SheffieldDestination Management Planfor a vibrant city2012 - 2015

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Destination Management Plan

Introduction This Destination Management Plan is designed as a strategic guide, to be adopted by all partnership organisations involved in developing Sheffield as an internationally important tourism destination.

It is a key instrument to identify the actions and strategic relationships that will deliver a tourism strategy which will transcend into the Sheffield City Region.

Marketing Sheffield is key to delivering this Destination Management Plan as cross-sector & partnership working is embedded in its ethos; led by private sector views and aligned to local and national strategies. Marketing Sheffield will provide the lead in delivering positive outcomes.

The Plan concentrates on a single area - the need to deliver a ‘vibrant city centre’ - the area with the highest concentration of visitor related facilities and services, and the area which will deliver the highest impact on improving the experience for visitors and residents alike.

The planned outcomes for Sheffield are ambitious and transformational. Everyone benefits, and everyone must contribute. By creating a vibrant city centre, we create a visitor destination which presents Sheffield as a Competitive City, as an attractive and successful place to live, work and invest.

The DMP is important because it provides a framework and rationale for investment in tourism, which is one of the sectors specified in the Sheffield City Region – Local Enterprise Partnership Business Plan.

Executive Summary Sheffield suffers a comparatively low spend from those who visit and use the City Centre.

City centre footfall is erratic resulting in a lack of the consistent volume demanded by investors.

Physical disconnections exist between areas of the City Centre, particularly the hotels in Victoria Quays being separate from the main retail and leisure areas of the city centre.

The city’s hotel stock has grown in recent years, but the proliferation of 3 star and budget hotels is saturating this section of the market, resulting in surplus rooms that in turn depresses room rates and prohibits investment from higher value brands.

The city’s cultural offer is threatened by reductions in local and national funding, and the city’s extensive festival programme, including Tramlines and Doc/Fest face funding challenges. Independent leisure in the city centre is relatively strong, linked to venues like the Showroom, but we need a higher quality mainstream offer.

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The retail offer, particularly for fashion is not of sufficient quality and this is translating into low transaction values in current retailers. This offer is dependent on planned developments, including the proposed New Retail Quarter: Sevenstone.

Access to the city from out of the local area is a strength, and should improve with electrification of the Midland mainline and High Speed Rail 2. Anecdotally this accessibility also makes it easy for people to limit their visit to a day trip, raising questions whether the offer in the city centre does not always entice people to stay overnight.

Locally, parking is often cited as a key reason for people not visiting the city centre; however our car parking average rates are below those of most other core cities, with only Newcastle being noticeably cheaper.

Retaining a distinctive ‘content’ offer by being authentic and independent is important to differentiate Sheffield from other destinations, but we must do this in tandem with sizeable investment from major retail and leisure brands that will give the city centre critical mass.

The Economic Strategy, City Centre Masterplan and Major Events Strategy, coupled with new or previously under-utilised instruments such as the New Development Deal, Business Improvement Districts and Tourism Business Improvement Districts, if harnessed appropriately, can start to facilitate growth and change this picture.

‘We’ (the City) have a very real opportunity to address these significant challenges by aligning these strategies in a cohesive way, driven by the unifying vision of a dynamic and vibrant city centre.

To do this ‘we’ must also embrace a key theme of the Corporate Plan, ‘Business Friendly’, by working closely with the private sector to support business and ensure Marketing Sheffield & its partners create the right environment to encourage business investment and growth.

Purpose We shouldn’t accept that the city centre will operate at a lower level than before the recession.

The purpose of this paper is to;

1) Set out the current position 2) Clearly define vibrancy, 3) Describe why this is important to the City, 4) To articulate what we believe the issues to be, and 5) Set out our plan for Sheffield and the opportunities.

Our plan will be a clear picture for our city-centre, focused on what we believe to be a sustainable solution. As such, this cannot be wholly reliant on specific interventions, either large scale development projects or major events, but also must look at the incremental changes we can make to our services or the influence we can have with others to make Sheffield City Centre a more vibrant place.

Current Position Over the last 15 years Sheffield's City Centre has experienced a dramatic transformation. However, the over-whelming impact of the recession has been to reduce the confidence and

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capacity for investment and regeneration, stalling a number of planned public realm developments. Whilst some are now progressing this has inevitably had an impact on the vibrancy in Sheffield City Centre.

As well as long-term mainstream projects we must be open to short term or experimental initiatives. Some may have only a short term impact, but others may turn out to be valuable seedbeds for the next generation of new ideas and talent.

