Bicester Blog

Bicester Business Breakfast Cub - January 2012

2012-01-22T15:59:00.000Z

Wednesday January 25th

Cost still only £10.00

Venue: The Littlebury Hotel, Kings End, Bicester.

Speaker:- Gail Hanrahan-Barnes
Oxford Family Support Network

Speaker:- John Liggins

Update on Bicester Town Centre Development

Meeting Timetable
07.10 Open Networking
07.25 Take seats
07.30 Speaker
08.00 Breakfast
08.30 Announcements – First Timers & Events
08.45 Close meeting

To book: E-Mail gail@bicesterwills.co.uk Or Telephone 01869 244329

The Bicester Business Breakfast Club is a joint venture involving Bicester and District Chamber of Commerce and The Wednesday Business Club.

If you are a business, you can turn your fuel bills into income - NOW

2011-12-14T20:58:00.000Z

The long awaited Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) is now open for applications, opening the door for businesses and communities to become eligible for payments for the energy they produce.

This presents a unique opportunity in bleak economic times for businesses to make money on fuel bills.

This announcement was put in the shade by the recent reduction in FIT rates and businesses nationwide are unaware of the money they can save on energy bills and the return on investment in renewable energy installations.

This includes Biomass boilers, solar thermal equipment and ground or water source heat pumps installed since 15^th July 2009. In simple terms payments for:-

Biomass boilers will be 7.9p per kWh

Solar Thermal 8.5p per kWh

Heat pumps 4.5p per kWh

All for a period of 20 years.

When a Conference Centre in Worcestershire installed heat pumps some years ago to replace an oil guzzling system they had no idea that they would be eligible. The new Government incentive is music to their ears. Read more to find out why…

They installed 2 x 37kW heat pumps = 74kW at a cost of £64,500
The cost of their oil usage was estimated as £9,700 pa
The cost of running the heat pumps is expected to be £4,800 pa making a saving of £4,900 pa
The RHI payments will be £6,600 pa resulting in an overall saving of £11,500 pa
This shows that the payback on their initial investment in the system will be 5.6 years. The RHI payments continue for 20 years leaving 14.4 years of profit.
The RHI payment of £6,600 less the heat pump running cost of £4,800 = £1,800 profit.
This means that not only will their heating bills be zero for 14 years but they will also make a profit of £26,000 over the period, without even allowing for inflation or taking out the cost they could have incurred for installing a new oil system

Oxfordshire International Trade Forum - Focus on India

2011-12-14T20:57:00.000Z

Get expert advice and information...network and shareexperiences with fellow international traders.

Date: Tuesday 24th January 2012,

Time: 7.15am-9.15am,

Vanue: Norbar Torque Tools, Banbury

To book e-mail Wendy.Sims@Cherwell-DC.gov.uk

Agenda

7.15am Arrival - Tea/Coffee/Pastries and networking

7.39am Welcome: Iain Nicholson, OTCN

7.40am Speakers:

• Graham Snape, UKTI India Market Advisor. UKTI provides support and guidance for SMEs seeking to enter an export market and will highlight a number of India-specific initiatives which should be relevant to delegates (also available for 1:1 meetings after the event)

• Jonathan Firnberg, General Sales Manager, Norbar Torque Tools - The world's leading torque specialists, Norbar have worked with a number of Indian distributors for many years and have just announced the creation of a permanent presence in India’s commercial hub of Mumbai.

• Jitendra Patel – Head of Corporate Commercial, Brethertons LLP Solicitors - Jitendra

specialises in general corporate and commercial work, and advises UK companies seeking to trade overseas and setting up foreign operations, especially in India and China.

8.40am Questions & Answers Panel

8.55am Markets Update: Timothy Burden, Lloyds TSB Commercial on current economic conditions and state of the financial and foreign exchange markets

9.00am Open Forum

9.15am Close and networking

Future Events:

Export Finance - March 2012
Eastern Europe – May 2012

Oxfordshire International Trade Forum is a joint venture by OTCN, UKTI, FSB, Cherwell, Vale and South Oxfordshire District Councils.

Market Square Parking Changes

2011-11-24T14:39:00.000Z

We have been advised the as part of the town centre redevelopment the following changes to parking on the Market Square and in North Street are being advertised.

OXFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 – S.14(1), (5) & (7) and S.6

Notice of Temporary Traffic Order

Market Square Area, Bicester - Prohibition of Waiting

Date of Order: 9 January 2012 Coming into force: 26 January 2012

This Order is being introduced as part of Bicester town centre redevelopment which is anticipated to take 18 months to complete.

The effect of the Order is as follows:

Parking/waiting will be prohibited on the north, south and east outer sides of Market Place and Market Hill with the exception of the (unaffected) 38m length on the south side, west of London Road which prohibits waiting only between 8am and 6pm Monday to Saturday. The prohibition of waiting in Chapel Street will also be extended on the east side so as to have effect from its junction with Market Square southwards to a point opposite No.10 Chapel Street.

