Safety, cleanliness and the quality of retail have all been cited by South Yorkshire businesses as top priorities for their local urban cores. This is according to the recently-published findings of the Town and City Centre Survey.
The regional Chambers of Commerce covering Doncaster, Sheffield and Barnsley & Rotherham asked businesses to rate the various aspects of their urban core, to highlight its greatest strengths, and to conversely identify those areas where they think investment is needed most.
Results indicate that businesses are deeply invested in their respective civic centres and regard them as being critical to the economy. Yet there are also mixed feelings about what the future holds here.
Of those businesses polled, 73% say that they visit their nearest town or city centre on at least a monthly basis. Furthermore, the general consensus amongst respondents is that these urban cores are indeed beneficial to the wider region, playing a big role in: generating tourism; attracting investors; retaining young talent; and developing civic pride.
However, despite valuing town and city centres so highly, a third of firms expressed that they are not optimistic about where their nearest hub is heading over the next five years. Indeed, there is a real split in confidence over whether there will be any discernible improvements in that time span.
Carrie Sudbury, Chief Exec of Barnsley & Rotherham Chamber, said: “It is heartening to see that businesses do actually believe that their local civic centres are important and that many of them back up that sentiment by visiting frequently.
“We cannot ignore the fact that respondents also flagged a number of deep-seated issues too. Most notably, less than 15% of firms answered positively when asked to rate the cleanliness, retail offer and safety of their nearest civic centre and the vast majority of them told us that these areas must be prioritised going forward.
“Similarly, other characteristics — like the availability of business collaboration spaces and the quality of both our residential & leisure offers —rated quite low as well. Recognising that these challenges and concerns may not be unique to South Yorkshire, it is still clear that a lot of work remains to be done.”
