Issue - meetings

To note and critique the Draft Town Centres Strategy.  The report will return to Committee in January 2023.

The Committee received a draft town centres’ strategy report and action plan from the Town Centres Manager.  The town centres of Ashford, Shepperton and Sunbury and the shopping parades in the Borough had emerged from the pandemic healthier than expected.  The report set out small scale, active interventions designed to benefit these retailers and noted that survivability was based on sustainability.  The Committee noted increasing engagement between retailers, small businesses and the Council.

The Council noted that long term road closures due to work on the replacement Southampton - London oil pipeline in Ashford had had a negative impact on the businesses there.  The Council was liaising with businesses in order to keep them updated and mitigate issues, where possible.

The Committee suggested improvements to the draft town centres’ strategy.  The Committee agreed changes in relation to parking with a view to revising the action on car parking charges at some of the local shopping centres.

The Committee resolved to agree the report, subject to the changes discussed at the meeting.