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| Irish weather forecasting! |
This date is the reference point that is used by
meteorologists to allow year on year comparison with weather related statistics
and probably allows comparisons “since records began”. Not that many of us
actually understand what this phrase really means. We apparently had absolutely
no records of any weather patterns until one day some bright spark started
writing down what the weather was like on any given day they woke up, and so
“since records began” started. That first date must have been an amazing date
when it was simply the hottest, wettest, driest, windiest and coldest day on
record!
Not that the weather this week has felt anything like summer
and as we all hope that, that one day of wonderful weather we had back in May
was not summer, we all keep our fingers crossed that this summer will be the
best “since records began”.
The compiling of statistical information is hugely important
for businesses when they need to refer back to weekly, monthly and yearly key
performance indicators. This inevitably leads to direct comparison and more
importantly details a statistical evaluation of how the business is performing.
This can then allow for real time adjustments to strategy to get a business
back on track in terms of the annual budgetary goals that would have been set
at the start of the financial year.
Using the correct statistical information is also a fundamental
if we are to assess accurately how we are performing.
I heard only last week a lot of commentary that Waterford is
now “moving in the right direction” in terms of its economic recovery. Well
this is and is not true.
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| Footfall! |
Yes, we are seeing some great economic news on the jobs
front, particularly in the pharmaceutical and service sectors. And these
positive news stories will no doubt bring greater attention to the City and
hopefully more investment.
But our retail sector continues to struggle with falling
footfall (stagnant at best), very low disposable income per household, high
commercial rates, high cost of planning regulation and years of neglect. As we
are selling Waterford Inc to potential investors the very heart of Waterford, its
City Centre, MUST develop at an accelerated pace in order to keep up with other
industry led expansion.
The lowering of the cost of operating a business in the City
Centre will bring in a better retail mix and will, I am sure, give additional
impetus to the Michael Street and Apple Market projects. Both of these projects
incidentally have been championed by the Waterford Business Group for the last
two years and it is refreshing to see this level of commercialism from within
the Council. However, the caveat to this is to have the Council drive the
project at a commercial pace and deliver for the City in a shortened time
frame. There are far too many examples of Local Government and National
Government moving at a snail’s pace when a cheetah’s pace is needed. Waterford
is a prime example where not only is the clock ticking but we will very shortly
need a Doctor Who like time machine to catch up.
By the end of the first month of the summer we will be
halfway through the financial year for many companies in Waterford. There will
be much soul searching and pressing of calculator buttons, as businesses right
across the City Centre realise that the financial predictions made at the start
of the year are falling way short of what is needed to actually keep trading
and stay in business.
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| Apple Market artists impression. |
This is the actual position many of the businesses in our
City Centre find themselves in today. They are not worried about lasting to the
end of the year or lasting to the end of the summer, they are worried about
surviving to the end of the week!
Reality bites when as a business owner you have no salary to
take home and you are sacrificing your own wellbeing in order to keep your
staff employed. Yet there is an assumption that the business owners of
Waterford City are somehow making absolute fortunes at the moment as we hear
more and more misplaced commentary about the economic recovery across Waterford
City.
Yes, there are astonishingly rapid recoveries happening in
Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick but these four Cities are not in the third
tier of economic recovery. Waterford and the South East are and this is a fact.
You only have to look at the Pobal HP Deprivation Index, as used recently by Mr
Browne and his boys, to understand just the scale of the economic recovery
needed across the South East. Just to catch up with the likes of Galway and
Limerick there is a massive amount of work needed and it is not as though the
Pobal information is old. The Pobal HP Deprivation Index was generated in
2011/2012 some four summers ago!
So how are the City Centre’s businesses going to survive this
week, this month and this summer?
The very minimum that is needed is a further 20% reduction
in the commercial rates for City Centre businesses in 2016. A 20% reduction was
enabled two years ago when Minister Hogan was lobbied by the Waterford Business
Group.
There are now more commercial rates going into the City’s
coffers with the many new industrial premises being built and the various
expansions taking place. This increase in industrial rates must be offset
against a reduction in City Centre commercial rates and every Councillor in the
City and County must start working on driving the cost of operating a business
in our City Centre DOWN.
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| Omnishambles or Dr Who? |
Our City Centre can only be at the heart of our City and
County if we have a progressive commercial rates structure, which in turn will
attract a wider variety of retailers, which in turn will increase footfall,
which in turn will increase employment, which in turn will increase commercial
rates revenue for the Council and so on. It is very simple and is a WIN, WIN
for all.
If we do not want this summer to be the worst “since records
began” for our City Centre businesses we must act now or it will simply be too
late and even Doctor Who will not be able to help.
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