Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED to appoint Jeff Allen as the Vice-Chair for the 2016/17 municipal year.

Councillor Brian Grocock – other Council business

Councillor Nicola Heaton – other Council business

Janine Bone (Adam Tamsett substituting)

Tom Whaldron-Lynch

None.

Last meeting held on 22 February 2016 (for confirmation)

The Forum confirmed the minutes of the meeting held on 22 February 2016 as a correct record and they were signed by the Chair.

Presentation by Maureen McAllister, Experience Nottinghamshire

Maureen McAllister, Interim Visitor Economy Lead, Marketing Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, gave a presentation on the creation of the new Place Marketing Organisation (PMO) and highlighted the following points:

(a)  the priorities for the PMO are:

·  inward investment;

·  visitor economy;

·  business visits and events;

·  business engagement;

(b)  the mission is to:

·  put Nottingham and Nottinghamshire firmly on the map as a top UK destination for inward investment and tourism;

·  be the principal voice of the visitor economy sector in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire;

·  be the primary vehicle for engaging local businesses in the place-marketing effort;

·  lead a unified approach to place-marketing within Nottingham and Nottinghamshire;

·  be one of the lead place-marketing organisations in the UK, recognised for an outstanding track-record of successful delivery;

(c)  the objectives are:

·  economic growth:

o  help to bring in new inward investment;

o  increase visitor spending;

o  attract more major events and conferences;

o  attract and retain talent;

o  compelling campaigns and lead-generation activities;

·  compelling offer:

o  establish a fresh narrative for Nottingham and Nottinghamshire and what it stands for, championed by local stakeholders, including the business community, and underpinned by a coherent set of tailored marketing messages;

o  identify, and keep under review, priorities for investing in the development of the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire offer;

·  place-marketing Centre of Excellence:

o  build the capacity of the PMO to be an integrated, trusted, highly professional local centre of excellence in place-marketing and business engagement, capable of supporting the needs to local partner organisations;

(d)  the title ‘Marketing Nottingham and Nottinghamshire’ is a working title;

(e)  the current teams for Experience Nottinghamshire and the Event Team, Invest in Nottingham, and Nottingham Means Business are now being located together in one office;

(f)  key projects include:

·  the arrival of the new CEO;

·  Nottingham in Parliament Day;

·  London Campaign;

·  Corporate Games;

·  new narrative and place-marketing plans;

·  new business engagement model;

(g)  a Place Brand and Narrative for Nottingham and Nottinghamshire are being developed to articulate a unique identity and ‘sense of place’. To enable this Place Marketing specialists ‘Thinking Place’ have been appointed who previously worked on the North Notts Place Marketing Strategy. They will deliver a set of messages with a toolkit all partners can buy in to;

(h)  there are 4 stages for the Place Brand and Narrative, and the anticipated deadline is 24 October:

·  stage 1 – discovering and understanding Nottingham and Nottinghamshire (already complete):

o  desk and strategy research, including a review of existing brands;

o  brand geography and immersion;

o  1-2-1 stakeholder conversations;

o  focus groups;

o  workshops;

o  online engagement;

o  consumer research;

·  stage 2 – developing the new Place Brand (the current stage):

o  analysis of evidence;

o  developing the narrative themes and ‘big idea’;

o  presentation of recommendations;

o  writing the new Narrative;

·  stage 3 – developing the visual identity and visual language:

o  visual identity and language system;

o  toolkit and brand guidelines for visual language;

·  stage 4 – developing recommendation for an implementation plan:

o  recommendations of mechanisms, products and channels.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Presentation by Eddie Curry, Head of Parks and Open Spaces

Eddie Curry, Head of Parks and Open Spaces, Catherine Mayhew, City Centre Co-ordinator, and Sarah Thursfield, Marketing Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, gave a presentation on the Good to Great active an vibrant City Centre projects and highlighted the following points:

(a)  the projects:

·  support Nottingham’s retail and leisure offer;

·  improve the visual appearance of the City Centre;

·  activate public spaces;

·  provide positive public realm improvements;

(b)  there has been a working group comprised of members from Nottingham City Council, Nottingham BID, Experience Nottinghamshire, and the Creative Quarter Company;

(c)  the latest projects include:

·  independent shopping microfilms;

·  the Nottingham Trail;

·  the Line of Light;

·  Carrington Street Heritage Townscape improvements;

