Devlopment agency finds new director
Last updated 16:11, Tuesday, 30 June 2009

THE Northwest Regional Development Agency has appointed a new director of tourism.

Nick Brooks-Sykes will guide the agency’s tourism policy in areas such as skills development, infrastructure and business tourism and will oversee major NWDA investments into tourism programmes, including the renaissance of Lake District, Hadrian’s Wall and Blackpool’s revival.

Mr Brooks-Sykes, from Bolton, is currently head of tourism marketing at the NWDA, a position which he has held since the NWDA became the strategic lead for tourism in the North West in 2004.

He said: “I am absolutely thrilled to be taking on this role at the NWDA.

“In particular I’m keen to continue to work with the region’s tourist boards to develop the quality and distinctiveness of the region’s tourism; we have to ensure that the industry is well equipped to deal with the current economic climate.

Taken from The News & Star / [Link] / [Back to top]

Senior bosses at cash-strapped Carlisle council may leave in shake-up
Last updated 09:06, Friday, 12 June 2009

Half the senior managers at Carlisle City Council are set to leave as the cash-strapped authority embarks on a shake-up to save £638,000 a year.

Proposals going before the executive next week would see the senior management team cut from 19 to nine.

Among those at risk are deputy chief executive Jason Gooding, legal chief John Egan, community services director Mike Battersby, and finance boss Angela Brown.

The council has earmarked up to £1.9m to cover redundancy and early-retirement costs.

But the size of payouts will depend on individuals’ age, salary and length of service.

Once the restructuring is complete, the new management team will make further “efficiency savings” that could lead to cuts in services and job losses among more junior staff.

A report from chief executive Maggie Mooney says: “Carlisle’s senior management team can be seen as being top heavy.

“For this reason alone the city council should reduce the number of management posts, especially given the current economic climate.”

The present team is made up of Ms Mooney, her deputy Dr Gooding, four corporate directors and 13 heads of service.

Consultants have recommended a slim-line alternative of a chief executive, two strategic directors – including a deputy chief executive – and six strategic managers.

Salary costs would drop from £1.39m a year to £0.75m.

The shake-up is part of a wider plan to save £1m in 2010-11 and more in future years. The council is facing a budget deficit that is likely to get worse as the Government cuts funding to local authorities.

The latest projections show that, unless costs are cut, it will run out of cash by 2012.

Council leader Mike Mitchelson said: “This is something we have to do.

“The financial reality is that income has dropped and we are getting starved of funds nationally. We have to cut our cloth accordingly.

“By restructuring we can maintain investment in front-line services.”

If the council approves the changes on July 14, redundancy notices will be issued in September. Those managers at risk will then be invited to apply for the new posts.

Ms Mooney expects the new structure to be in place by December 1, although it could be later if the council has to recruit from outside.

She hopes that existing managers will fill most jobs.

“We will look to see if some of our existing postholders can be slotted in,” she said.

“We are keen to make sure that we minimise redundancy costs but there will be some who see this as an opportunity to go, probably the more longer-serving staff.”

Future efficiency savings could lead to some services being scrapped or contracted out to the private sector.

Another money-saving option is to run services jointly with other local authorities. Carlisle already has a joint waste and recycling service with Eden and is merging its IT department with Allerdale’s.

Ms Mooney said the council wanted to keep doing things that made the city unique. She added: “The acid test is, will it make a difference to Carlisle?”

The reorganisation has been in the offing since January when proposals for a wholesale merger of services with Allerdale collapsed.

The city council’s deputy leader, John Mallinson, said then that the present set-up was “unsustainable”.

Ms Mooney’s report argues the shake-up is a chance to review the council’s priorities.

Instead of “cleaner, greener, safer”, “learning city” and “Carlisle Renaissance”, there will be two themes, “economy” and “environment”

Taken from The News & Star / [Link] / [Back to top]

Driving the ghosts out of Carlisle town
Last updated 20:05, Sunday, 07 June 2009

The bottom end of Botchergate, from London Road to Crown Street. In some cases a sign remains to remind the world what used to be here. Forster's fish and game merchants. The Joke Shop. The Jester public house.