On each of the three sides of Market Square there will be placed both Bus Stops and Goods Vehicle Loading Bays; plus a Bus Stop on the east side of North Street outside Nos.10 -12.

	Effect:	Road:	Location:	In operation:
1.	To provide Bus Stops (clearways)	North Street	Northeast side, from the southeast boundary of No.10, north-westwards for 13metres	24 hours every day
2.		Market Square North side	From a point 32 metres east of its junction with Manorsfield Road, eastwards for 37.7metres	7am to 7pm
3.		Market Square South side	From a point 28 metres east of its junction with Chapel Street, eastwards for 26.1metres	24 hours every day
4.		Market Square East side (Market Hill)	From its junction with London Road, northwards for 21.8 metres	7am to 7pm

5.	To provide Goods Vehicle Loading Bays	Market Square North side	From a point 19 metres east of its junction with Manorsfield Road, eastwards for 13 metres	24 hours every day 24 hours every day 24 hours every day
6.		Market Square South side	From a point 60.1 metres east of its junction with Chapel Street, eastwards for 17metres
7.		Market Square East side (Market Hill)	From a point 21.8 metres north of its junction with London Road, northwards for 10 metres.

The existing provisions of the Oxfordshire County Council (Bicester) (Traffic Regulation) Order 1992 (as amended) in so far as they are affected by this Order shall be temporarily suspended so as to allow this Order to take effect.

This Order will remain in force until the works have been completed.

Traffic Regulations Team (Ref HG) on behalf of the Director for Environment and Economy, Speedwell House, Oxford, OX1 1NE. Tel 0845 310 11 11

Bicester - A Snapshot of the Town Centre

2011-11-23T22:37:00.000Z

Earlier in 2011 Bicester and District Chamber of Commerce undertook a survey of the void rate within the town centre which highlighted that the unoccupied rate was far lower than the national average, standing at just over 12%, as against a 15%+ national average.

It should be born in mind that, although the visible face of the towns’ economy is the High Street, retail is anything but the sole measure. There is a diverse economy across the town, with over 3 times as many businesses, 750 plus, outside the town centre as there are in it.

The latest data, October 2011, indicates an improvement in the situation since the previous data was collected with the void rate reducing by 1percentage point, or by10% from earlier this year.

Of the voids counted at least 3 are known to have occupiers who are either not utilizing the ground floor, or are close to moving in. Factoring this in, along with the strategic voids in Crown Walk, reduces the percentage of empty units to 8.1%.

Assessing Bicester against the National picture: One of the UK’s leading property publications, The Estates Gazettes, reports that the average number of retail units is 1 in 7, equaling 15%. Many small towns, similar in size to Bicester, are experiencing rates as high as 1 in 3 of 33%

Using the vacancy figure, adjusted to allow for know factors (see above), Bicester is currently demonstrating a town centre vacancy rate of just half the national average.

Bicester has, over a period of international economic shrinkage and recession, attracted investment from; Sainsbury, Iceland, Lidl, Aldi, Topps Tiles, ScrewFix, Chiltern Railways, Premier Inn, Oxford and Cherwell Valley College, Countryside Property, its own district council and many more. A small proportion of this would be welcomed in most locations across the UK over this period.

Locally business leaders have been working with each other and also local government, on a number of initiatives, including; leveraging the opportunity offered by the visitors to Bicester Village for the Town Centre, assessing the impact and implementing changes to parking charges, ensuring the town centre development has the minimum impact on Christmas period trading and much more. Some imaginative collaborative initiatives are due to be announced shortly.

The coming year and the start of the much needed town centre scheme, offers challenges, but this report provides a benchmark for any impact to be measured against. Clear communication and effective collaboration in 2012 will help all concerned.

Survey Details
The latest survey of ground floor commercial premises across the town centre, undertaken on the 19^th of October, 2011, yielded the following outcomes;

Street	Total Units	Voids	% of Voids
Sheep Street	76	5***	6.6%
Market Square	39	3*	7.7%
Manorsfield Road	7	0	0%
The Causeway	12	0	0%
Chapel Street	1	0	0%
Deans Court	14	2	14.3%
Crown Walk	27	8**	29.6%
Evans Lane	8	3	37.5%
Totals	184	21	11.41%

* Includes Bicester Advertiser “shop” and Old Pioneer, currently being converted.

** Includes 3 No strategically void units.

*** Includes the Office building by Connells.

The McKay unit in Sheep Street, ownership of which still resides with Ashmores’, is trading well and soon to be subject to a planning application to increase its retail floor space.
Beans has closed following a planned two-year exit strategy. A new occupier, an expanding local business, Bicester Wools, will be moving in shortly.

A new Italian style restaurant has recently opened in the Town Centre and is getting some extremely positive reviews on the Bicester Business Network Facebook page.

In regards to the Co-Op, within the last few years this company invested heavily in the Buckingham Road store and has as many units around the towns estates as Tesco. They are not positioned as a high street competitor for Sainsbury or Tesco, but we have good reason to believe the unit will not remain vacant for long as Wilkinsons have submitted a planning application for the location.

