Rugby Liberal Democrats have responded to the Borough Council's Town Centre Consultation

1. The Vision

We agree with the four key areas identified for improvement but the document lacks ambition and fails to punch high enough for the future of the town centre. Its thrust is parochial and fails to recognise that Rugby and its town centre are of significant national and international value as visitor attractions.

To compete with other international attractions in Warwickshire, like Stratford and Warwick, Rugby must be willing to trade on its assets. Those assets are its heritage and culture. Rugby has 1,000 years of history which it can used to underpin its future wealth and prosperity.

The game of rugby football was conceived and born at RugbySchool and the first rules of the game were written at the school. Rugby football is now played all over the world and is spreading to new countries year by year. From Andorra to Zimbabwe over 4.5 million people play organised rugby union in 125 countries. USA has 2,588 registered rugby union clubs. RugbySchool is an internationally renowned public school at the heart of Rugby town centre and frequently used by the diplomatic service as the place they wish to educate their children because of its safe environment.

2. Physical Environment

The consultation document refers to four bullet points under this section all of which we believe are valid. However, they are not going to be easy to achieve. They will take time to accomplish, and they will need funding. Improvements to further enhance and list its historic buildings, redevelopment of key sites, improved signage and maps for visitors will require a survey of the town centre to identify those structures for listing as historic buildings. Rugby has deep cultural and historic roots and can draw heavily on its involvement in the development of the canal, rail and road infrastructure of the Midlands. A report written by the Victorian Society in June 2010 and commissioned by Rugby Borough Council recommended that further listing of town centre buildings should be carried out. This needs to be implemented urgently before any more of Rugby's heritage falls further into decline or is lost to redevelopment. The enhancement of the conservation area is a performance indicator and should include shop fronts. Funding of these activities is referred to under Investment, below.

Connectivity is a key requirement for a destination led town. The improvement of connections between the town centre the railway station and Leicester Road is of paramount importance if the town centre is to benefit from the presence of additional visitors at the out of town retail parks and as an employment route for those seeking work at the retail parks. Town centre residents living above shops are less likely to have access to a car. It has recently been announced that the No. 4 bus service which at present serves the town centre and the railway station is to be rerouted to include Elliotts Field. Negotiations are taking place between Warwickshire County Council and Stagecoach to agree locations for bus stops. The route for the service should include Elliotts Field itself and there should be a stop within the retail complex. A bus stop on Leicester Road is not acceptable.

The residents who live in Rugby's growing villages and urban extensions will need to access the town for banking, financial, insurance, home purchase and other services and for medical support. Indeed, an independent study of shoppers' reasons for using Rugby undertaken recently indicated that services other than retail shopping brought people into the town centre. This was recognised in a recent report commissioned by WCC and conducted by consultants ARUP.

There is a suggestion that options to improve traffic flow through the town centre should be explored. We support this aspiration but would want to ensure it took into account the full impact particularly on neighbouring residential areas. There are pinch points in the town centre that impact upon traffic flow such as the junction of Church Street and Regent Street, the "canyoning " effect of the taxi ranks and bus stops on North Street/Church Street and the congested mini roundabout at the North Street/Park Road Junction. There are also air quality impacts to be taken into consideration. We believe this would require a separate consultation and a full traffic study taking into account traffic flows right across the town and outside it, including the town centre residential areas mentioned earlier.

In some places the pavements are jammed with bus shelters and people waiting for buses so that for shoppers even walking along the footpath is awkward and difficult. The west side of North Street is a prime example of this. Rugby town centre needs is own green travel plan.

Rugby needs a viable bus interchange in the prime retail area. The ARUP study indicated more stops would be required to accommodate housing growth from our sustainable urban extensions. This may be achievable by reconfiguring existing stops and better utilization of both North Street and Evreux Way to reduce congestion for motorists and pedestrians. It must also cater for people with disabilities which the current stops fail to do.

Coaches are used frequently by day visitors and weekend visitors. Whilst we welcome the use of West Way car park as a coach park it is remote from the heritage of the town centre and the independent quarter. It does not deliver visitors to the historic Rugby Town Centre. Consideration should be given to the use of Railway Terrace car park as a coach drop off and collection point.

It should be recognised that Rugby Town Centre is a shared space, which some 10,000 commuters travel through daily to and from Clifton Road, Church Street and North Street. Any traffic management scheme should reflect that usage. We believe there are options that could enable the de-cluttering of the town centre of much of the street furniture whilst ensuring pedestrian safety.