More often there’s nothing but decay. The southern gateway to the city centre is lined by boarded-up businesses; more than a dozen in just 200 yards. This tarnished stretch of the ‘Golden Mile’ was once Carlisle’s only retail ghetto. But the disease is spreading up Botchergate and beyond.

Mood – just a couple of years ago home to thousands every weekend – lies dormant. The city centre itself displays disturbing symptoms. Woolworths is the latest and largest casualty. Across English Street, A Carr Jewellers and Yates’s Wine Lodge remain closed. And through Lowther Arcade, itself partially empty, is the recently vibrant but now abandoned top of Warwick Road.

The Lonsdale. The Post Office. The White House. Suede. A row of landmark buildings with peeling paint, slowly descending towards eyesore status.

Opposite, the former offices of two estate agents are also empty. As has happened on Botchergate, there is the suspicion here of a domino effect. Empty properties stink of failure. More than one or two and potential customers and businesses start avoiding the area, sending more shops toppling. Who wants to shop in a ghost town?

Even in the heart of the Border City empty shops are popping up like boils, unsightly and painful.

The old Next clothes shop on English Street. Under the Town Hall. Next door to the Crown and Mitre. Two of them at the top of Fisher Street by the Pioneer and the King’s Head.

On Castle Street, in Carlyle’s Court, on Scotch Street. Even The Lanes, Carlisle’s retail success story of the past 25 years, has four empty units including two fronting Lowther Street. Nowhere, it seems, is safe.

“Being realistic, not many people are looking to get into retail in the current climate...” David Jackson, manager of The Lanes, is pragmatic, and as upbeat as the facts will allow.

He says that national retailers are reluctant to invest at the moment while smaller local ones lack the resources to do so. But there are still retailers wanting to move into Carlisle. “Not everyone views a recession as doom and gloom. Some might view it as an opportunity to get a good deal.”

Rows of empty shops may drive down rents but they do little for the city’s image, as Mr Jackson acknowledges. “I don’t think it looks good. Warwick Road is the best example, or the worst.”

Viv Dodd used to be director of economic development at Carlisle City Council and now runs business advisory group Cumbria Business 4 Business.

“When I was at the council we always promoted bringing people into Carlisle up Warwick Road rather than Botchergate,” he says. “Now Warwick Road doesn’t look good either. It gives an awful impression to people living here and people outside who want to invest.”

With the exception of supermarket giants such as Sainsury's and Tesco, few have the resources to invest in Carlisle, or anywhere else, right now. And when supermarkets do arrive they tend to suck further life out of city centres.

Recession is temporary. But vibrant city centres are also threatened by long-term trends: the decline of pubs, the rise of out-of-town supermarkets, retail parks and internet shopping.

Recession has exaggerated these problems. Viv Dodd believes Carlisle City Council has to take the initiative. “The council should show leadership. They have been talking about Renaissance for four years and they need to act now, together with businesses.

“The council has to set out its plans so people know where we are. The days of looking for a major new investor have gone in the short-term. We have got to work with people who are here at the moment. Helping small local businesses set up, cutting bureaucracy, sorting out traffic congestion.

“Although the recession is serious it will not last for ever. But you can make it worse by talking things down. We need to put out a positive message that Carlisle is still an attractive place to do business. We’ve got to promote the fact that we’ve got the new university, Kingmoor Park, hopefully the Northern Development Route and the airport. The Lakes Court and the Central Plaza could become Carlisle’s first four-star hotels.”

Mr Dodd believes the city council should buy the empty properties at the top of Warwick Road. “They bought the properties in the old Lanes and that’s what started the regeneration of Carlisle.”

There has been widespread criticism of the Renaissance scheme’s priorities. Many people have questioned why money was earmarked to improve Castle Street and demolish Rickergate while more rundown areas were ignored.

This week city councillors voted to ask the Renaissance board to consider including the top of Warwick Road in its plans to revitalise the city centre.