The City Centre remains a key driver of the City Region economy and we need to re-focus our vision for the future.

Major development and public realm projects will continue to contribute to vibrancy, but we also need a more holistic approach and to take action to make the City Centre a place with a well-rounded offer which people choose to come and enjoy using. This includes visitors, businesses and local residents.

New financial tools for growth The Government is beginning to devolve more powers and finance for delivery and greater flexibilities at city and city-region level. A number of new financial instruments to support growth in the economy are emerging, such as New Development Deal’s (NDDs) and Tourism Business Improvement Districts (TBIDs).

We need to become more entrepreneurial and commercially smart as a city to look at how we can use these tools to benefit the city for more than just large-scale physical infrastructure projects.

Many of the conditions for vibrancy rely on a competitive offer in the city centre. We need to work proactively with the private sector to address these challenges, but also ensure we get the basics right and fulfil our commitment to being a ‘Business Friendly City’.

What do we mean when we talk about vibrancy? Vibrancy is about people using and enjoying the City Centre. This means:

! people are coming to the city centre, ! people are staying in the city centre, and ! people are spending money in the city centre.

A vibrant City Centre provides the services and facilities that businesses, customers, residents and visitors demand. It creates jobs, attracts investment, generates income and is a key contributor towards economic growth.

Sheffield needs to be competitive with neighbouring towns and, importantly, other core cities.

We think this relies on:

! Culture and leisure – the scale and breadth of opportunities and things to do including events and animation and a quality evening/ night-time offer

! Hospitality – by this we mean quality hotels and great restaurants ! Retail – with a wide range of shopping opportunities from the big brands to small

independent shops catering for niche markets ! Public realm – including venues that people travel to visit, a modern and well-connected

urban landscape and a well maintained and safe place.

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! Accessibility – people being able to get into and out of the city centre, including parking

As such there is no single answer to increase vibrancy. Instead there are a number of conditions that need to be right to attract visitors, businesses and residents to use the city centre.

Proposed framework for defining vibrancy:

People!coming!to!the!city!centre!

People!staying!in!the!city!centre!

People!spending!in!the!city!centre!

Conditions for vibrancy

Culture!and!Leisure!! HospitalityA!diverse!hotel!and!restaurant!offer!

Retail!A!strong!retail!offer!which!appeals!to!different!market!segments!

Range!of!cultural!&!leisure!venues!with!a!strong!events!programme!and!ongoing!‘animation’!

Mar

ketin

g

Bra

nd

Public!realm AccessA!city!centre!that!is!easy!to!get!to,!from!within!and!beyond!Sheffield!

An!attractive,!well"managed!physical!environment!

What’s the impact? A vibrant City Centre offer is key to our economic success. The experience of the City Centre is vital as this is often the first part of the city that people encounter and is likely to influence their decision about whether to invest, work, study or live here.

We need an offer which both attracts people to the City Centre, encourages them to spend time here and to spend money during their visit.

Many of the conditions for vibrancy rely on a competitive offer in the city centre. We need to work proactively with the private sector to address these challenges, but also ensure we get the basics right and fulfil our commitment to being a ‘Business Friendly City’.

What is vibrancy like at the moment?

Are people coming to Sheffield? Footfall is a good indicator that people are using the city centre. This captures people using the main thoroughfares and indicates they are able to access the wider offer in the city centre if they choose to. Without this movement of people in key areas, this would be a barrier to the other measures of vibrancy (i.e. staying and spending money in the city centre).

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Footfall is holding fairly steady in recent years, although this has dropped significantly from 2008 (pre-recession) levels.

A key concern is the inconsistency of footfall that is driven by the over reliance on events held within the city centre (this is looked at in more detail within the Culture and Leisure section). To us, this indicates our core offer is not good enough to attract consistent numbers of people that could use our city centre more frequently if they chose to.

NB: Footfall figures include the main thoroughfares of Fargate and Pinstone Street and are not a representation of total numbers, but a useful guide on trends over the last 5 years.

Are people staying in Sheffield? The number of overnight visitors increased significantly in 2011, following a number of years where this was in decline. Compared to other core cities1 Sheffield still ranks lowest for overnight visitors from the UK2. We are broadly similar to our nearest comparator, Newcastle Gateshead which has an equivalent number of overnight visitors.

