NightVision: Town Centres for All

October 2007 - At the annual Institute of Licensing Conference in Bristol on 20th November the Civic Trust will announce its intention to develop Purple Flag - a national accreditation scheme for town centres after hours. A two year development programme will be set in hand, leading to a national launch in 2009. Click here to see the presentation by Paul Davies and Hannah Mummery.

October 2007 - NightVision at the Building Centre, London, 17th October 2007. To see the presentation by Paul Davies and Hannah Mummery click here.

January 2007 - the Civic Trust have appointed Erskine to work with us on our Night Vision project. The Civic Trust is about to start work on four pilot projects which will result in local improvements and the development of good practice. Erskine will be developing a blog to follow the progress of the projects. The blog will be available shortly - for updates please click here.

In 2003 The Civic Trust was awarded a three year funding grant from the DCLG to look at good practice in managing and developing the evening and night time economy. From the NightVision report is written using this research.

(individual research reports can be seen here)

The Night Vision report draws on three years of research and interviews with key stakeholders in the evening and night time economy: Local Authorities, national government, developers, the drinks industry, licensees, retailers, residents and finally consumers.

In this report we set out our vision for better town centres at night and the practical steps that can be taken towards achieving this vision.

Our Aims:

The Civic Trust has a very clear vision for what town centres should be at night, in short we would like to create “town centres for all” - welcoming spaces that work at night for everyone: families, residents, businesses, older people, teenagers etc..

We want to see a reduction in:

• Crime
• Noise and disturbance
• Street fouling
• Drink and drug related A+E admissions

We want to see:

• Shops open in the evening
• Venues that cater for families and older customers
• More special events and festivals that add life to the town centre
• Innovative use of public buildings in the evening
• An increase in non alcohol related activities at night
• An improvement in public spaces and lighting
• Better night time public transport
• An increase in a responsible, adult presence such as street wardens.

How to achieve this change

In the Night Vision report we have identified ten principles that we believe are necessary for fundamentally changing our town and city centres at night, these are:

1. Embody the community and health agenda in policy and transform behavioural norms – that is recognising the negative health effects of excessive alcohol consumption and putting across the message that binge drinking is an unacceptable form of behaviour.
2. Collect basic data. Develop a sophisticated market and consumer understanding to go alongside performance measures and inclusion targets – in order to build inclusive town centres at night, Local Authorities and other stakeholders need to gain an understanding of what all consumers would want. This is not happening at the moment.
3. Promote local choice.Encourage the “fresh roots” of innovation and growth - successful town centres will be, to some extent, locally owned and distinctive.
4. Create family-friendly and child-friendly centres - we believe strongly that one of the keys to achieving truly mixed town centres at night is ensuring that these centres are places that families can and will want to use at night.
5. Improve accessibility. Deliver safe, affordable public transport at night– poor night time transport causes many problems – one of the keys to good management and preventing late night disorder is ensuring there is a quick, efficient method for people to get home at night. Improved transport will also encourage a greater mix of people at night.
6. Set new standards in customer care. Make the public realm welcoming and hospitable – a well designed and maintained streetscape can make a lot of difference at night, it encourages people to use the streets and makes centres much more pleasant places to be and live in.
7. Good planning – “a once in a life time opportunity” – planning is the discipline that has been ignored in the debate about the evening economy. Good planning is essential to help shield town centre residents from noise and disorder as well as creating better managed night time destinations.
8. Place- Making: develop a new language of design – town centres, as much as possible have to be designed with the night time economy in mind – considering aspects such as crime, fear of crime, noise and street fouling. Good design can help towards combating these problems.
9. Promote flexible hours and the multiple uses of public buildings: art galleries, libraries, museums and schools – the availability of cultural activities in the evening will encourage a more diverse range of people into town centres at night and also provide a wider range of non alcohol related activities, something that is sorely needed in many town centres.
10. Extend shopping and other services into the evening – many town centres can feel deserted between 5pm – 8pm and extension of shopping hours would help to make the early evening street more lively and welcoming.

How can these principles be put into action?

We recognise that it is not simply enough to outline these key principles so we have developed a methodology to take a town centre right through from “crisis management” to the delivery of a more inclusive, sustainable night time destination that works for all stakeholders.

Methodology

1. Control and customer care

Regain control. Make town centres more hospitable and welcoming.

• Build a consensus for action.
• Restore order via regulation.
• Promote voluntary codes and standards. Encourage a stronger sense of responsibility across the industry.
• Empower the business and residential communities to act in support of the statutory agencies.
• Deliver higher standards of customer care.
• Use place marketing to change perceptions.

2. Vision and Strategy

Once control is regained a new policy and vision is eeded in order to develop an evening economy everyone can sign up to:

• Undertake a “diversity audit”, to include both an appraisal of the town centre as a destination and research into consumer perceptions and aspirations.
• Develop a comprehensive vision for an inclusive and more diverse town centre, drawing together the views of all the interested parties.
• Co-ordinate all the relevant policies by carrying out a “night vision proofing” of strategies and plans.
• Ensure the delivery capability is in place to implement the vision and maintain control.
• Evaluate the impact of the strategy against targets and indicators.

3. Partnership and delivery  

In order for the vision to be successful management functions at every level have to be integrated and functions that would only usually be available during the day should be extended later into the night.

• Liaise with operators and others to ensure swift feedback and action of specific concerns such as anti social behaviour, noise and litter and take practical actions to resolve these concerns.
• Collaborate at all levels with all stakeholders to overcome obvious and pressing issues.
• Extend town centre management to the evening and night time with a specific budget and dedicated team.
• Develop Business Improvement Districts for delivering specific, additional services in addition to normal council provision.

Download the full report Here

Download an executive summary Here

Think Positive and Purple!

The Civic Trust will be announcing its intention to develop a new national accreditation scheme for town and city centres at night at the Institute of Licensing Conference at Bristol on 20th November.

The proposed scheme will be based on a comprehensive set of standards that the Civic Trust will develop over the next 24months. Click here for a Powerpoint presentation that sets the scene, identifies four headline standards and illustrates these with good practice examples from around the country and from abroad.

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