Council leader Mike Mitchelson questioned where the funding would come from: “It’s an absolute fallacy to think this council has millions of pounds to buy empty buildings.”

The council may not have the money, but that doesn’t mean the buildings cannot be brought into public ownership. In March last year, when Rickergate was still on the Renaissance agenda, the city council bought Adriano’s restaurant for £775,000 and 8 Warwick Street for £125,000. The Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) funded both purchases.

If the Renaissance board decides to include the top of Warwick Road in its plans, the NWDA could potentially provide money towards buying some or all of the properties.

While the council has been criticised for allowing so many city centre shops to lie empty, vacant premises are the responsibility of those who own or lease the buildings. The council can intervene only if a building falls into disrepair and becomes unsafe.

The only empty shop owned by the council is the Woolworths building. But this is on a lease to the British Home Stores pension fund, which sub-let it to Wooworths. The lease has 22 years left. “Those leases are pretty tight,” council leader Mike Mitchelson told The Cumberland News. “The fact that the council owns the building doesn’t give us any extra powers or responsibilities. The rent is still being paid and the building is in the hands of British Home Stores.”

Carlisle is not classed by the Government as an assisted area so the city council cannot offer financial incentives to attract businesses.

It works with companies which express interest in coming to Carlisle, showing them vacant premises and sites, offering advice, selling the city’s attractions: its location, its workforce, the university, the prospect of the airport.

But Carlisle is one of hundreds of towns and cities fighting for a much-needed slice of the same shrinking pie.

Councillor Marilyn Bowman, portfolio holder for economic development and enterprise, says: “Whichever city you go into there are empty properties. It’s not just Carlisle. It’s global. But we are in a better position than most to move forward.”

Don Taylor, the council’s business development officer, says there are limits to what any local authority can do to persuade businesses to locate there. “Retailers know the kind of locations they want to come to. It’s about public realm and infrastructure. The fundamental issue is business confidence. You can promote a building as much as you want but if an investor is not confident they’re not going to invest.”

2009 will be another testing year. A time for trying to tough it out, for looking around at boarded-up businesses and praying that yours doesn’t go the same way.

At the top of Warwick Road Yvonne Waugh, owner of Sewell’s Newsagents, looks out from her shop. “I see empty buildings and it appears nobody is doing anything about them,” she says. “It’s starting to look quite derelict. It’s having an effect on my business. It’s not encouraging people to invest in the area or to come down here. I’m not confident about the future – why should I be?”

Meanwhile the city council’s limited powers leave the future largely in the hands of commercial interests. Politicians at the mercy of the market – in these credit-crunched times that sounds frighteningly familiar.

Taken from The News & Star / [Link] / [Back to top]

New group formed to boost Carlisle's culture and heritage
Last updated 13:14, Thursday, 04 June 2009

A new group – which aims to revitalise Carlisle and make it a vibrant place to live – has been formed.

The City Centre Partnership – a private sector led group – is chaired by Mike Walton of Walton Goodland Chartered Surveyors.

It will work closely with Carlisle Renaissance which believes that culture and heritage are key to rejuvenating the city.

The Carlisle Renaissance board met again this week and was told events like Lakes Alive and the Living Frontier – which took place in the last fortnight – are the kind of things Carlisle is likely to see more of.

The city’s tourist information centre says visitor numbers doubled on the first day of the Roman Living Frontier.

And visits to the castle last Friday and Saturday doubled compared to the same weekend as last year.

It is estimated that about 750 people turned out for the Lakes Alive banquet when human tower building and mobile drummers took to the city’s skies.

Bryan Gray, chairman of Carlisle Renaissance, said: “Culture and heritage gives communities a sense of identity and creates a sense of place which makes people want to visit, live, work and invest in them.

“This means cultural heritage needs to be high on the city’s agenda, and we must establish an environment that nurtures people that work in the heritage, cultural and creative industries, or indeed aspire to do so,” he added.

“It is early days in terms of fully evaluating the success of recent events, but they do demonstrate the appetite for outdoor events that can bring people into the city and highlight how important culture and heritage are to Carlisle.”