Are people spending money in Sheffield? Whilst we are comparable to Newcastle in numbers of visitors, the conversion of visits into spend is poor. Newcastle had only 0.7% more visitors than Sheffield in 2011, but generated over 116% more spend from overnight visitors (equivalent to £113 million):

1 Core Cities – Birmingham; Bristol; Leeds; Liverpool; Manchester; Newcastle; Sheffield

2 Combined Leisure and Business Visitors – UK Tourism Survey

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Sheffield City Centre's retail position is also below that of the other eight English Core Cities, ranked 20th in the CACI Retail Footprint and substantially below Meadowhall which is ranked 14th.

Many of the reasons for the above underperformance are amplified by current economic conditions and the stalling of major retail and leisure schemes.

What are the conditions to support city centre vibrancy like at the moment?

Cultural and Leisure Culture is a vital part of the city’s identity and a central element of the city’s national and international reputation. Sheffield’s cultural credentials are impressive but to ensure we successfully compete with other major cities as a hub for culture and creativity, we need to unlock the potential of the city’s creative and cultural assets.

We are developing an ambitious plan for major cultural development of the Central Library as one of final pieces in the 'Heart of City' strategy. Built around a 21st century library, the development will see a fusing of cultural experiences, knowledge, public space, digital innovation and information.

There is potential major redevelopment within the city's cultural quarter. We aim to create an enhanced contemporary gallery and exhibition space at the Site Gallery with improved public realm to enable regular creative producer markets, extended public and education programmes and new commercial opportunities, as the focus for creative production and education for the City Region.

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There is also the opportunity of a national and regional role for The Showroom as one of the new British Film Institute (BFI) Hubs. This would bring a major boost to public and education programmes plus development of enterprise and skills projects supported by Creative England.

The strategy is to work in partnership with the city’s newly formed Cultural Consortium to leverage external investment from Arts Council England, Heritage Lottery Fund, BFI / Creative England etc, to maintain a viable, independent cultural sector that commissions and produces authentic and independent content. We also need to offer quality mainstream leisure activities,

Night-time Hotels in the city report relatively strong weekend occupancy, which correlates with a strong night-time offer as people come to the centre to go out on Friday and Saturday nights. This offer has also been boosted with new investment from Genting that provides a broader offer in the evenings.

Sheffield is the first city in Yorkshire to receive the Purple Flag award. This recognises great entertainment and hospitality along with a positive experience to night-time visitors and users (between 5pm and 6am).

Sheffield is one of six core cities to have achieved Purple Flag status alongside Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Nottingham.

Events and animation The chart below shows the projected impact of our current events programme.

Whilst this demonstrates the impact of our key events, it also raises concerns because of the lack of future funding available. Without these events increasing footfall, there is the potential for footfall to drop and become a barrier to vibrancy.

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Sheffield’s broad programme of city marketing activities including our major events and festivals requires new models of financial support to be sustained and grown, including sponsorship opportunities, income generation that is driven by return on investment, as well as tapping into businesses’ commitment to corporate social responsibility.

Hospitality (hotels and restaurants) The hotel sector has seen considerable investment in the last decade, particularly at the budget end. The proliferation of 3 star and budget hotels is saturating this section of the market, resulting in surplus rooms that in turn depresses room rates.

Hotel room occupancy rates have held steady over the period where the supply has increased at around 66-67%; this has seen average room rates in the city at around £48.

The Hotels.com Hotel Price Index Other Core Cities shows this is one of the lower of Core Cities, with only Nottingham comparatively cheaper (based on January to June 2012). Other cities have average rates in the mid-£60s to mid-£70s and this is prohibiting investment from higher value brands in Sheffield. As such there are some gaps in provision, particularly in the 4/5 star and 'boutique' mid-range.

Major brands such as Radisson are missing from the city alongside ‘attract brands’ such as Malmaison and Hotel du Vin. These brands command higher rates from both business and leisure visitors and drive overall city yield.

Sheffield also lacks an urban Backpacker Hotel or Hostel such as can be found in most European and many UK cities.

The main cluster of hotels around Castle Quay suffers from a fragmented and poor quality environment and a disconnect from the city centre, which restrict their ability to attract tourist as well as business clientele.

Although a number of restaurants have opened in the city centre in recent years, the current offer does not make Sheffield a destination of choice to attract visitors to the night-time economy.

