Welcome to the City Speak newsletter Welcome to this festive edition of City Speak. This issue is filled with feedback

from the very successful traders’ ‘Ideas Event’ held recently at the Lichfield

Garrick. I wanted to take this chance to say a personal thank you to everyone

who gave up their time to come along to the event. It was really informative

and as you’ll see reading this edition of City Speak, it has started to build

momentum behind what we hope will be some exiting and successful

initiatives for the city. I hope you enjoy reading this issue of City Speak, and

may I wish you a very busy Christmas and New Year.

Richard Lewis, President of the Lichfield Chamber of Trade & Commerce

on behalf of city centre partners.

In this edition 2 - 5 Feedback from traders’ ‘Ideas Event’

5 Christmas Shopping Crawl

6 Festive city windows

6 City Jewellers launches new floor

6 Christmas lights switch on

6 FREE business website and mobile app listings

7 Active Crime Intelligence System Database

7 Christmas Festival Weekend

8 Dash parking competition and events

8 Let’s work together towards a joint recovery

Lichfield chosen as a Town Team Partner and

scoops £10,000 to boost the city centre Update from Lichfield District Council

In late October, the Lichfield City Centre Coordination Group heard the

fantastic news that it has been named an official Town Team Partner as part of

the government's drive to boost local high streets. On top of being named a

partner, the district council was also awarded a further £10,000 funding to

deliver a range of initiatives in the city - ranging from a city map, to door

stickers, to wider circulation of the What's On events guide, and improvements

to the current special offers card.

Following the announcement, Lichfield City Centre Coordination Group will

now be known as Lichfield Town Team. The team has an open membership of

traders and businesses across the city centre, and is chaired and hosted by

Lichfield District Council.

As part of the government package, the Town Team will also have access to

range of tools to help boost the city. Support includes an advice line, a network

of advisors and mentors, meetings with other Town Teams, as well as an

online community with advice and information from retail experts.

The move to create Town Teams follows the government's Portas Pilot

initiative, in which retail centres were invited to create plans for how they

could rejuvenate their high streets. Lichfield missed out on becoming one of 24

Portas Pilot towns earlier this year. As the government received more than 400

applications from across the country, it invited those who had not been made

Portas Pilots to submit an application and pledge for a further £10,000 in late

autumn, which the district council submitted.

MP for Lichfield, Michael Fabricant, was pleased to sign the city's pledge. He

said: "I am delighted that Lichfield has been named a Town Team Partner. It is

the start of what I am sure will be a constructive partnership between over 30

local traders and organisations and the government. Being able to access

funding and a range of resources will help the group in their work to improve

the city centre experience for both visitors and residents of Lichfield."

Local traders are welcome to come to meetings of the Lichfield Town Team.

To find out more, email elizabeth.thatcher@lichfielddc.gov.uk or call 01543

308781.

Issue 4 November 2012

1

You are invited to a traders’

‘Drop-In Event’ Tuesday 27 November 2012

Lichfield Garrick Theatre Bar (1st floor)

Drop in anytime between 11.30am &

7.30pm

Over 50 local traders came along to an ‘Ideas

Event’ at the Lichfield Garrick in October to

discuss ways to spend £50,000 High Street

Innovation Funding to boost footfall in the city.

On pages 2 - 5 of this edition of City Speak, you’ll

find a full run down of the top 15 ideas traders

came up with.

We’ve also included some suggestion about how

we could implement the ideas, along with some

very rough cost estimates. Our ideas are not

necessarily the right way forward, but we hope

they will give you a good starting point for your

own considerations.

At the ‘Ideas Event’, traders said they would like

the chance to vote again on the ideas they

would like us to invest the money in. To do this,

we are hosting a traders’ ‘Drop-In Event’.

At the ‘Drop-In Event’, you’ll have chance to give

your thoughts on the ideas traders came up with,

tell us which ones you think most money should

be invested in, and let us know if you have

alternative ideas about how to take things

forward. The plans for spending the money will

then be formulated by the Lichfield Town Team,

in line with recommendations from the ‘Drop-In

Event’. See pages 2 - 4 for more, and also page 4

for news of a ‘Traders’ Open Meeting’ in 2013.

Thank you to everyone who came to the recent traders’ ‘Ideas

Event’ at the Lichfield Garrick to come up with ways to spend

the £50,000 High Street Innovation Funding in Lichfield City

centre to boost trade. Since the meeting, Lichfield District

Council also heard the fantastic news that the City Centre

Coordination Group, hosted by the council, has been awarded a

further £10,000 and has also been named an official

government Town Team Partner (see front page for details).