The Clock Tower, a Grade 2 listed monument and a visitor attraction, is currently obscured by traders vans and the taxi rank. The Market Place has a hemmed in feeling and is currently not a pleasant place to sit or enjoy civic activities. It also acts as a physical barrier to High Street and Sheep Street. We welcome the positive response at the consultation from market traders that reconfiguration of the street market should be considered.

There are at present no clear routes from the railway station to the town centre. The roads close to the station are congested. Railway Terrace is relatively free flowing but the junction of Station Road and Murray Road and the single carriageway traffic light controlled underpass to Mill Road are major obstacles. Rugby needs better links between the railway station and the town centre for all modes of travel including cars, buses, taxis, cycles and pedestrians. There is nothing outside the station to direct people towards the town centre. There was at one time a proposal to build a green route for pedestrians and cyclists from the station through the old cattle market development site towards the Craven Road/Railway Terrace junction. This should be reconsidered.

3. Town Centre Uses

In terms of the secondary retail area we welcome diversification particularly residential dwellings in the town centre .There is a growing population in the town centre and much interest from developers to utilize above retail space properties. We challenge the emphasis that there should be higher value properties in the town centre. A property may have low commercial value but high heritage value but could be lost to the borough if this emphasis is applied too rigidly. New and refurbished dwellings should be of a high standard and compliment and not detract from the town centre conservation area. The plethora of recycling and refuse collection wheeled bins causing obstructions need to be taken into consideration.

With regard to food retail, we do not believe that within the town centre there is any significant demand for another large food retailer. Indeed, a number of food retailers have closed in the town centre because of a lack of demand. Many of the existing units currently retailing food, whilst not being high street names, already offer a wide range of food products and household goods.

Large supermarkets do not deliver trickle down retailing indeed many have a chilling effect on independent and regional providers. They are one stop shops that discourage wider footfall .and could have a significant adverse impact on the town centre.

The Clock Towers and North Street is now well past its best .We agree it should be the prime retail area but retain connectivity with Rugby old town. We support wider class uses within the A1 retail area that could offer other attractions related to the leisure industry but we would still like to see the primary function of around 40% of the units being retail.

4. Marketing

We welcome the partnership approach to developing a marketing strategy but we believe the council as the lead organisation must have the strength and commitment to drive the process forward .The council should look into the option of secondment of a marketing manager on a fixed term contract from a successful local authority or English Tourism. At present, Rugby's marketing is almost always focused on CV21 and CV22 post code areas but no town that aspires to be a destination led visitor attraction can afford to market predominantly in its own back yard.

It is anticipated that the new retail developments at Elliotts Field and on Technology Drive will draw in customers from a very wide area. The town centre could also benefit if those people are informed of what can be found in Rugby. This could be done by advertising the town centre at Elliotts Field, even having an 'information point' there. Complementary advertising of the retail parks in the town centre would encourage the out of town retailers to agree to the above. A method of regular contact between the businesses at the retail parks and those in the town centre should be established.

5. Investment

We agree with the retail study by Carter Jonas that the lack of a good hotel and conferencing facility in the town centre puts Rugby at a disadvantage in terms of visitor stay compared with our competitor towns. Such a facility should be on a prime site and integral to the redevelopment of North Street. It would generate additional footfall and encourage fresh visitors and may compliment and bring value to the Benn Hall as a secondary or overflow venue.

We support further encouragement and investment in the independent retail sector but would suggest that the council opens up a dialogue with landowners and property investment companies regarding rent levels and shared use of premises. One recent property on the market in an area of current low footfall was being offered at a rental of £30.000 per annum. Even with contributions from Rugby Bid/First that was well beyond the realistic rental level a new business or group of businesses trading under the same roof could afford.

We believe an investment is required to improve shop frontages and historic buildings. If we are to enhance the vision of the town centre this should also include upgrading mini parks like St AndrewsGardens and Regent Place. On street and open space cleansing to enhance the visitor perception of the town centre should also be reviewed. This, we believe, is closely linked to the councils priorities of clean, green and safe.

Marketing and improvement costs should be met using contributions from the business rates and Section 106 Agreements funding from out of town retail developments.

We would welcome a retailer led parking discount scheme for those that buy goods and services in Rugby Town Centre. The council should offer every assistance to making this a reality.

Additional Comments

We are concerned that residents have not been consulted widely enough, particularly since there was a very short consultation period and many families will have been on holiday at that time. There have been two workshops for businesses yet the only place that copies of the consultation document were originally available for the public was the Town Hall. Copies have now been left at the Visitors Centre, the Library and the Museum/Art Gallery. There are ways in which the document could have been far more widely distributed to residents but these have not been used. We do not believe that shoppers who are stopped on the street can possibly give considered responses to such a long and complex document in the short time they are