·  horticultural features;

(d)  independent microfilms:

·  the aim is to raise the profile of independent retail clusters in Nottingham City Centre and highlight their unique offer in order to direct, and increase, customer footfall to those areas;

·  they are delivered by local consortium Swearboxed – Adrian Reynolds (writer), Iain Gray (filmmaker), and Alex Traska (designer);

·  they are to be shared on social media – Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and are linked to the BID’s independents campaign;

·  the first film was released on 1 August and a different one will be released each week to cover each of the following areas:

o  Hurts Yard;

o  Bridlesmith Walk;

o  Flying Horse Walk;

o  Hockley, Lace Market and Cobden Chambers;

o  Derby Road;

o  Kings Walk and Trinity Walk;

o  Broadmarsh Upper Mall;

o  St James’ Street;

o  West End Arcade;

·  there are more opportunities for promotion through:

o  the Nottingham International Microfilm Festival;

o  Small Business Saturday on 3 December;

o  Nottingham in Parliament Day;

o  the China trade mission in November;

o  the Ningbo University youku channel;

·  the impact will be measured through the number of hits on social media;

(e)  the Nottingham Trail:

·  the aim is to develop a new City Centre, self-guided walking trail for visitors to Nottingham;

·  it will be delivered by Experience Nottinghamshire, Nottingham City Council and local Creative Quarter based company Spinning Clock;

·  it is a 1-2 hour walking trail targeting adults;

·  it will help new visitors discover the leading tourist attractions in the City Centre;

·  it will entertain local residents who want to learn more about the city they live in through interesting stories and facts;

·  it will be delivered through a mobile phone app or web browser using GuidiGo, who are market leaders in visitor experience technology;

·  a paper copy of the trail will be available for free from the Nottingham Tourism Centre;

·  it features the following key points of interest:

o  Old Market Square;

o  Theatre Royal

o  Playhouse;

o  Nottingham Castle and Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem;

o  City of Caves;

o  Nottingham Contemporary;

o  Galleries of Justice;

o  St Mary’s Church/Hockley;

o  National Videogame Arcade;

(f)  the Line of Light:

·  it is a model project to act as a demonstrator of the transformative power of light to change the mood, atmosphere and experience of part of the City Centre;

·  it will be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Presentation by Keith Morgan, Principal Transport Planner

Keith Morgan, Principal Transport Planner – Cycling and Roadspace Transformation, gave a presentation on the ‘Nottingham Cycle City’ City Centre vision and highlighted the following points:

(a)  the City Council has produced a vision for the City’s cycling future including a design guide. The City aims to have a world class cycle network, that can be used by cyclists of all abilities;

(b)  the cycle improvements will be made through an investment of £6.1m from D2N2, based on £3m a year for 2 years;

(c)  work will be done to improve the City Centre for cyclists so that they can mix with pedestrians and traffic safely. Part of the improvements include bike parking at key locations, introducing link corridors to major schemes, and making some 1 way streets 2 way for cyclists;

(d)  the Eastern Cycle Corridor has been designed alongside the bus scheme, and links to big development opportunities;

(e)  the Western Cycle Corridor is almost complete and should link to other cycle corridors.

The following comments were made during the discussion:

(f)  some junctions along the Western Cycle Corridor are fully signalised and have cycle height signals. These are a new type of junction for the City and are working well. The side road junctions are also a new concept, and will take some time to get used to;

(g)  the construction process for the Western Cycle Corridor will be evaluated and learnt from;

(h)  the changes in the City Centre will be a culture change, but lessons are being learnt from London and other European countries where cycling is more predominant;

(i)  Community Protection Officers can enforce fines and direct people to training if they are cycling in an inappropriate manner in pedestrianised areas and/or on pavements;

(j)  discussions are ongoing with car parks about having cycle parking available;

(k)  2 way cycling has been introduced on the 1 way vehicle route on Friar Lane near the Castle and is working;

(l)  upgraded crossings for cyclists and pedestrians are being investigated;

(m)  it’s important to make sure that the City Centre doesn’t become unattractive to car users as it makes out of town shopping centres more attractive;

(n)  notices need to be displayed detailing what is expected of cyclists in the City Centre.

To consider meeting at 3.30 pm on the following Mondays:

28 November 2016

27 February 2017

RESOLVED to meet at 3.30pm on the following Mondays:

28 November 2016

27 February 2017