News

At our Executive Committee meeting last night Anthony Brown of Charlton Baker Accountants was nominated and elected as our new Vice-President. Anthony lives and works in Devizes and is already a member of the Chamber committee. We congratulate Anthony on his new appointment and wish him well in this new position.

The Cabinet at Wiltshire Council today decided to consult with Chambers of Commerce, Town councils and other bodies representing independent retailers on whether or not they want a car parking redemption scheme in their area. This will be done rapidly, in the next few weeks and a decision made under delegated powers by Mark Boden, corporate director, Cllr Dick Tonge, Cabinet member for transport, and council leader Jane Scott. If towns don't want a scheme it will not be imposed on them.

This potential change has come about as a result of the recent parking increases which have resulted in a significant reduction in car park utilisation and associated reduced Council revenues. The Council are seeking ways to increase utilisation of the car parks to boost revenue. In the meantime businesses continue to suffer as a result of the increased parking charges with many shops experiencing revenue reductions of 20% or more. The Chamber is continuing it's campaign for the Council to reverse the parking increases rather than looking at unnecessarily bureaucratic solutions that will have little benefit to traders.

Feedback from local retailers, cafes and restaurants close to the Marketplace indicates that customer footfall has significantly reduced after the reduction in Marketplace free parking from 1 hour to 1/2 hour. For some businesses this reduction in passing trade has already had a negative effect on revenues. 

The Chamber has informed the Council of these developments and is waiting for a response to requests to reverse the change to stop further damage to independent businesses in the town.

We have received correspondence from Wiltshire Council regarding
the consultation of the Wiltshire Core Strategy 2011-26. This is an
important document as it outlines the Council’s plans for the development of
housing and employment land, and other services, over this period. They are
anxious to consult with the business community and would like to hear
from you on your opinion of the content.

The consultation period runs until Monday 8th August 2011. The core strategy
is a lengthy document (176 pages), which can be accessed at
http://consult.wiltshire.gov.uk/portal

After consultation with a number of groups and organisations, including the Chamber of Commerce, the Council has published the Devizes Wharf planning brief document for consultation.
 
The Council write:
"The purpose of the draft Devizes Wharf planning brief is to promote leisure and tourism based regeneration at Devizes Wharf to support the vitality and viability of Devizes town centre.
The consultation seeks to gather the views of the Devizes community and other stakeholders on the scope and content of the draft planning brief. The consultation starts on Monday 13 June and ends at 5.00pm on Monday 8 August 2011. To find out more about the draft planning brief an exhibition has been planned at the Ceres Hall, Corn Exchange at Devizes on 11th July between 2pm and 8pm.
 Copies of the consultation document can viewed at the Council’s office at Browfort, Devizes and Devizes library."
 
If you would like to be sent an electronic copy of the document please email Richard Jaggs.

Our recent AGM on 14th April saw changes to the make up of the Committee. Paul Langham, Jonathan Shortt and Steve Hogg decided to step down after years of important service and with our sincere thanks and best wishes. Two members put themslves forward are were elected to the Committtee; Anthony Brown from Chalton Baker Accountants in Devizes and Mike Cox from Discovery Records. Our thanks to them, we welcome them on board.

Wiltshire Council has carried all increases in par parking charges across the County, despite fierce opposition. In Devizes the Chamber lobbied hard to keep increases to a minimum and to maintain the free hour parking in the Marketplace. The Council gave some concessions by reducing the free parking to 1/2 hour (not eliminated it) and reducing the price of parking permits. We also gained agreement that funding will be made available for local campaigns and the increases can be reviewed in the event of adverse impact on individual town economies.

Wiltshire "Open for Business" is a free admission event for members of the Devizes Chamber of Commerce.

The event will take place on May 10th and 11th 2011 in The Corn Exchange, Devizes and is an ideal opportunity for businesses to exhibit, market and promote their products and services to a wide audience across Wiltshire.

The two day event will cover 21st Century Office Workshop, Employment Law, Electronic Marketing and Web Design.  To book your place or an exhibition stand please contact Tessa Welbourn at Wessex Association of Chambers of Commerce on 01225 355553 or email tessa@wessexchambers.org.uk

TransWilts has taken a significant step forward with a proposal for a regular service ( 9 trains in each direction), operated by First Great Western, serving the 7 stations between Salisbury and Swindon (Wootton Bassett, Chippenham, Melksham, Trowbridge, Westbury, Dilton Marsh, Warminster).