Find out on the next four pages what people at the event want

to see developed in the city. Over 30 ideas were put forward,

and when we ranked them, we wanted to create a top ten for

people to vote on, but we have ended up with a top 15 ideas,

because a number of ideas got the same number of votes.

We’ve also included some ideas about how we could

implement the ideas traders came up with, and also some

very rough cost estimates.

We’re hosting a traders’ ‘Drop-In Event’ on 27 November at the

Lichfield Garrick, so you can vote again on which ideas you want

us to invest most funding in, as well as feedback any other ideas

and thoughts. See the front page of City Speak for more details .

1. A brand for the city 15% of the votes Traders want a brand for the city that appeals to shoppers,

restaurant and bar goers, not just to tourists. This scored the

largest percent of the vote with 15%.

Our view for you to consider: This will be relatively simple to

take forward:

� A brainstorm with traders to generate a design brief

� A competitive pitch by passionate local companies

� A selection process

� Development of the brand

� Application to various e-tools and marketing

Rough costs estimates: £1,500 - £2,000

2. A town centre manager 11% of the votes

Our view for you to consider: With the available funding, a

town centre manager could be appointed on a short-term

contract, however with 14 other top ideas, we need to consider

this carefully. Issue to consider:

Sustainability If we appoint a town centre manager, what

would their brief be? Would it be to generate support for a

Business Improvement District, which could fund the post

ongoing?

Impact If we don’t want the role to deliver a Business

Improvement District, what impact will a short-term post have?

Will it make a real difference? Is it a good investment of money,

given there is no ongoing funding to maintain the post in future

years?

2

3. A city website to appeal to local

people, not just visitors 9% of the votes

Our view for you to consider: One of the most challenging

aspects of managing a website is keeping the content up to

date. The city already has a website www.visitlichfield.co.uk

that is targeted primarily at visitors, and lists over 70 city shops,

18 coffee shops, and over 30 pubs, bars and restaurants, and

offers all of these free basic listings. The maintenance of the

site is funded through core council funding, so when we

consider creating a new website targeted at shoppers, it is a

fantastic source of data that we feel should be re-used - think of

it as a database of city centre retailers, events and attractions

data!

So, how would we reuse the data? It would be simple to create

a newly branded sister website to www.visitlichfield.co.uk that

publishes the same data, but in a different order/format to

promote Lichfield to locals and to highlight shops, bars and

restaurants over tourist attractions for example.

The benefits of this approach is that we would not be creating a

whole new website, and a whole new set of data to keep up to

date. The website would also be supported by existing

infrastructures - such as the inhouse web development

resource at the council. www.visitlichfield.co.uk also comes

with a sister mobile website (www.visitlichfield.mobi) and a

soon to be launched app, which could also be developed for the

new city website easily and cheaply.

In the past we have struggled to engage traders to sign up for

the free basic listing, and this will be a challenge we need to

overcome, but hopefully the improved engagement this process

is delivering, will help us to do that.

Rough cost estimates: In addition to the design (see branding)

this could cost in the region of £2,000 - £3,000 to deliver

(one-off cost), including website, mobile website and app.

4. More seasonal events 7% of the votes

Our view for you to consider: Lichfield is rich with events, and

most people visiting from outside the area are amazed at the

breadth of events that take place, and the wide promotion of

them through What’s On. In recent years we have made a

concerted effort to boost the city centre presence and appeal

of existing events, including the Heritage Weekend and the

Christmas Festival Weekend, as well as host new city centre

based events, including the Lichfield Food Festival, the Olympic

Torch Relay and the Jubilee Big Lunch

… continued overleaf

What traders want

Feedback from ‘Ideas Event’

3

The city’s current annual tourism events (Heritage Weekend

and Christmas Festival) are delivered on a shoestring budget

and are only possible thanks to support from attractions,

traders and partners. Additional budget (marketing and event

programming) could enhance these events and others (ideas

could include a Lichfield Festival Fringe and more street arts for

example) and transform their impact. Existing events are well

spaced throughout the year, however traders suggested an

early spring event could be considered.

Traders felt the impact of the Christmas Lights switch-on on a

week night, and the corresponding late date of the Christmas

Festival Weekend should also be considered. Two traders want

to know if we can move the lights switch-on and festival

weekend to create an early Christmas weekend event that

could impact positively on trade at this hugely important time.

