Yippee, the summer is here!

Yes, yes, yes!!!! It was officially the start of the meteorological summer on Wednesday 1^st June and some say that we have much to look forward to over the next weeks and months.

The recent run of Mediterranean weather has set us all off on a “happy footing”, unless of course you are about to sit Junior and Leaving cert exams! It always amazes me that the weather, since records began, is at its glorious best just as we imprison our kids in stifling exam halls and subject them to two or three hours of trying to unpick the complex grey matter that resides between their ears. Good luck to all concerned!

The City and its wider environs have seen some positive stories recently. For example the berthing of the huge cruise ship, Celebrity Silhouette, just off Dunmore East and the thousands of day-trippers who visited the City Centre, giving a much needed boost to many a thirsty, dehydrated shop till. Of course the continued location filming of Redwater in this village, will undoubtedly add to the “Sunny South East” mantra and I am sure all involved in this production will be relishing the summer weather that currently betters most of continental Europe.

With many a festival also on the horizon for the City and wider afield there should be plenty to get our teeth sunk into and lots to do for residents and visitors alike.

“City In Bloom” will shortly burst into life and draping the Waterford in a magical multi-coloured coat of wondrous joy that will stay with us right up to September. Spraoi will be back before we know it and then there is Day Tripper, admittedly in a new venue, not the traditional City Centre location, but still promoting a line-up, that has once again something for everyone, whether you are young or an auld one! The much vaunted Summerval has much to live up to if it is to validate all the promised hype and we hope that the festival can deliver on its €138,000 funded budget. Actually adding significantly to the City Centre footfall? We will keep a close eye on this one.

If festivals are not your thing, then you only have to travel a few miles out of the City Centre to find the type of scenery that would whet the appetite of Allsopp and Spencer. “Now here’s a view!”, we could all confidently boast to this pair of presenters.

Our region has the best of both sea and mountain views. Depending on which way you drive our coast road, you get two completely differing panoramas and two vistas that would grace the cover of any Lonely Planet guide or a Michael Palin travel book. We really are spoiled for choice.

Sea swimming is of course a must and we have kilometre upon kilometre of hushed, unspoiled beaches just waiting to be discovered.

These, mostly free attractions, should and could be the envy of many another county. But sadly, once again, we seem to be possibly sinking to the bottom of the league when attracting these much vaunted International Visitors who seem to be spending many a Euro outside of the South East.

This has always puzzled me and bewildered many more besides. When so many citizens of Waterford, are aware of just what we have to offer, why oh why is this message not being spread, by those promoters of Irish tourism? 

Are we now finding ourselves, a regional tourist area, that has literally fallen between the two stools that are the Wild Atlantic Way and Ireland’s Ancient East? Are we the furthest away point from both of these behemoths and therefore seen as “just off the beaten track!”

Are we happy to be once again feeding off the odd crumb indignantly tossed to us by the powers that be?

If we are to compete with the other more established tourism brands then we must differentiate our product.

“People Make Waterford” so let’s make that happen!

The worst "since records began!"

In meteorological terms the 1^st of June always marks that start of summer.

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.

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.

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.

 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.