Whilst there are a number of popular ‘High Street’ brands such as Nandos, Zizzi, ASK, Pizza Express, etc which are in the mid price range, we lack an offer with a higher-end reputation which would be a specific attraction, for example Fifteen, Carluccio’s etc

Retail People’s shopping habits have changed significantly. 40% of shops are forecast to close nationally in the next 5 years, and our offer in the City Centre needs to be fit to respond to this context.

In retail, the ‘High Street’ is in decline nationally both due to the recession and also, longer-standing issues related to growth of online shopping (a new phenomenon of ‘showroomers’ has emerged to describe those consumers who browse and price check in physical stores and then transact for less on line) and the growth and future challenges faced by out of town competition. As stated earlier, Sheffield City Centre's retail position is below that of the other eight English Core Cities, ranked 20th in the CACI Retail Footprint and substantially below Meadowhall ranked 14th.

Sheffield City Centre currently has a vacancy rate of 13.8% (116 vacant shop units) compared with the Yorkshire and North East rate of 11.4% and a national rate of 11.1%. This relatively high figure to some extent reflects the impact of delayed developments but is also mitigated due to the temporary effect of the Sheffield Showcase initiative which has put around twenty vacant units back into alternative uses.

The City Centre outsells Meadowhall in the Homeware, Audiovisual and Chemists Goods sectors, but Meadowhall dominates the two largest categories of Clothing / Footwear and Miscellaneous (those associated more with fashion).

Within the Homeware sector, the textiles and furnishings sector contribute the most significant turnover to the City Centre (£94.57 million1). This is a significant proportion of expenditure which contributes significantly to the vitality and viability of Sheffield City Centre and thus planning policy protection needs to be retained in face of recent proposals for larger out of town units.

The need for an increased quality in our retail offer is also apparent in the average transaction value of City Centre retailers, where 45% of transactions were £10 and below and a quarter were £5 and below. This figure suggests a high frequency of visits and a high city centre student population.

The fashion offer of the City Centre, especially the quality end, is most in need of strengthening, this is a major reason for the on-going case for the New Retail Quarter, Sevenstone and to support the development of existing or new independents in the sector.

An indicative date of 2015 has been identified for a potential start on site for the New Retail Quarter project. We need to ensure there is a comprehensive alternative if this plan does not come to fruition.

Progress on the regeneration of the Moor is being taken forward on a modular site by site basis, linked by a public realm strategy which should see the Moor substantially improved and reinvigorated over the next two to three years. Combined with the move of the Markets to The Moor at the end of 2013, a more compact and high quality shopping offer in line with the City Centre Master Plan will be created.

The level of independent retail within the city centre is relatively high, but we are missing some of the key high street brands that people expect within a vibrant city such as an Apple store and brand fashion retailers such Flannels, Reiss, Zara, Hollister, Jack Wills etc.

Public Realm Significant investment over the past 15 years has transformed Sheffield’s City Centre and provides the city with a stronger foundation for economic growth. We need to maintain this momentum to continue to improve our retail offer in particular.

The new Moor Markets development started on site in June 2012 and is due to open for trading by the end of 2013. Longer term, securing completion of a New Retail Quarter will expand the scale and quality of our mainstream retail offer as well as providing mixed-use space to grow a new generation of independent retailers and support other creative activities.

The move of the Markets from the Castlegate to The Moor creates the opportunity to transform Sheffield's most historic quarter which has been in slow decline for decades. As well as the intrinsic public interest in the remains of the Castle and subsequent historic layers of development, the site also plays a crucial role as the City Centre link to both our largest concentration of hotels and Victoria Quays, an attractive waterside office location but one lacking in the required footfall and vibrancy, leaving untapped potential. The area is also at a key gateway location – where both the primary entrances to the City Centre from the M1 converge.

Public consultation has already indicated strong support for a significant public garden or space occupying a central location containing retained ruins and artefacts from various historical stages of occupation.

This will help to address the fact that Sheffield City Centre is currently too elongated, resulting in people visiting pockets of the centre, rather than moving between different locations. This also means parts of the offer in the City Centre are disconnected from each other, for example many of our hotels are located away from our key cultural and retail sites (see City Centre map below).

1 Retail Analysis done by GVA in 2012, using the 2010 Cushman and Wakefield Sheffield Retail Study

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City Centre Management Without holistic place management the solid foundations of Sheffield’s built physical environment would deteriorate. Customer Satisfaction levels for City Centre Management continue to improve around safety (82%), cleanliness (96%), management (96%) and general enjoyment (98%).

