Shops and businesses in Yeovil look set for an even brighter future following a revamp of Yeovil Town Centre Partnership.
The aims of the Yeovil Town Centre Partnership are to:
- Raise the profile of Yeovil as a shopping destination regionally
- Promote Yeovil as a place to stay and visit for the 2012 Olympics
- Develop a marketing/communications strategy and plan for Yeovil
- Develop and maintain a website for the town to include unique content accessible by non-voting partners and an even greater level of advanced content accessible only by voting partners
- Additional priorities yet to be set (by the Partnership Board) target for safety and security or street scene
The Partnership is driven by a board, which meets every six months, supported by three action groups (Marketing and Promotions, Safety & Security and Street Scene).
In addition, there is an AGM open to all Partners each year.
There are currently 2 clear membership entry levels:
Members who pay £1,000 plus + VAT per annum automatically become voting members of the board and have the following benefits:
- Six monthly Partnership board meetings which will direct the strategy of the Partnership
- Monthly single page reports on Partnership activity (started November 2011)
- Ability to vote on Partnership matters
- Can nominate and vote on use of Action fund
Members who pay a minimum fee of £250 plus + VAT, per annum become non-voting members of the partnership and receive the following benefits:
- Automatic membership of Yeovil Chamber of Trade
- Quarterly single page reports on Partnership activity (starts in November)
- Can nominate items for the Board to consider re the Action Fund
- Be involved in one of the Partnership's action groups
Members, who previously paid less than £250 per annum, have been encouraged to join the Chamber of Trade, which now works very closely with the Partnership and is on the Partnership Board. Traders can join the Chamber for as little of £50 and have their say on Partnership members via the Chamber.
It is also anticipated that on occasions the action groups' work will result in projects that may be of particular interest to traders and they will always be encouraged to participate even if they are not members of the partnership. A good example of this kind of initiative are the Take a Break Tuesday campaigns, which engage with dozens of businesses inside and outside the Partnership.
The New Structure of the Partnership
The Action Groups
Promotions & Marketing Group - led by Sarah Pullen of the Western Gazette
This group was responsible for the Take a Break Tuesday campaign - which offered shoppers free parking in Yeovil Town Centre between 12 and 2pm on 4 consecutive Tuesdays and was one of the largest promotions Yeovil Town Centre has ever seen. It is also first-class example of how the Promotions and Marketing Group has the ability to deliver quickly in a significant way.
The campaign (which was centred on the concept of free parking) saw huge customer take up, boosted by a large number of money off offers (at one stage the Western Gazette had three pages of money off vouchers from traders in the Town). Despite its size and complexity, 'Take a Break Tuesday' was created in a very short timescale via the members of Yeovil Town Centre Partnership - particularly the Western Gazette, Yeovil Chamber of Trade, Yeo Leisure Park, Yeovil Town Council, South Somerset District Council, Midwest Radio and the Quedam Centre.
Safety and Security - led by Jason Livingstone of the Yeovil Chamber of Trade
This group has been formed to tackle the issue of community safety and anti social behaviour in the town centre. It has already held 2 meetings with traders and hopes to work in close partnership with Avon & Somerset Police. This group will also work to improve the perception of Crime and ASB in the Town Centre.
Street Scene - led by Marie Ainsworth of SSDC
There is no point in having a successful marketing strategy if, when people arrive in Yeovil, they think the streets are unclean or maintained poorly.
Yeovil is very good in these areas generally but sometimes there can be issues. The objective of the street scene action group therefore will be to help raise the standards of our street scene ever further and develop response systems so that as and when issues are indentified they can be dealt with more rapidly than in the past.
Marie Ainsworth of SSDC who also leads on SSDC's programme of street audits with which many members are involved, leads the group. It is hoped that by linking these two important initiatives will ensure the best use of resources.