Rough cost estimates: £1,000 - £2,000 per event

5. More business & networking

opportunities 7% of the votes

Our view for you to consider: Lichfield is rich with trader

organisations – from the Lichfield Town Team, to the Lichfield

Chamber of Trade & Commerce, to business breakfasts that

take place regularly. A sensible question is, ‘do we really need

to create more, or do we need to strengthen and improve

existing structures?’ Issues to consider include:

Fees Four traders requested membership/networking

organisations that don’t charge fees. The fees charged by most

organisations are very low. Could some of the money be used

to offer businesses a free year’s membership/discounted

membership to encourage new members to join and try it out?

Timings & regularity Six traders mentioned the timings of

meetings. Should we speak to traders to see when traders want

meetings to take place and what locations are easy to get to?

Above all, before we re-invent the wheel and duplicate costs

through creating another business partnership, is it worth first

looking at how we can better shape what we already have, and

encourage more traders to get involved?

Rough cost estimates: Cost of covering membership for a set

time/number of free membership taken up.

6. More social media 6% of the votes Our view for you to consider: Without a brand/identity and

underpinning structure (i.e. someone given the responsibility to

keep social media up to date) it is difficult to deliver in a

meaningful way. If a city website is developed (see idea 3) for

shopping, eating, drinking in Lichfield, it will create the

necessary brand/identify to kick-start more social media.

Maintenance and management If a town centre manager is

appointed, that person would be ideally positioned to deliver

social media. If not, the Visit Lichfield team could add this to

their work on tourism social media, including twitter and

facebook, however the frequency of updates would be less.

Rough cost estimates: Dependent on who delivers it.

7. Appoint street champions 6% of votes

This links to comments traders made about the difficulties of

attending networking meetings and events, particularly during

the day. 6% of traders suggested appointing ‘street champions’

in each street/area of this city. This trader would then be

invited to attend Town Team meetings, and would be the main

point of contact for other traders in their street/area.

Our view for you to consider: Issues to consider include:

� Would enough traders be happy to take on the role of

street champions to cover the entire city?

� What could we do to support street champions?

� Could we offer training/ support to help them carry out

their role of street champion?

� Would the role be rotating annually?

� How do the Town Team meetings need to change

(timings etc) to allow all street champions to attend?

Rough cost estimates: Training costs

8. More parking offers 6% of the votes To set this into context, cheaper short-stay parking received

five votes and free parking received only one vote, but more

‘parking offers’ received 15 votes.

Our view for you to consider: The district council operates over

1,800 car parking spaces across 19 car parks in the city centre.

Our car parks cost £556,000 a year to run - from maintaining

the car parks and paying wardens, to cleaning and ticket

machines. Like other businesses, we pass 20% of our income

from ticket sales to the government in VAT charges. And,

despite facing steep increases in our costs over recent years,

such as rates and electricity, we haven’t been able to put our

charges up since 2008. Having said all that, we do generate a

profit each year which helps to pay for essential local services,

such as street cleaning, public toilets, local leisure centres, and

even our local waste and recycling scheme. The contribution

our car park income makes is vital as it funds services, but also

helps to keep local people’s council tax bills down.

We know how important local car parks are to city businesses

which is why we try to keep parking charges down whilst

making sure that our car parks are of the quality visitors to the

city expect, as well as create attractive parking offers. But offers

come at a cost. When the VAT went up last year, in response to

calls from traders, we didn’t increase our parking charges, but

instead absorbed the extra cost (£32,000 a year). We’ve deliver

offers like Free after Three (cost around £16,000) and this year

parking after 4pm on the Christmas Lights Switch On will be

free (£700 cost) and we’re working on a Christmas promotion

for our DASH parking system (£300 cost).

We’re keen to hear your ideas for parking promotions that we

might be able to support through the High Street Innovation

fund work. We’re also keen to develop offers that will increase

footfall in the city overall, rather than just benefit existing

customers, who would have come into the city regardless

parking charges.

Rough cost estimates:

Research and cost to council.

4

9. More and better communications 5% of the votes Our view for you to consider: If you are reading this, you will

know that we recently launched a reformatted City Speak (now

in its 5th issue). Those traders that are aware of the publication

tell us it is very good and delivers them all the information

they need.

We could look to boost City Speak, but before we do that, we

are keen to know whether traders read it, and whether we

should delay a decision on this until people have had the

chance to look out for it and start to rely on it as a key

publication.