City Centre businesses have come to expect the service as free whilst other cities (notably Birmingham) operate much of their City Centre Management on a series of Business Improvement Districts (BID’s) supported by annual levies on business.

One possibility is to launch a new City Centre Business Improvement District in association with the investment of City Development funds. Such a levy could contribute to the high quality management of the city centre and to the events programme as in other cities.

Whilst businesses see the double incentive of public capital investment in new infrastructure and an improved service to look after it; any levy via a BID cannot replace existing services, instead they add value and return on investment for the levy payer.

We need to develop our funding model to maintain the standards and events that attract visitors and business to the city centre.

Access Access to the city from out of the local area is a strength, and should improve with electrification of the Midland mainline and High Speed Rail 2. Anecdotally this accessibility also makes it easy for people to limit their visit to a day trip, raising questions whether the offer in the city centre does not always entice people to stay overnight.

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The City Centre needs to be accessible to local residents as well as visitors and parking availability and charges are often cited as a key concern. An initial look at the parking offered in the core cities shows that the pricing of car parks within 10 minutes of Sheffield City Centre is lower than most other core cities:

Average car park charge per hour within 10 minutes

drive of the City Centre Leeds £2.35 Manchester £2.03 Bristol £1.96 Birmingham £1.89 Nottingham £1.76 Sheffield £1.59 Liverpool £1.54 Newcastle £1.44 Core Cities Average £1.80

Source: http://en.parkopedia.co.uk Filtered on short-term/day parking, car parks and street parking

Given the relative charges, the issue of expensive parking is likely to be one of perception and knowledge of places to park and their charges. It is also worth recognising that the Council operates 9% of parking and therefore has limited ability to change average price of parking in the City Centre.

What’s already in place? A vibrant City Centre is integral to achieving our ambitions to be a Competitive City. Our vision for Competitive City is:

‘Sheffield will be a sustainable city which stimulates and incentivises business opportunity in order to attract investment and growth, creating a competitive advantage that will provide more and better jobs, enhancing the quality of life and reputation to attract people to live, work and visit; a city of independence, authenticity and distinction.’

To achieve a Vibrant City, we will make choices that stimulate and promote: ! Business and leisure tourism, ! An improved reputation for the city, ! Opportunities for talent and creativity development and ! Cultural, sporting excellence offering ! A vibrant retail offer The issue of Vibrancy is shared across a number of services within the Council. Additionally, the private sector has a significant role to play in ensuring the vibrancy and in turn, economic success of the city.

There are multiple delivery plans that set out our aspirations and planned activity in detail; these document and the key aspects that will improve City Centre vibrancy:

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Corporate outcomes

A Competitive City

A Strong, Competitive Economy A Vibrant City An Environmentally,

Responsible City

Examples of operational initiatives

Economic Masterplan

Major Events

Cultural Strategy

Capital and Major

Projects

City Centre Masterplan

City Centre Vibrancy Strategic initiatives

Ambassadors Purple Flag Licensing City Centre

Management

It is essential that these approaches and strategies work in a joined-up way to ensure maximum impact from our investment and efforts.

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Our Approach Two approaches which will help to resolve the issues – ‘Hardware’ and ‘Software’.

By hardware we mean large scale physical infrastructure and the plans we will put in place to shape this. By software we mean how we will use this infrastructure in the short to medium term.

Hardware: ! City Centre Masterplan – reducing the size of the retail offer in the City Centre by a third and connecting the different areas within our City Centre ! New Retail Quarter, Sevenstone ! Moor development and the Market ! Cultural Industries Quarter

Software: ! Chapel Walk – High St Innovation Fund ! Pop-up shops ! Engaging new, creative talent ! Purple Flag for the night time economy ! Festivals that support the brand values and alignment of University funding of festivals (Sheffield Food Festival etc)

The ability of the Council to ‘deliver’ a better high-end offer that would promote spend is limited and will be linked to the market and whether Sheffield is seen as a city that could sustain such an offer.

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Summary The following page sets out a summary position of where we are for each of the conditions for vibrancy described in this Destination Management Plan, with a brief description on why this element is important to key city centre users.

A draft action plan setting out the current and proposed actions to address the issues identified in this DMP then follows.

What are different customers' perspectives and what do they need? Assessment of our positionnditions for vibrancy Further explanation Visitors Sheffield (and city

region) residents Business-people Relevance of the Sheffield 'brand' [authentic, independent, distinctive] How strong is our offer for

this 'condition'?

