To receive an update from Paul Roach, Windsor and Eton Town Centre Manager.

Paul Roach, Windsor and Eton Town Centre Manager, presented his Town Manager update. Beginning with the monthly footfall count in Peascod Street in February 2024, he informed that there had been a significant drop in footfall in the last few years by 8.7% year on year. Meanwhile, there was a decline in 5.5% in terms of the year to date. Paul Roach stated that this trend was reflective across Windsor. While Windsor Town Centre fared better across south-east England, it fared worse compared to across the UK, describing it as unusual. He speculated that the reasons include February 2024 being the wettest month on record as well as a limit on disposable income amongst visitors in midst of the cost-of-living crisis. Another likely reason was the refurbishment works at the Coach Park, which affected the movement and therefor causing footfall counts to be measured differently, as well as refurbishment works of the car park at Windsor Yards.

Overall, while Windsor had experienced a good footfall over the last 12 months, January and February 2024 had experienced a drop. Paul Roach informed that the Windsor Town Team would stop comparing new footfall statistics with those from 2019 (pre-Covid pandemic), instead statistics would be compared in the last three-to-four years.

Car parking followed a similar trend to footfall: a drop in car parking usage in the Town Centre had dropped in January 2024 by 9%. Meanwhile, coach parking had seen a steady increase, which Paul Roach added that an increase was expected in 2024-25 due to countries reopening after the Covid pandemic and thus tourists would start to pour in.

In terms of vacancy rates, Paul Roach reported that the rates in Windsor and Eton had remained stable at 9.4% since Christmas 2023 with Windsor not losing many businesses. The only vacated unit in the last month was Leo Mancini; meanwhile in the same period, Mango had been opened. The units which were in development and were about to open were Trailfinders in the old 24 High Street unit (formerly Cath Kidston), Build-a-Bear in the old jewel unit, a likely restaurant in the former Halifax bank unit, a Karen Millen unit, and several units in Windsor Royal Station.

Paul Roach mentioned that he regularly talked to agents representing the various units around Windsor. He stated that there was a potential offer on the Harte and Garter Hotel after a long period of it being empty.

Moving forward, the Council had changed the way it collected data on visitor numbers in the Town Centre by using Visitor Insights, which tracked visitors by picking up GPS devices like phones, tablets, and smartwatches. This allowed the Windsor Town Management Team to collect more sophisticated and granular visitor data for the whole of the Town Centre rather than only on Peascod Street. The system also provided information on where visitors had come from, visits to specific buildings, dwell time, and a break down by day and time.

Paul Roach informed that the Council had funding for Visitor Insights for 2024 and 2025. Afterward, further finding would need to be found. He added that the Finance Team had a secured funding for a three-year contract. Behind the scenes, Town Management Team had registered every business in the Town Centre to allow the collection of data for specific units. Paul Roach informed that Visitor Insights covered not only Windsor Town Centre but also Maidenhead, Eton and potentially Dedworth.

Paul Roach then listed the recent activities which had taken place, including:

·       The first Lunar New Year celebration on 10^th and 11^th February 2024, which experiencing an unexpected high turnout. While special funding was provided for new cultural projects in 2024, further funding needed to be searched for if this was to continue.

·       Annual Pancake Race, experiencing an increased turnout and raising money for the Alexander Divine Children’s Hospice Services.

To conclude, Paul Roach then listed the events and activities for 2024, highlighting that a key objective of the Vision for Windsor was to ensure that there was an active events program which attracted and incentivised people to visit. The key events for 2024 he highlighted included:

·       1^st April 2024: Easter events (including an Easter egg hunt).

·       21^st April 2024, Dedworth: St George’s Day Fair.

·       6^th June 2024: 80^th Anniversary D-Day Celebration (beacon lighting event).

·       25^th and 26^th May 2024: Windsor Royal Shopping.

·       7^th July 2024, Windsor Great Park: Parallel Games.

·       Christmas events:

o   14^th November 2024: Eton Christmas Lights Switch-on.

o   15^th November 2024: Windsor on Ice.

o   16^th November 2024: Windsor Christmas Lights Switch-on.

o   23^rd November 2024: Dedworth Christmas Lights Switch-on.

o   30^th November 2024: Vegan Christmas Market.

o   1^st December 2024: Living Advent Calendar.  

o   7^th and 8^th December 2024: Windsor Yards Festive Weekend.

o   13^th December 2024: Carols on the Hill.

o   24^th December 2024: Windsor Living Advent Calendar Finale.

The Chair asked if the rise in car parking prices had any impact on residents and tourists.

Hype on social media. Paul Roach replied that while he had this in mind, he had not interrogated the parking data yet and therefore did not present the data. He added that it was likely multiple factors, such as high rainfall in February 2024 rather than usual snowfall in February which encouraged residents to buy winter gear. He stated that he would look into this.

John Holland asked whether Paul Roach had any talks with large banks on providing a banking hub in Windsor. Paul Roach replied that he had been in communication with the team which decided where community banking hubs would be located. He completed a form to register interest in one being installed in Windsor in January 2024, but he received a response that Windsor did not meet the criteria for a banking hub to be installed after a review. In spite of Paul Roach challenging this decision by pointing out that Windsor and Eton had lost banks and cash points over the years, the decision had remained unchanged, with Paul Roach requesting for the rationale behind the decision. He added that the team could be review the criteria which could then lead to Windsor being reviewed for eligibility again.

John Holland then asked if there was an update on the lift at Windsor Yards car park being repaired. After some initial misunderstanding on which lift, clarified as the one within the Co-op multi-storey car park, Paul Roach was unaware of this lift being out-of-action. He stated that he would notify the surveyor team to investigate the issue.

Sarah Walker asked whether the footfall could now be split between residents and visitors with Visitor Insights. She then asked Bracknell, Staines and Marlow had similar tracking systems and therefore measure Windsor residents shopping in these areas, stating that she heard Windsor residents go to other towns due to the price of car parking.

Answering the first question, Paul Roach said the data could not be separated between visitors and residents, with a possible exception between the data showing where visitors came from, whether from the Windsor catchment or outside of Windsor. In regard to the second question, Paul Roach was not aware of how other towns collect footfall data. He said he could ask his counterparts in Bracknell for an answer. He also informed that parking in other towns was generally cheaper and sometimes free in other places, such as The Lexicon in Bracknell; but parking would always be a challenge. He added that one way was to build up Windsor and thus incentivise people to stay. He stated that he had been having talks with Q-Park who managed Windsor Yards on when this would be back up and running as well as what it would look like.

The Chair highlighted that there was the 1-hour resident parking discount which residents could register for, alongside frozen parking for up to three houses at Victoria Street car park.

Councillor Wilson asked whether the collected footfall data could be sold to the local businesses. He then asked about the footfall data in February 2024 which, when going into further detail, included a rough 27% increase. Paul Roach did not have the answer but speculated that the data was collected from a far wider catchment, and thus capturing more people, in contrast to previous data collection being focused on Peascod Street and its shops. While visitors go to Windsor, they may not visit shops and thus translate into sales.

(Paul Roach left the meeting at 9:09pm)