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Creating a bustling and vibrant town centre

Local government: Planning and delivery

Creating a bustling and vibrant town centre
 This is a great example of using the latest technology to become more efficient and improve services. We are able to provide support and advice to any new or existing business as well as encouraging newcomers to employ local people. Chorley town centre has a lot of potential and it’s important that we do all we can to attract new shops to the town centre.
Councillor Peter Malpas, Chorley Council

At a glance

Chorley CouncilChorley Council relies on mapping to attract new businesses to the town centre and deliver significant annual savings and cost avoidance.

Printable version: download PDFVisit the Chorley Council website

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Like many towns and cities across the country, Chorley town centre required local authority support to reduce the number of vacant premises, attract new retailers, increase the number of shoppers and visitors and fully develop the area’s potential and image.

Chorley Council has used geographic information from Ordnance Survey together with their own data (such as their non-domestic rates database), and information from the Valuation Office to monitor town centre vacancies and target potential retailers. They have developed an award-winning web-based solution that shows the location of empty premises together with real-time information about the type and state of vacant properties, floor space and the rateable value, making it quicker and easier to provide prospective businesses with all the pertinent information. The outcome has been a significant increase in the efficiency of enquiry handling and a proactive approach to potential retailers that has helped to reduce the amount of time that properties are vacant (which in turn has helped to reinvigorate the town centre).

Coloured points show address and occupied/vacant state/Identify tool shows other data. Layer shown is checked box in Map Contents.Coloured points on map show rateable area (as per label), whilst Identify tool shows Rateable value along with other data. Layer shown is checked box in Map Contents.

  • Annual savings of £1 000 from more efficient handling of ‘vacancy enquiries’.
  • Cost avoidance of £5 500 (by not contracting a company to provide the service for them).
  • Premises are less likely to be vacant, generating more revenue and interest in the town centre.
  • Chorley now boasts fewer empty shops than many similar-sized towns across the country.

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