Presentation by Eddie Curry, Head of Parks and Open Spaces
Minutes:
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 delivered by internationally renowned artist Jo Fairfax;
· it will enhance the street scene, and create a welcoming night time environment, and leave visitors with a memorable experience;
· it links to the Station Street improvements and the UNESCO City of Literature;
· there are 3 locations – under the tram bridge, along the bridge, and the archway along the canal;
· under the tram bridge there will be 5/6 word poems from local, national and international poets which will match ‘a Poem a Day’ on the City of Literature website;
· along the tram bridge the tram trigger sensors to activate the lights;
· under the tram bridge under the archway over the canal there will be a lace motif to link to Nottingham’s traditional industry;
· the formal turn on of the lights will take place on 2 November. They will come on before dusk and go off before midnight, but are energy efficient. A variety of funding has been put together to sustain it and NET are paying for the electricity.
The following comments were made during the discussion:
(g) the projects are impressive and well thought out;
(h) the BID has the means to distribute visitor guides to key locations across the City;
(i) the microfilms should be shown on Notts TV, and Notts TV should be available in all Nottingham hotels;
(j) the Trail is a good starting point to share stories of Nottingham’s past, and can be built on.