builds on remote and flexible working trends outside the home, which seem likely to have a post pandemic legacy
  • the role that a larger of arts and culture and offering might play
  • the importance of conserving the city’s heritage
  • developing a pipeline of reviewing the public realm schemes such as the market square, available to currently proposed thereby capitalisinge on the likely possible availability of government funding for city centre improvements
  • faster the development of improved public transport access and cycle parking and completion of the traffic-free goal envisaged in our “Making space for People” process
  • the need for to continued strong to challenge to the national planning policy proposals under which even more regarding switches between use classes which may become 'permitted development' and therefore beyond local planning policy and control.

Council requests the Chief Executive to bring a report to the July meeting of Strategy & Resources Scrutiny Committee on the ongoing work that the council has taken to respond to the needs of the City. an initial report to the July meeting of Strategy & Resources Scrutiny Committee on how the council can most effectively start to take this matter forward. 

 

On a show of hands the amendment was carried by 21 votes to 0.

 

Resolved (by 21 votes to 0) that:

 

The pandemic has had a major impact on the precious environment of the city centre itself and also on the economic and social contribution it makes to the whole of our city and beyond. Equally concerning has been the effect of COVID 19 on neighbourhood shopping areas such as Mill Rd, Cherry Hinton Rd, Arbury Ct., Chesterton Road and Chesterton High St. Council recognises the work undertaken to date to prepare for the future and thanks all City Council staff for their outstanding endeavours over the last 12 months. Council notes the structural changes in the retail sector that have occurred over the last twelve months and of the significant challenge still to come. Therefore, it is timely to take stock, and review and coordinate our ongoing activity with an eye to the future.

 

We therefore welcome the proposed appointment of the Economic Recovery Officer as set out in the Budget Setting Report. We also resolve that the council, as the city’s representative body and, with its key roles in planning, streets & open spaces and commercial property ownership, should continue to lead the process of preparing the City’s recovery, building on the effective work undertaken to date to respond to COVID19. This work should be undertaken in conjunction with the Cambridge Business Development (BID), established partnerships such as the GCP and the Combined Authority, working with stakeholders and actively involving the public.

 

The proposed Review will consider:

·       The work of the Economic Recovery Officer in facilitating the recovery of the city centre and neighbourhood shopping areas

  • means of offering a broader range of local independent shops, including start-ups, making the centre a destination for retail and supporting the recovery of neighbourhood areas.
  • ensuring a secure future for a thriving, popular 7-day market which works for customers and traders
  • the changing nature of physical retail for ongoing high street businesses, in particular the key anchor presences 
  • the demand for co-working spaces which builds on remote and flexible working trends outside the home
  • the role of arts and culture and of conserving the city’s heritage
  • reviewing the public realm schemes currently proposed thereby capitalising on the possible availability of government funding for city centre improvements
  • the development of improved public transport access and cycle parking and completion of the traffic-free goal envisaged in our “Making space for People” process
  • to continue to challenge the national planning policy proposals regarding switches between use classes which may become 'permitted development' and therefore beyond local planning policy and control.

Council requests the Chief Executive to bring a report to the July meeting of Strategy & Resources Scrutiny Committee on the ongoing work that the council has taken to respond to the needs of the City.