The window of opportunity to influence the decision to add more trains and improve the service frequency is very short. To be sure of being included in our submission statistics, complete the TranWilts survey BY FRIDAY 18TH FEBRUARY.

For more information on the TransWilts rail link please see the website.

The community parking petition, initiated & supported by the Devizes Chamber, to maintain the free hour in the Marketplace has recieved over 4000 signatures.

The petition has been presented to the Council who will consider their actions at the next meeting of the Area Board, where local Councillors will decide what action to take. The Chamber, along with numerous other groups believe that reducing the parking to 1/2 hour is a nonsense, delivering no benefit to the Council, inconveniencing residents and damaging local business.

If you started your business after 25th September 2009 or are planning to start trading before 31st August 2011 you are eligible to enter this competition. All entrants receive a package of benefits and the Devizes winners receive £1000 in prize money and are entered into the County finals, where they can win a further £2000 plus other benefits.

Entry packs available from Resolution Design Ltd, 58 Northgate Street, 01380 728898. Entries close on 25th March 2011. Please see the Wessex Association website for full details.

Devizes is one of 41 market towns announced today to receive access to BT's next-generation fibre-to-the-cabinet broadband service which will deliver broadband speeds of up to 40Mbps from Spring 2012. This will enable a further 300,000 homes and businesses to get online using this new faster technology from BT.

The Devizes Chamber highlighted the problems of slow broadband, particularly in rural areas, in a recent Wiltshire economic development meeting. Fast broadband is essential to most businesses. Without it we run the real risk of loosing existing businesses to faster speed areas and are also be unable to attract new businesses to Devizes. This news is therefore very welcome.

For Devizes the key point of concern is the future of the A360 as an A road, the Chamber strongly support retention of it as an A road as Devizes forms the link between Wiltshire's two main tourist attractions Avebury and Stonehenge. A downgrade to a B road would result in reduced maintenance and less gritting in the winter with the likely associated impacts on business the Chamber feels this is not good news for business.

Update from a recent meeting with Brian Johnson (Urban Design and Regeration, Wiltshire Council), regarding the development plans for the Wharf

We agree with the main points already included in the Council's planning guidance:
- retain public access
- protect and enhance the public space
- protect key buildings
- improve links to the town
- encourage sympathetic development, with quality design, maintaining the character of the town

In terms of vision, the Chamber would like to see the area become a vibrant leisure/ tourist area, linked to the town centre and associated with the canal. We would like to the space used regularly for public events and for the area to be attractive for locals and tourists.

Short term priorities:
- make more of the existing buildings, with priority being for the provision of a good quality cafe, public toilets (possibly with
showers) and potentially a small number of starter retail units, which we believe there is demand for locally.
- make more of the public space to make it more attractive, whilst keeping it suitable for local events such as the Beer festival and Devizes to Westminster Canoe race.
- maintain the slipway into the canal
- ensure there is suitable provision for canal boats to come and go (bringing tourists)
- develop the canal pathway to act as further link into the Wharf
- make space for coach parking (if no other areas are available).
- make provision for cycle parking
- ensure there is appropriate signage from the town centre

Looking forward:
We believe there is good potential to develop the area to add more retail/ commercial units, as well as potentially limited residential.
We would not be unhappy to see a slight reduction in the parking provision in order to allow development. The types of business we foresee being interested in the Wharf are:
- cafe & restaurant/ bar
- cycle hire
- canoe/ boat hire
- crafts and art shops
- small convenience store
- other suitable retailers/businesse

If you're not familiar with LinkedIn it's a professional business networking site that enables you to keep up with your professional contacts and share information. Within LinkedIn there are Groups you can join to gain insight, keep up with news and communicate with other local business people.

The Devizes Chamber has just launched a LinkedIn Group to enable local business people to keep up with news and network together.

To join this group you will need to join LinkedIn and go the Groups section and find the Devizes Chamber Group. We look forward to you joining soon!