Culture and leisure

Do we have a range of leisure and cultural venues and providers; along with a strong programme of events and ongoing 'animation'?

Important - we need headline cultural and leisure providers, and strong events programme to attract visitors to Sheffield

Important - a programme of events, and 'animation' will encourage Sheffield residents to visit and hopefully use what’s on offer in the city centre

Moderately important - may help to 'lodge' Sheffield as a venue in business visitors' minds

Important to ensure that our cultural and leisure offer is distinctive as it has potential to be used as a distinguishing feature between Sheffield and other cities

While we have a good cultural offer; we have a less compelling leisure offer. We also need to ensure sustainable funding models, particularly for events

Hospitality Do we have a diverse hotel and restaurant offer?

Important - a range of hotels and restaurants needed to attract a range of visitors to the city

Moderately important - while having a strong restaurant offer is important; less so for hotels

Important - particularly having a strong hotel offer

We need to boost the independent/authentic elements of our hotel offer -this needn't be independent hotels per se, but could be chains with an 'independent' brand themselves, e.g., Malmaison, Hotel du Vin, etc.

Too uniform, and budget-priced (e.g. £48 per hotel room) discouraging more luxury brands from entering the market.

Retail Do we have a strong retail offer which appeals to different market segments?

Moderately important - although other visitors often perceive 'Sheffield' to have a strong retail offer, because of Meadowhall

Important - a strong retail offer is a major driver of local residents visiting and spending in the city centre.

Relatively unimportant to visiting business people (although relatively important for people who work in the city centre)

Our independent/authentic retail offer is relatively strong; we are weak in terms of major, 'conventional' high-street retailers

Our city centre retail offer is not strong enough and over-focussed on the relatively low budget retailers. Ambitious plans in place for Moor Market, NRQ, etc.

Public realm

Do we have an attractive physical environment, which is well-managed; potentially with one to two iconic venues?

Important - the city centre needs to look attractive and be well-maintained: people need to want to come and spend time in the city centre

Important - the city centre needs to look attractive and be well-maintained: people need to want to come and spend time in the city centre

Important - the city centre needs to look attractive for businesses to locate or put on events and meeting here

The style of the newer areas of the public realm are a particular style to Sheffield

Significant progress made in recent years, with an ambitious plan for continuing development in this area (Markets, NRQ, etc.)

Access How easy is it to access the city centre - from beyond and within Sheffield?

Moderately important - domestic visitors need to be able to reach and use the city centre

Important - easy ways to access the city centre by public transport (bus, tram), and/or affordable parking options for drivers

Important - particularly good access to major transport links (however, other elements of our offer need to be strong to encourage business visitors to stay)

The application of authentic/independent to access points and routes to the city is unimportant

Good road and rail access from outside of Sheffield; parking charges look to be lower than many other core cities

Next Steps / Action Plan

What’s the issue?

What are we doing about it?

Existing action linked to strategy/ programme?

Have we already started?

When will it be done by?

Hardware/ Software

Priority rating?

What impact do we want to have?

Develop Culture Consortium Culture Strategy / SCRIF Yes 13/14 Software Re-invigorated Cultural

Offer More dynamic Cultural Offer

Further Develop Cultural Industries Quarter / Central Library

City Centre Masterplan Hardware

Improve Quality and Breadth of Leisure

Attract Quality Bar (Slug and Lettuce etc), Cinema operators to the city

City Centre Masterplan No Software

To deliver an ‘attraction’ to increase visitors and spend

Consistent programme of Festivals and Events

Model to move to is from ‘Provider 2 Beneficiary’ (P2B), i.e. the beneficiary of the event provides funding

Major Events Strategy / Culture Strategy

Yes 2013 Software Increased visitors

Attract Brand Hotels – Malmaison , Hotel Du Vin etc Software Improve

Quality and Breadth of Hospitality

Attract Restaurant – Carluccios, Jamies, Yo Sushi, Pret a Manger, Eat

Software

To deliver a high-end hotel and restaurant offer to encourage a new clientele to the city for overnight stays

New Retail Quarter City Centre Masterplan Yes Hardware

The Moor City Centre Masterplan Yes Hardware

Showcase Yes Ongoing Software

Improve Quality and Breadth of Retail

High Street Innovation Fund Yes Ongoing Software

Increased visitor, increased spend and increased average transaction value

Maintain quality public realm

Continue to maintain high standards of cleanliness and maintenance of the city centre public realm

Existing action Yes Ongoing Software

To maintain a welcoming, safe and attractive environment to attract visitors

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Appendix One – City Centre Vibrancy Position Statement on Overall Performance This report has considered a wider range of ways to measure how vibrant our City Centre is including:

! Night Time Economy (value / turnover £ millions) ! City Centre Footfall ! CACI Retail Ranking ! Number of overnight visitors to Sheffield and spend (£ millions) ! Hotel Offer [Standard; Occupancy; Yield] ! Restaurant Offer [based on Prices] ! Access [Parking charges] ! University Popularity and Student Numbers

Overnight Visitors This data is based on the number of trips by domestic overnight visitors.