We are also updating the City Speak website

www.cityspeak.info to ensure there is an online version of

City Speak for traders to rely on.

Rough costs estimates: Dependent on decision.

10. More city advertising and

promotion 5% of the votes Our view for you to consider: The district council and Chamber

of Trade & Commerce have never advertised Lichfield City as a

shopping, eating and drinking destination to neighbouring

areas. Often times you will see advertising campaigns for

nearby areas (Stafford at Christmas / Solihull at Easter) on

buses, trains and more. Whilst Lichfield markets itself to the

tourist trade (funded by tourist attraction contributions), a

similar approach has not been applied to retail marketing. In

many other cities, this type of marketing is delivered through

partnership campaigns and trader contributions.

Issues to consider include: The branding for the marketing

activity would be delivered from the city branding workshop

(see idea 1), and would direct people to the website (see idea

3). Without the branding exercise and website development,

the success of the marketing campaign would be limited. In our

view it would be essential that this idea is delivered in

partnership with ideas 1 and 3 to be successful.

Rough costs estimates: Anywhere between £5,000 and

£20,000, depending on media chosen and frequency - from

billboard advertising, to radio advertising, to trainline

advertising costs vary dramatically and further research is

required.

11. A mobile application or website 4% of the votes Traders would like a mobile phone application or mobile

website to promote shops, restaurants and bars. They would

like this to be widely marketed throughout the town – think

door stickers encouraging people to use the mobile phone app

to find their way around. Issues to consider include:

Our view for you to consider: If we develop a city website (idea

3) using www.visitlichfield.co.uk as a base, we have the option

to also replicate www.visitlichfield.mobi that lists all the

content included on the Visit Lichfield website, including shops,

restaurants, events and special offers, for a limited cost. Much

like the website, we could reskin, or duplicate the existing

visitor mobile site to create a shopping mobile site, using the

same data.

Rough costs estimates: Mobile website design (£150 - £200),

plus a small amount of development costs (£500 max). Plus

costs of window stickers. The window stickers can be paid for

from the Town Team funding (£10,000 pot), and not out of the

£50,000 High Street Innovation Fund, as these were included

in the application

12 & 13. A loyalty card scheme and/or a

shopping crawl passport A loyalty card scored 5% of the votes, and a

shopping crawl scored 4% of the votes Loyalty card schemes can come in all different shapes and sizes.

From the idea of winning a car every month for shopping in

Lichfield, through to a paper card that is stamped every time a

customer makes a purchase in a local independent shop, and

then when full, the shopper can claim 10% off in shops, or be

entered into a prize draw.

Our view for you to consider: We currently have a special

offers card scheme that is free for traders and card holders free

to take part in. The offers also link into www.visitlichfield.co.uk

and www.visitlichfield.mobi, and will soon link to a mobile

phone app. The scheme is maintained by Visit Lichfield (issuing

cards, maintaining database, sourcing offers, providing shops

with promotional material to support offers etc). By creating a

sister special offers card (or possibly a jointly branded one) we

could benefit from the considerable processes already in place/

funded. A sister/co-branded card would accompany the new

city brand (idea 1) website (idea 3) and window stickers (idea

11). The Visit Lichfield card/offers are also supported by emails

to over 3,000 customers every month that promote the offers.

Again, these emails could be co-branded between Visit Lichfield

and the new shopping brand. We could also look to do seasonal

card promotions, such as Christmas shopping crawl passports,

one of which is taking place this year,

thanks to local independent shops

(see page 5).

Rough costs estimates:

Cost of card reprint, email rebrand,

monthly emails and any seasonal promotions.

Come to a traders’ ‘Open Meeting’ At the traders’ ‘Ideas Event’, an overwhelming number of

those present asked us to host further open meetings. As

such, we plan to hold an traders’ ‘Open Meeting’ in early

2013, to both feedback on the ‘Drop-In Event’ set to be held

on 27 November, and to also update traders about any of the

plans the Lichfield Town Team will have developed by that

date to invest the funds.

We’ll include details of the ‘Open Meeting’ in the next issue

of City Speak, but if you want us to email you to notify you,

please email elizabeth.thatcher@lichfielddc.gov.uk

5

14. More Covent Garden style

entertainers 3% of the votes Traders see the benefit of making streets a more exciting place

to be, and the benefit of well regulated and well managed

street entertainers.

