I have always thought that, as marketing strategies go, dubbing Glasgow’s Argyle Street, Buchanan Street and Sauchiehall Street “The Golden Z” is nothing if not bold.
Not only do these thoroughfares, the last time I looked at a map anyway, fail to form anything like a Z, not even their most enthusiastic fan (in whose number I count myself) would describe them as enjoying a “golden” age.
But the interest generated by the latest plan to revive the area – and the debate sparked by some of the recent challenging analysis on the state of the city, not least in this newspaper – tells us something. It reminds us how much people really care about their local places.
Glasgow might have been the focus of late, but it’s the same story right across the country. The places we inhabit are fundamental to our quality of life – and the state of the economy.
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But, if we want wherever we live to be the best place it can be, we know it will need to deal with some fundamental challenges. And that will take money.
Not just capital funding to improve the public realm, welcome as that is, but concerted action to get more money moving around local economies every day of the week. And we’ll only get this critical mass of local economic activity if we make our town and city centres reflect the demands of today’s consumers, businesses and employees.
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While retail will, of course, remain crucial to any urban area’s health, there’s nothing immutable about the traditional retail-based high street. It grew up to meet our needs before we had online shopping, or cars, or fridges. And it’s hard to argue that its future will lie in trying to turn the clock back to the 1950s, or indeed the nineteenth century.
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That’s why we need to be honest about what can be done with vacant retail space. The large flagship units, formerly home to big chains which have either gone under or gone online, don’t seem to have new blue-chip retailers queuing up to occupy them. Efforts to subdivide them into units of a more attractive size – for retail, leisure or whatever demand dictates – therefore make sense.
This might, of course, necessitate making it easier to change the use of a unit; being more open-minded when considering entrepreneurial planning applications to bring a premises back into use; and action against neglectful landlords who are happy to see empty premises go to wrack and ruin. (Points, to be fair, that the Golden Z proposals acknowledge.) There’s also a mix of carrot and stick that councils can apply when it comes to costs and driving behaviour. In Aberdeen, for example, the “Our Union Street” project aims to attract new businesses by offering grant support to help out with rent and rates. Down the A90 in Dundee, the city council is looking at putting a six-month time limit on empty property business rates relief.
And there’s no getting away from the fact that no one will choose to spend any time or money in a place that’s dirty, dangerous or difficult to get to.
The other big element of weekday footfall is those who come into town for business as opposed to leisure – especially office workers. That many are still working from home for at least part of the week means some of their spending power continues to be lost to town and city centre economies. They don’t buy the sandwich, or nip out for a bit of lunchtime shopping, or have a swift half before catching the train home. Here, again, if employers decide that their office workers aren’t coming back, we can encourage them to repurpose their floorspace. But councils can also take more direct action.
Just last week it was reported that Edinburgh City Council is looking to lease out a quarter of its shiny (and 80% empty) HQ to other organisations. At the same time, Aberdeen City Council was accused of hampering its own regeneration plans by allowing so many staff to work from home and was urged to compel them back to the office.
It’s a fair point. But if we make our towns and cities exciting, vibrant places of choice, they won’t need forced – we’ll find it hard to hold them back.
Colin Borland is director of devolved nations for the Federation of Small Businesses
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