Helston's plan for next six months (From Falmouth Packet)

I would have thought Helston was already well known to the rest of Cornwall and further afield due to Flora Day.

In my opinion it would have been more ideal to advertize/brand Helston after major changes had been made, so as to actually offer something different in the advertizing than is currently available, such as pedestrianization, free car-parking, new signage, refurbishment of 'Horse and Jockey Lane' or whatever else etc.

what about

1. flags
2. posh restaurants
3. renovation of old property

and 4.a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors

sorry,that's Porthleven lol

In reply to Gill Zella Martin,

I'd never heard of Flora Day until I married a local. I'm from Hertfordshire, so why would I know of Flora Day in Helston? I'd never even heard of Helston. Surely Helston wants to be known for more than one day a year?

In reply to your opinion, there are over 140 members of local business owners working with the town manager and council on improving Helston who are proud of their businesses and the town already. Of course things need to improve, they always will and providing people like the HBIP are working on them, things will get better in time.

Many things are happening that you are not aware of, unless you are a member of the Helston Business Improvement Partnership. A couple of things that I'm sure you know of are the 100 hanging flower baskets around town and the recent midsummer markets. These were two projects from the HBIP.

Unfortunately changing perceptions takes a long time. Branding is just part of the current HBIP projects

As you mention the "Horse and Jockey Lane" spruce up is something the council are in the process of evaluating and seeing if there are other things they can improve around town.

Chin up.

TheOriginaDelboy,

You are right, there probably are things happening that I do not know about, however, perhaps that is part of the problem, keeping the public uninformed with regards to long term objectives. Without meaning to sound negative, this is the second article in one week alone on the Packet website that has done little more than once again tell us about markets and hanging baskets. Yes I like the hanging baskets and yes I attended the markets and purchased goods.

I just happen to be of the opinion that to advertize/promote/br
and to the wider public before being in a position to offer a substantial difference on arrival in Helston, such as extra free parking bays/pedestrianized area/ refurbished toilets etc, is a bit like advertizing a new indoor shopping centre before the roof is installed.

There is the theory that if one sees new advertizing for Helston and decides to visit, and subsequently finds little change on arrival other than hanging baskets etc, then one may not return, whereas if people were to arrive due to advertizing, and find some major improvement such as free parking/pedestrianiz
ed area, they may then be more inclined to return. The advertizing of free parking schemes in Camborne and Falmouth has proved successful.

Perhaps i am just impatient, and only time will tell. So I will continue to wait and to shop in Helston, but how many others will be off to Camborne and Falmouth I wonder.

TheOriginalDelboy, There should not be many things happening that we the public are not aware of, we are not children where you have to keep secrets until Christmas, it is we the public that spend the money in the town!! You can advertise from here to eternity but if you don't start listening to what the shoppers want, then the shoppers will toddle off elsewhere to shop.

I happen to know that another contributor to this site has a meeting this week with 'First' regional management this week, regarding the bus services in and out of Helston town centre, i think the paid town manager should have been doing that. No good wanting people to shop in Helston if they can't get there.

One other thing TheOriginalDelboy, you say how would you know about Flora day in Hertfordshire, and you had never heard of Helston, well considering Flora Day is nationally advertised, and Helston is already mentioned on websites, how is advertising Helston to the wider public now going to help then. Anyone who has been to Helston before will make up their own mind if it is worth returning to shop in and anyone that has never been is unlikely to come just to see a market or hanging baskets.

German Tourists.....''We need to get a Bus from Helston to Falmouth after 15.00hrs on Sunday afternoon''

Helpful Local Helstonian....''Sorr
y, you just missed the last one, it went at 14.22hrs''

this was a conversation which I overheard last weekend

the whole of the Bus timetabling needs looking at now (not in 6 months time) as well as friendliness,punctua
lity,cleanliness etc etc etc

Gill Zella Martin,

There is little the HBIP can do about what gets reported and when.

Unfortunately if a gap needs filling in a corner of a newspaper or website it may be regurgitated news that's just a problem with the media.

The HBIP has a "parking" working group that are looking into the issue of parking in Helston however, it is not as straight forward as giving free parking spaces to people. Since the creation of the HBIP this subject has been spoken about more often than most during traders meetings. Traders have offered free parking (by refunding customers) for over a year, but despite this very few people actually ask for the refund. Another problem is that if more spaces were available in town on the main streets, local employees and town residents would be using them instead of paying for car parking.I think the Helston traffic warden seems to disappear during the winter season as well so they would have to be paid to work throughout winter just to make sure these free spaces are available to those who want to pop into to town for 30 minutes. It really is a difficult problem. I believe there will soon be a "parking questionnaire" available in many shops in town for the public to make their opinion known.

Pedestrianisation is another issue, one the council are looking at.

I understand your comment that we are putting shops into a shopping centre without a roof, but the branding is only part of what is happening. There are a lot of people in Helston, traders and locals that are working on improving things. As I said the HBIP has over 140 business members, we hope to create a volunteer working group so that we can engage the public further in the future.

I will try to explain further by responding to DCI Jen.

There are no secrets as to what is happening at present we just do not have a public forum.

The HBIP was formed at the same time the town manager was employed. The HBIP started as a collection of about 8 local businesses. These "business owners" are not just people who pop into work to collect the takings at the end of the day, they do the day to day shifts as well, day after day. So time for some is limited as to an evening here and there. Some of the members of the HBIP board put in a stupid amount of hours for no gain at all apart from helping Helston progress.