Our view for you to consider: The city’s Town Team has

discussed this idea in length before and issues the team feel

need to be considered include:

Branded entertainment spaces The Town Team has discussed

the possibility of branded entertainment spaces, marked with

floor vinyls. Issues include planning permission, how long the

vinyls last, how they are maintained, how quickly they look

scruffy, any limitations on cleaning, as well as ongoing costs.

Entertainers It is possible we could use the money to recruit

a series of entertainers to provide quality on-street

entertainment over a set period of time. This is a short-term fix

and will not necessarily result in a long-term street

entertainment reputation.

Busking strategy Another alternative is to develop a busking

strategy to attempt to support and encourage quality buskers

to frequent Lichfield City centre. There are examples of

successful busking strategies elsewhere, and it may be worth

investigating.

Rough costs estimates: £2,000 - £5,000 for street entertainers,

depending on frequency and duration. Floor vinyls – needs

research. Busking strategy - free of charge and could generate

some income.

15. A city map 3% of the votes Traders expressed a desire for a city centre map, to advertise

the shopping, eating and drinking areas of the city.

Our view for you to consider: A city map that includes detailed

listings of all shops etc, is likely to go out of date as soon as it is

printed, due to the frequency of shop openings and closures.

An alternative would be a leaflet that includes a very clear map,

and clearly zoned areas – for example, Visit Tamworth Street for

a wonderful variety of independent stores, from beads,

to sewing and children’s clothes, Tamworth Street is a lovely

place to mooch for a unique gift or purchase.

Whilst the first map could be delivered free of charge within the

funding, long-term, traders could pay for advertising on the

reverse of the map to ensure it remains self-funding. The leaflet

could also include editorial about why to come to Lichfield and

promote the mobile phone application and website for store

listings, so that it could be put in information points further

afield to draw in shoppers.

Rough costs estimates: £1,000 - £2,000 depending on design

and print run. The first issue of the city map leaflet can be paid

for from the Town Team funding (£10,000 pot), and not out of

the £50,000 High Street Innovation Fund, as it was included in

the application.

Festive shopping crawl Update from independent Lichfield Stores

This Christmas shoppers and visitors to Lichfield City centre will

be in with an exclusive chance to win £800 cash and £250

vouchers as part of a new Shopping Crawl, launched by local

independent shops and the newly named Lichfield Town Team.

Anna Riley from Cure (pictured right), said: “Twenty

independent stores have joined together to give shoppers and

visitors a fantastic chance to win more than £1,000 in cash and

vouchers this festive season. Thanks to all the stores who

signed up and committed cash and vouchers to the prize fund.

We think the crawl will have a really positive impact on local

stores, and we know in other areas these initiatives have really

helped to boost footfall. To be in with the chance to win, all

passport holders need to do is visit each of the venues on the

Shopping Crawl, including Cure, Mooch, The Kitchen Shop, The

Spark Café Bar and many more, between Monday 12 November

and Monday 24 December 2012, to get their passport stamped.

They don’t need to buy anything to collect stamps, just visit the

shops to see what they are offering this Christmas.”

The Independent Shopping Crawl is part of a nationwide

initiative, launched by Independent Retailer Month, which

aims to boost footfall on high streets up and down the country.

Locally the campaign is supported by more than 20 local

retailers, as well as the new Lichfield Town Team, Lichfield

District Council, Lichfield Chamber of Trade & Commerce, The

Best of Lichfield, the Lichfield Gazette and Design Pit, who

helped to put the passport together.

Louie Clegg from The Best of Lichfield (pictured left) said: “We

sent over 17,000 passports to local homes in November

through the Lichfield Gazette for free. People can also pick

them up from the tourist information centre in the Lichfield

Garrick, or any of the shops on the crawl. Thanks to everyone

who helped us to put this initiative together, in particular the

Lichfield Gazette, Cure, the Design Pit, the district council and

the Chamber of Trade & Commerce, and fingers crossed it will

add to our festive trade, and have even have a positive impact

on those stores not on the trail! If it’s successful we’ll look to do

it regularly so even more stores will have chance to take part.”

The prize will be drawn in January 2013.

For full competition terms and conditions visit

www.lichfielddc.gov.uk/shoppingcrawl

City Jewellers launches new boutique

showroom Update from City Jewellers The team at City Jewellers is delighted to announce that it has

opened the doors to a new Designer Brand Jewellery Boutique

Showroom on the city store’s first floor. The showroom features

lots of stunning new brands, including Sean Lean, Babbette

Wasserman, Sho Jewellery, Missoma, and London Road, to

complement the store’s existing range of delightful Trollbeads.