Source – UK Tourism Survey (UKTS)

Since 2010, the survey has also collected information on spend by visitors. However neither year has shown Sheffield in the top 20 towns for visitor spend

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Trips Spend Domestic Overnight Stays 2012 (GBTS) (‘000s) £ (Millions)

1.London 11093 2398 2.Manchester 2613 523 3.Birmingham 2251 344 4.Bristol 1828 264 5.Scarborough 1645 308 6.York 1615 331 7.Leeds 1493 242 8.Blackpool 1478 263 9.Liverpool 1428 251 10.Newcastle 1303 247 11.Sheffield 1293 114

Source – UK Tourism Survey (UKTS)

2011 saw a 58% increase on 2010, mostly attributed to hosting of major sports events and training camps pre Olympics 2012. Future performance is projected on average trend data, plus a 5% uplift. The sustainable and realistic expectation is that overall performance in 2012 will be lower than 2011 but still a 5% increase on the 3 year average.

Whilst the data indicates that more visitors came to Sheffield over the last year, this still isn’t translating into spend.

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Culture and Leisure:

Night-time Economy

Turnover (2009) £Million

Turnover growth 2006-2009 %

Night-time economy: turnover and growth

Source: MAKE, TBR

Data on the night-time economy is relatively old, but shows that we compared well within Core Cities and up to 2009 was an area of growth in Sheffield.

This information above is part of a research product called the Night-Mix Index (NMI). The chart shows the financial turnover of businesses in the night time economy and the level trend in turnover between 2006 and 2009. An update on this data is being sought.

The wider night-time index includes other factors over above business turnover listed below:

! The mix and size of businesses in the night time economy ! How many businesses are associated with alcohol and/or food consumption ! Business births and deaths ! How the recession has affected the NTE ! People employed by the NTE ! The relative strength of your own and your competitors' NTEs

Purple Flag

The city has also been awarded a Purple Flag over the last twelve months. The Purple Flag award scheme aims to raise the standard and broaden the appeal of centres between 1700 and 0600. The award recognises great entertainment and hospitality areas at night.

Places that achieve the standard are judged by the ATCM, working alongside the Purple Flag Advisory Board (a partnership of key stakeholder groups, including central and local government, police, business and consumers) are judged to offer a positive experience to night time visitors and users.

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Sheffield is one of six core cities to have achieved Purple Flag status alongside Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Nottingham.

Events and Animations - Footfall

The blue line shows actual footfall which is inconsistent and fluctuates significantly between months. The red line estimates the residual footfall if no events took place over the last calendar year.

The peaks that coincide with events are shown on the chart and show the extent to which footfall is driven by events. This indicates our core offer is not sufficient to sustain levels of footfall to key areas of the City Centre.

For most months removing the impact of events effectively removes the peaks that we see in footfall, showing the City Centre operating at a steadier, but lower baseline. This analysis has factored in seasonally significant events such as School, University and Bank Holidays, but does not factor in the impact of weather.

The months that show a peak in footfall, seemingly unaffected by events, such as March 2012, coincided with unseasonably good weather, with temperatures in the mid-teens following a cold February.

Hospitality

Hotel Occupancy Occupancy Average Daily Room Rate

Date 2012 % Change from

2011 2012 % Change from 2011

January – March 63.5% -4.4% £47.35 -1.0% April – June 68.9% -2.6% £48.24 2.3% July – September 68.4% -3.2% £48.17 6.7% October 70.5% -0.9% £49.45 4.3% 2012 Year to Date 67.3% -3.2% £48.1 2.9%

Source: PFK Sheffield city wide stats Year to Date 2012,

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Occupancy rates are steady, having been in the mid 60%’s for a number of years, even with the recent growth in supply of rooms. However, whilst average daily room rates in Sheffield are growing year an on year but the change is small.