As I've said the marketing/branding project is one of the working groups that the HBIP formed. The HBIP are mainly business owners (and 3 councillors and the town manager) who sell to the public. Not only do we own businesses we are customers ourselves. We are consulting the public often on our projects to ensure we're delivering our objectives. Once the HBIP website is live it will be even easier.

Like any company, we are evolving. Things are not secret, we do not publicise an idea that we are working on until we are ready to deliver the project.We are working with local associations as well.
Whilst we are currently communicating on this website, not everyone reads it. Many people will ask, why not makes announcements here or there instead and before you know it we are wasting hours and money telling people about things that may or may not happen. If you are interested in what the HBIP visit the website when it is launched. (Another project we have been working on).

We are a partnership who vote on what projects we do.

As is obvious from this thread, people find one thing more important than another. Telstar just posted to highlight the inefficient bus service. There are many problems that need attention but there are only so many hours in the day, so we have to start somewhere. I appreciate there may be a bad bus service but that is only bad for bus users and not the person who wants to park their car for a cheap price, their problem is cheap parking.

The town centre manager is paid by the money that Tesco and Sainsbury paid the council to "offset" the loss of business to the town centre businesses. Therefore who better to work with, than the businesses of the town centre for whom he was employed to help, hence the HBIP.

The problems with the bus service needs to be put forward firstly to the bus company themselves and if a satisfactory outcome is not reached, then to the council. I presume the council sell the tender to supply the bus service to Helston and presumably they chose what they believed was the best option. However I fear this may not be a problem for Helston council, I would guess it is a problem for Cornwall council instead. Further investigation would need to be done before submitting anything to any council just to be sure it is going to the correct place.

I recommend keeping copies of any correspondence that you send and receive. The more people that complain in writing the stronger the case for the council to look elsewhere for a different bus service, ideally though gather all the communication together so letters can be delivered to the council. The Helston town council have a public meeting every last Thursday of the month and you can speak to the council directly and look for assistance. Alternatively you can write to the council and request your letter to read out publicly.

I hope this has helped shed some light on the what is happening.

TheOriginaDelboy.

Thank you for the additional information. I believe the refund for parking scheme was not a complete success due to the fact that first time visitors to the area are unaware of the scheme at time of parking, and therefore by the time they hit the shops it is too late to have proof of parking with them. I have spoken to many visitors in the car-parks and much of the feedback was, that it is expensive for the size of the town, this actually, I happen to disagree with since the car-park charges were revised.

With reference to a reliable bus service with which to encourage people to shop in town from the surrounding villages, Mr Jonathan Radford-Gaby does in fact agree with my views that it is something with which the TCM should be totally concerned. An unreliable service has a knock on effect as to how many and how often people will bother to visit and spend money in Helston, and additionally attend special events. However, I will be meeting with 'First' management this week to discuss such issues.
I reiterate, thank you for your additionally information in reference to my last post, it is appreciated.

Sorry, should have read 'additional' in my last post.

Gill Zella Martin,

You may be pleased to know that Jonathan Radford-Gaby and his wife are members of the HBIP. Jonathan, is a member as a Councillor and Wendy as a business owner.

Whilst the bus service to town may be a concern, I do not think the TCM has any power as to whom supplies the service.

I believe, if the council are asked for a better bus service by enough members of the public, the TCM may be tasked with gathering information from bus users to find out exactly how bad it is. As I said before, I think the bus service is a Cornwall Council issue and not a Helston Council one, despite being on our doorstep.

Therefore if a new bus service were to take over from First due to petitioning, Helston Council may have to take on being responsible for the new business, something they may not be too willing to accept.

This is just guess work though. Good luck with your meeting.

TheOriginaDelboy.

Yes I am aware Cornwall Council allocated the contract to First after Western Greyhound, for the 37 and 36 routes, which are the routes under scrutiny. This was a financial decision, a good many passengers including myself have been in regular contact with the Passenger Transport Unit at Cornwall Council. I additionally contacted the relevant cabinet member (portfolio holder).
A petition was initially submitted when we were about to lose Western Greyhound services. However, the council in their infinite wisdom (or budget) gave the contract to 'First'. regardless. Some Cornwall Councillors do not appear too hot on democracy.

Like many other things we shall wait and see what the future may bring. I will be buying another car so it will not affect me, however, I would like to ensure there is a reliable bus service for others and I do not give up very easily.

Thank you for all your information it is greatly appreciated.

I would just additionally like to clarify, that I am not attributing the blame to the drivers of 'First' for unreliability of the service, I believe the company is responsaible for giving them unreliable buses to drive that are prone to breakdowns, and additionally double deck buses to drive on unsuitable routes. It cannot be much fun for the drivers to drive what appear to be clapped out old buses that look to me like they could have won their MOTs in a lucky dip, and some with engine noise levels ridiculously high, and others with fumes.

TheOriginalDelboy. Thanks also for the information.
Good ere innit.

Why do all these projects need a silly name. I personaly find it patronising and puts me off.
Honestly "sparkle clean project", Who came up with that.
Craft markets and hanging baskets are all very nice and I applaud the people on this commitee for the effort being put into this project. But they only start to confront the problems the town has, lets say a person wanting to buy a paintbrush on a saturday morning.
First they have to contend with the tailback in meneage street coursed by cars despratley seeking a parking space and having to reverse park This can sometimes take 10 minites and after this coinagehall street which is Helstons crown on floraday, daily used a a short cut to the turnpike area. Is it any wonder people give up and go to tesco.
I think it was Mary portis who said that the priorities with town centres was parking, parking ,parking.
Lets hope the new town council ellected in may can face up to the changes Helston needs and the town can finaly keep the income it generates inside the town.