To find out more, or view the new showroom, visit the city

based jewellers on Market Street, Monday - Saturday or email

the team at cityjewellers@uwclub.net

Is your business listed for FREE on

www.visitlichfield.co.uk and

www.visitlichfield.mobi Update from Visit Lichfield Visit Lichfield is the district council’s tourism team. It works to

encourage tourists, visitors, coach parties and more into the

district and city centre. The team produces a variety of guides,

including the annual visitor guide and the much loved What’s

On events guides. The team also maintains two websites -

www.visitlichfield.co.uk (receives over 370,000 visitors a year)

and www.visitlichfield.mobi which is a mobile site that works

much like an ’app’ on smart phones.

Currently both websites list over 70 city shops, 18 coffee

shops, and over 30 pubs, bars and restaurants. It’s completely

free to get a basic listing on the site, and you can pay for

enhanced listings (with photos and more information) if you

want to. You can also offer special offers on the sites for free.

It’s really easy to sign up for a free basic listing in the shops

or eating and drinking categories - just email

emily.robinson@lichfielddc.gov.uk and we’ll send you a

simple form to complete.

Being listed on the websites is a great way to

get your business noticed, so don’t miss out!

6

City shop windows get Christmas

make-over Update from Lichfield Chamber of Trade & Commerce and

Lichfield District Council This festive season eight shops in the city will get a festive

facelift, thanks to pupils from schools across the district. The

pupils are hard at work coming up with designs to both

brighten up the city, and to celebrate the themes of

Christmas, working alongside the Chamber of Trade &

Commerce and the district council’s community development

team.

The shops that are set for the festive treatment include

Buxton & Bonnett, Heaven Scent - Florist of Lichfield, Ivisons

Florist, S&J Music, St Mary’s Heritage Centre, The Tudor of

Lichfield, as well as two empty units in the Three Spires

Shopping Centre.

The schools involved in the project include St Peters & St

Paul’s in Lichfield, Scotch Orchard in Lichfield, Thomas Barnes

in Hopwas, Longwood in Mile Oak, The Croft in Armitage,

Chadsmead in Lichfield, Whittington and Maple Hayes in

Lichfield.

The festive themed window displays will start to appear in

late November/early December.

To find out more about the project, email community

development worker tracy.potts@lichfielddc.gov.uk or call

01543 308231 Christmas lights

switch-on Update from Lichfield City

Council and the Chamber of Trade

& Commerce

This year’s Christmas lights switch-

on is taking place on Thursday 22 November, and is set to be

bigger and better than ever before. The event is starting earlier,

and we hope this will encourage even more people into the city

centre, and into shops and eateries, to enjoy the festive spirit.

The entertainment will start at 4pm with live music on the

Market Square, on a bigger, better and louder stage, thanks to a

contribution from the High Street Innovation Fund and

sponsorship from Friary Shoes, Lichfield Chamber of Trade &

Commerce, Lichfield City Council, the Lichfield Gazette and

Councillor Alan White and Councillor Janet Eagland, through

their County Council Members’ Initiative Fund. The musical

programme is being provided by Lichfield Arts. Alongside the

entertainment, stalls selling a variety of arts, crafts and festive

produce will be up and down Market Street.

Local schools will sing carols from 6.30pm, and at 7pm the lights

will be switched on by TV’s Steve Huison who is playing the

White Rabbit in the Garrick’s Christmas production Alice in

Wonderland, and who will be ably assisted by two local school

children and the mayor. This will be followed by the arrival of

Father Christmas, and music until 8pm. Free parking after 4pm is

being provided by Lichfield District Council in city car parks.

Visit www.visitlichfield.co.uk/christmaslights

7

Helping you to fight business crime Update from the Townsafe Partnership To help city businesses in their fight against business crimes, such as

shoplifting, the city’s Business Crime Manager, Richard Lewis has

been working to set up an Active Crime Intelligence System (ACIS)

database for the city.

The database includes details of all recorded business crime that

takes place in Lichfield City centre, and is available to all Townsafe

Partnership member stores.

To report an incident, members fill in a short report form, and the

details are then entered on the ACIS database. Since it was first

launched in early July, over 70 incidents have been recorded by

Townsafe members, ranging from suspicious behaviour and

shoplifting to armed robbery. As the information held on the

database builds, it will start to reveal patterns and trends that will

help partner stores to identify the days and times they are most at

risk and from which groups of people.