Ian McNichol, director of Carlisle Renaissance, said: “Animating the city’s cultural heritage is one of the ways we can develop its economic potential.

“These recent events are part of a stimulus package for this summer and alongside this we are working with the castle and cathedral to improve the quality of what they offer so that we have a great story to sell in the years ahead.”

The meeting received an update on site investigations at Caldew Riverside.

Mr McNichol said: “We are completing site investigations at Caldew Riverside to determine the extent of remediation works required before it can be developed on.

“We also need to carefully consider the transport, access, and car-parking implications arising from the development for the city centre as a whole.”

Mr Gray said: “The board has been up and running for less than a year and it is beginning to make real progress on the ground in Carlisle.

“Some of this work, like Caldew Riverside for example, is complex and takes time, other aspects such as the Living Frontier event can happen much more quickly.

“I think we have the right balance and are beginning to build some momentum.”

Taken from The News & Star / [Link] / [Back to top]

Call for shelving of regeneration plans
Last updated 15:40, Wednesday, 03 June 2009

A FOUNDER member of the group charged with revamping Millom has called for regeneration plans to be put on hold for a “few years” following news a major funder has backed out.

Roland Woodward, director of Millom and Haverigg Economic Development Group, made the suggestion after regeneration company West Lakes Renaissance turned down MHEDG’s application for funds.

MHEDG hopes to spruce up Millom Market Square and revamp Horn Hill. WLR’s refusal to fund the group has been blamed on a lack of support from the community and Millom Town Council.

Mr Woodward said: “We need to defer until we know what we want, speak with a unified voice. Maybe it is best if we have an interim for a few years and see what comes after that.”

The announcement was made at a meeting of MHEDG on Tuesday last week. Up until this month, MHEDG say, WLR was “committed to supporting” the project up to £500,000.

Acting Millom regeneration boss Simon Walker said: “Due in part to the lack of clear community commitment to the project, particularly without the backing of the town council for the implementation works, but also, due to changes in leadership and pressure on funds (in MHEDG), West Lakes Renaissance officers have not put the project to the WLR Board and it has not been included in their current business plan.

“It is unlikely that the project would be attractive to funders without the full backing of community leaders and clear engagement of the community.”

MHEDG has not given up hope funding will be made available from other sources, including West Cumbria Vision.

Mr Walker added: “The funding priorities of West Cumbria Vision are not yet clear. However, there will inevitably be opportunities for improving the public realm in Millom in coming years.”

WLR was unavailable for comment. The revamp of the Market Square hit problems when South Copeland Disability Group, set up to give the town’s disabled a voice, objected to plans to reduce the number of parking bays. The group claims cutting the bays would increase pressure on the square’s two disability bays from illegal parking.

Town councillor Doug Wilson said: “The proposals for the town centre were ill-conceived and not thought through. They have objections from South Copeland Disability Group on the car parking arrangement for disabled drivers, which were seen to be deeply flawed.

“The EDG want to put themselves forward as managers for these projects. They should talk with the town council and the people. The only open forum they had on it was in February and that was a complete disaster.”

Taken from The News & Star / [Link] / [Back to top]

Carlisle campaigners can have say in Rickergate revamp
Last updated 12:52, Monday, 01 June 2009

Save Our Streets campaigners in Carlisle’s Rickergate can take part in a consultation on a development plan for the area.

The residents’ pressure group invited Chris Hardman, manager of the city council’s local plans and conservation section, to its annual meeting on Friday night.

Mr Hardman said he expected to start the tender process in the next few weeks to find a consultant to draw up the plan.

He insisted no decisions had been made yet and that every option would be considered, including the demolition or development of the building which houses Carlisle magistrates court and the fire station.

The development brief will take between 12 and 18 months to complete after the tender is awarded.

There will be a six-week consultation period when residents can have their say. Mr Hardman said there was not a definitive area for the brief to cover but it is likely to include the Civic Centre and its car park.

A Renaissance scheme to bulldoze much of the area was shelved last year.

Taken from The News & Star / [Link] / [Back to top]