To be more comparable with other Core Cities we would need our room rate to increase by 16%, based on the Hotel Price Index (shown on the next page):

City 2012 2011 % change

Bristol £75 £74 1% Liverpool £73 £77 -6% Manchester £73 £78 -5% Newcastle-upon-Tyne £72 £81 -11% Leeds £66 £66 0% Birmingham £63 £61 3% Sheffield £61 £63 -3% Nottingham £59 £62 -5%

Source: Hotels.com Hotel Price Index TM

The Hotel Price Index review of global hotel prices: Jan-Jun 2012

Source: Tripadvisor (October 2012) 20

The number of 3, 4 and 5 star hotels (as listed on Tripadvisor) remained the same since 2011 in Sheffield. We were the only Core City to remain unchanged, with all other cities except Leeds showing increases in the total hotel numbers.

This means our offer is static at a time when most other cities are increasing numbers, meaning a key driver for spend in the city is not improving and becoming comparatively worse.

On the review ratings given by members of the public, Sheffield showed a substantial increase in the number of people who rated their stay at 4 out of 5 or more, putting us in the top three on this measure and the second highest city for stays ranked 4.5 or above.

Restaurant Offer:

Source: Tripadvisor (October 2012)

All Core Cities showed an increase in the number of restaurants reviewed by people on Tripadvisor.

The proportion of our restaurants at the higher-end of the price scale has increased since last year. However, this is true for all other places reviewed and therefore we still have the lowest proportion of high-end restaurants of all the Core Cities.

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This measure (and a number of others being used) are for Sheffield as a whole, rather than just the City Centre. We know if we looked at restaurants in particular within the S1 postcode, our offer would look significantly reduced.

Again, this is a key driver of spend that needs to attract affluent people to use the city centre along with a higher level of spend to ensure the economic contribution of the city.

Retail

Retail ranking comparison:

Source: CACI’s Retail Footprint

This from the CACI Retail Footprint, which is calculated based on the number and value of credit and debit card transactions recorded from a major high street bank. It is updated annually and analyses current and future shopping patterns, classifying retail centres into over 50 different types according to retail mix, market positioning and evolving shopping role.

Five of the eight core cities are in the top-eight retail centres in the UK, whereas Sheffield currently ranks 20th and has dropped one place from the year before. Approximately half of the top twenty retail centres saw spend drop between 2010 & 2011, included Sheffield, which also dropped to a rank of 20 from 19 the year before. Only one of the Core Cities (Manchester) saw a growth in retail spend over this period.

Although this comparison sees Meadowhall fall two places in the ranking for 2011, they saw a small growth over the 12 months shown. Even combining retail spend of Meadowhall and Sheffield sees us significantly behind Manchester (excluding the Trafford Centre).

All of the city centres above Sheffield in the CACI Ranking have benefited from retail investment of the scale of NRQ over the last ten to fifteen years for instance;

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Glasgow - Buchanan St Galleries, St Enochs, Newcastle - Eldon Sq extension, Birmingham - Bull Ring, Norwich - Castle Mall and Chapelfield, Manchester - Arndale renewal, Leicester - High Cross, Liverpool - Liverpool One, Bristol - Cabot Circus, Leeds- Victoria Qtr,Trinity etc, Reading - the Oratory, Nottingham - Broadmarsh, Victoria, Exchange Milton Keynes - MK Centre,

Retail turnover by category of goods – Meadowhall and Sheffield City Centre Total

Homeware Clothing/ Footwear

Audio visual

Chemists Goods

Misc Total All

City Centre £193.5m £243.7m £103.63m £68.53m £221.04m £830.41mMeadowhall £34.9m £309.05m £20.99m £34.86m £271.15m £670.95mSource: Retail Analysis done by GVA in 2012, using the 2010 Cushman and Wakefield Sheffield Retail Study

University Popularity: Universities play a key role in talent attraction, particularly in Sheffield where spend by students is likely to contribute significantly to the economy of the city.

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Applications to Universities in Sheffield have decreased at a slightly faster rate than other Core Cities, leading to a drop in the ratio of applications per acceptances (shown below). Although the number of university acceptances have also declined in Sheffield, this is at a comparable rate to others.

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This is based on all Universities and Colleges within the Core Cities. Overall, we are the only Core City who saw the ratio of applicants per place reduce between 2010 and 2011. Sheffield also saw the biggest drop in total applicant numbers over the same period compared to other cities.

We continue to be one of two Core Cities in the top ten for student experience:

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