Linking to CCTV

The Townsafe Partnership, through StoreNet, works with the city’s

CCTV control room. The police produce (under strict data protection

controls) images of suspects and these are provided to Townsafe

members to help prevent business crime.

Linking up across the region

Townsafe is also linked into Partnerships Against Business Crime in

Staffordshire (PABCIS) which means we will be able to start

identifying criminals that are travelling between towns and cities

across the region, including Tamworth, Cannock, Stafford, Burton and

Stoke-on-Trent. In turn, PABCIS is also linked into crime teams in the

West Midlands and other nearby areas, so we can share even wider

information about travelling criminals.

What is Townsafe?

Stores that join the Townsafe partnership, have the opportunity to

link their store to the city’s Storenet radio system. Storenet works

directly with the city’s CCTV system operators to help identify and

share intelligence around the movements of suspected criminals

operating in city centre shops and businesses.

Over fifty businesses are signed up to partnership, and as a result of

Storenet scheme, over 30 offenders have been excluded from local

stores as they have been found guilty of shop crime, and 14 offenders

have been excluded from pubs, bars and clubs for violent or abusive

behaviour.

Townsafe is a civil scheme that is supported by the police and the

district council’s Safer Communities Partnership, and has been

working to fight business crime in the city for over 15 years.

How to join?

There is a small joining fee for the Townsafe partnership, to cover

administration costs and the costs of running the database etc. There

is also a charge for the Storenet handset. If you are interested in

joining the partnership, or signing up for the Storenet Radio scheme,

contact Richard Lewis on 01543 250016 or email

richard.lewis@staffordshire.pnn.police.uk

Christmas Festival Saturday 15 & Sunday 16

December Update from Visit Lichfield

This Christmas, partners across the city are joining forces

to celebrate the festive season with a weekend of festive

events and activities, targeted at boosting footfall across

the city..

On Saturday (10am - 4pm) The Market Square will be a

hive of activity. From the traditional market, to mulled

wine, music from the Salvation Army, and carols by

Walsall Operatic society. There’ll be free face painting, a

visit from Santa and a Christmas Trail for all the family.

Erasmus Darwin House (10am - 4pm) will be offering free

entry and Georgian festivities including stalls, a tea room,

cakes and gifts. And in the evening (4pm - 6pm), the

Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum will be open for 'A

Georgian Family Christmas' with festive music, storytelling

and activities for all the family.

On Sunday The Lichfield Chamber of Trade & Commerce’s

Christmas Fayre and Lichfield Christmas Farmers' Market

(10am - 4pm) will take on the Market Square. Visitors will

be able to enjoy live music and dancing, free face painting

and a festive market trail. The Lichfield Mysteries will also

perform the traditional Nativity and a 'King and Angels'

fancy dress competition will take place at 2.45pm.

Don’t miss out: Are you opening on

Sunday 16 December? Lichfield is always busy when the Christmas market

comes to town. If you don’t traditionally open on a

Sunday, why not consider opening to snap up some last

minute pre-Christmas trade? If you do open, we can help

to encourage people to your shop by signposting from the

information tent on the Market Square.

To find out more about the festival weekend, email

emily.robinson@lichfielddc.gov.uk or call 01543 308215.

Three Spires

Lantern Parade Update from Three Spires

Before the city’s Christmas lights switch-on on Thursday

22 November, local schoolchildren from St Michael’s,

St Joseph’s and St Chad’s will parade handmade lanterns

through Three Spires Shopping Centre. The parade will

start at 5.30pm, and will be a magical experience for all

involved. The event has been funded by Three Spires

Shopping Centre, and the lanterns will be created by the

pupils, under the watchful eye of Celia Houghton, the

district council’s Arts Development Officer and local artist

Henrietta Ellis.

For more details contact Gwen Youlden on behalf of

Three Spires Shopping Centre gwen.youlden@eu.jll.com

8

November events

Thursday 22 Christmas lights switch-on

Thursday 22 Three Spires Lantern Parade at 5.30pm

Thursday 22 Lichfield & Tamworth Chamber Business

Luncheon ‘Seven steps to targeting, winning

and keeping profitable clients.’

To book your place call 08450 710 191 or email

events@lichfield-tamworth-chamber.com

Thursday 22 -

Sunday 25

Christmas Tree Festival at Lichfield Cathedral.

For more information please call the cathedral

reception on 01543 306100.

Wednesday

27

Traders’ ‘Drop-In Event’

Lichfield Garrick Theatre Bar (1st floor)

Friday 29 Think Local4Business at St George’s Park

www.thinklocal4business.co.uk/show

December events

Tuesday 4

All welcome

Songs for a City, Lichfield Cathedral. Celebrates

business, industry and voluntary sectors.

Thursday 6 Alice in Wonderland at the Garrick opens.

Wednesday

12

Lichfield Town Team Meeting

Email nicky.haycock@lichfielddc.gov.uk

Saturday 15

& Sunday 16

Lichfield Christmas Festival Weekend, including

Chamber of Trade & Commerce Xmas Market

Thursday 20 Christmas Farmers’ Market, Market Square

Saturday 22 Shoppers’ Carol Services (12noon & 4pm) at

Lichfield Cathedral.

Sunday 23 General and Farmers’ Market, Market Square

Monday 24 General Market, Market Square

The editorial team Partners and organisations across the

city provide articles for City Speak. These are brought together

and published by the communications team at Lichfield District

Council. If you would like to add anything into future

issues of City Speak, or give us your comments, email

elizabeth.thatcher@lichfielddc.gov.uk

Distribution City Speak is distributed free to businesses

across Lichfield City. If you are not on the mailing list and would

like to be added, email elizabeth.thatcher@lichfielddc.gov.uk

When is it distributed We issue six editions a year. In

between these times we update www.cityspeak.info

Let’s work together towards a

joint recovery An opinion piece by Paul Oakley from the Lichfield Gazette

Through Lichfield Gazette's links with local businesses, we think

recently there has been much more of an optimistic feeling

about trade in the city centre, than at anytime in the past four

years. I don't know if it is the Debenhams factor, but there is a

much more positive mood in the air. Look at Tamworth Street

with almost every shop filled, except Julian Graves and the old

Victoria Wines premises, which is now under offer. It seems

there is the feeling 'we are all in this together' and when the

Friarsgate development gets under way, in our opinion, there

will be no stopping us!

We know from statistics that Lichfield has a well above average

proportion of self employed businesses. It seems Lichfield is

'the' place to have a business, a great place to do business and is

a terrific place to live. If we could get landlords on board with

reduced rents and encourage a wider range of interesting

retailers into the city, added to the great shops we already have,

we could become a real destination for shoppers throughout the

region. More importantly we need to keep locals spending here

in their own town, rather than in neighbouring towns.

When you look regionally, we’re not alone in facing challenges.

I recently saw an Oswestry local newspaper article bemoaning a

massive 46 shops vacant, which is far more than in Lichfield. I

also visited Ashbourne where they have half-day closing and

£1.10 an hour parking, which is more expensive than in Lichfield,

and are they holding on to their independent traders? We all

know it is extremely difficult for businesses to open in vacant

units, given the costs of rental, rates and more, not just in

Lichfield, but everywhere and we need to make sure we are not

only helping independent traders to cross this barrier, but to

stay open. There may never be a time when 100% of our shops

filled, but at last we are seeing some kind of recovery - let's all

work together now to boost our city and let’s not stifle it.

This is the first opinion piece we have included in City Speak. Let

us know what you think about it, and whether you would like us

to feature more opinion pieces. If you would like to submit an

opinion piece for a further edition or give your views, email

elizabeth.thatcher@lichfielddc.gov.uk

City Speak is brought to you in partnership by Lichfield District Council, Lichfield Chamber of Trade & Commerce, the

TownSafe Partnership, Lichfield City Council and other city partners.

Win FREE parking this December! Everyday in December a lucky Dash car parking customer is

set to receive a refund on their parking which they have

bought through the Dash cashless parking system.

Dash is a new payment system that allows you to pay for your

parking with a debit or credit card, using a mobile phone, text

or smartphone. Using Dash, you only pay for the parking you

want, and can top up your parking if you are late getting back

to the car park, or want to stay in the city for longer - so fines

and dashing back to your car is a thing of the past!

Last month over 600 people used Dash to park in our city car

parks, and this figure is on the up. We’re keen to encourage

even more people to use the system, as we know it’s easy to

use and once people get to grips with it, they love its

convenience, and use it again and again. To encourage even

more people to use the system, we’ll be putting posters up in

all the car parks promoting the win free parking offer, and also

offering posters to local shops to put up in their windows.

To find out more about Dash visit www.dashpark.co.uk or

email nicky.haycock@lichfielddc.gov.uk or call 01543 687550