There are 7 Charity outlets in the town, representing just under 4% of the commercial property in the area surveyed. (There are more banks, restaurants and estate agents than charity shops.)

Empty ground floor units, in highly visible locations, that could be visually improved outside of current planned schemes, include the former A C Electrical store and the Bicester Advertiser offices on the market square.

Ben Jackson - Chairman

N.B Survey results include, Pubs, Banks, Restaurants, Take Away outlets, Charity Shops, Solicitors and Insurance Brokers, Estate Agents etc.

SCAM ALERT

2011-09-06T22:09:00.000+01:00

WARNING

The Bicester Chamber has been alerted today to a possible scam/hoax being perpetrated under their name.

A person with a perceived Yorkshire accent has been approaching businesses claiming to represent the local Chamber of Commerce. When asked which one, he has responded "Bicester", but mispronounced this as Bi - Ses - Ter.

It also appears the approaches can take the form of an initial call to ask the name of the person who managers advertising, followed by another one to ask for that person and then talk to them about an advertisement they have already ordered.

We cannot ascertain the identity of this person, or his company at this time. We can say though that this Chamber has not contracted any third party to "sell" anything on their behalf.

If you have been approached, or have a contact number for this person or their company please let us know on ben@bbkmedia.com

If you are this company please contact us and explain under what instruction you believe you are operating.

Neither do we know if this is restricted to Bicester or if other Chambers or business group names are being used.

Town Centre Business Rates

2011-09-04T14:41:00.000+01:00

Chamber call for action on rates brings reductions.

By applying pressure on the Valuations Office, alongside independent activity by a number of national traders, the Bicester and District Chamber of Commerce President, Keith Watson, has succeeded in securing a commitment to offering traders in Crown Walk a reduction in their Business Rates.

Shops in Crown Walk should be receiving letters detailing proposed reductions due to the disruption caused by the re-alignment of the Bure and the number of empty units. This does not however extend outside the Crown Walk area as far as we are aware.

Our advice to traders in Crown Wall is to seek further concession once you are in receipt of this letter. It may well secure a further reduction.

To traders in the Market Square, Sheep Street, etc you may well feel that your businesses were also affected, especially by the road works. If you can demonstrate that your takings were down over this period, then you should also write to the Valuations Officer detailing your claim.

With building works due to re-starte in January 2012 it is important that all traders:

Keep records of monthly takings going forward fro comparison purposes when further works start in January 2012.
Have these records verified by their accountants.

These can then be used to support further claims for reductions during 2012 and 2013.

If you are national high street trader and can access trading figures for other locations comparable to Bicester, that demonstrate your outlet here under performs, then this information would be extremely useful. If you are able to share this please contact the Chairman on ben@bbkmedia.com

Please remember that an active, local, Chamber of Commerce, delivers tangible support for businesses, but can only do so if it seen as having a representative membership. To carry on supporting you and delivering these sort of outcomes we need you as a member. If you are not already a member and would like to talk to somebody about joining please e-mail ben@bbkmedia.com or gail@bicesterwills.co.uk and we will be in touch.

Thumbs up for Bicester's Town Centre Redevelopment

2011-08-25T14:12:00.001+01:00

Plans to transform Bicester's town centre and provide new retail and leisure facilities have taken a major step forward as the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has authorised the making of the Compulsory Purchase Order necessary for the redevelopment.

At the same time, the Secretary of State for Transport has confirmed the order for the stopping up of Bure Place. As a result of these decisions, all remaining land and other rights needed for the redevelopment can be acquired without further delay.

The main building contractor has also recently been selected and work will shortly start on a number of on-site technical studies. Following completion of these studies the main redevelopment work will start early in the New Year. This will also ensure no disruption to town centre businesses over the forthcoming Christmas trading period.

Sainsbury's Regional Development Executive, Andrew Sanderson, said: "We are absolutely delighted that the Secretary of State has confirmed the Compulsory Purchase Order. This is great news for Bicester and means that we can now proceed with construction of the main town centre redevelopment.

"The redevelopment will transform Bicester and encourage more people to visit the town centre, through the creation of a range of new facilities; including a new cinema, Sainsbury's store, new retail and restaurant units, improved town centre car parking and a new bus interchange."

Councillor Norman Bolster, Cherwell District Council's lead member for economic development, said: "It has taken an enormous amount of hard work to get us to this point and I am very grateful to everyone involved. We can now start work on providing Bicester with a fantastic
facility, which will have a better shopping and leisure offer and attract more people, benefitting all the traders in the town centre.

"Bringing the town centre redevelopment together has been an extremely complicated process and I know people have been frustrated that it has taken so long to reach this stage but the Secretary of State's announcement means that we can push ahead with this much-needed development."

The Chamber looks forward to working with and building on the existing relationship with the developer and Sainsbury to work towards the best outcome for Bicester.

Bicester Town Centre Performs Better Than Most

2011-01-27T12:46:00.008Z

What The Chairman Really Said.

For those of you that have read the Bicester Advertiser today, January 27th, here is the quote actually given them by our Chairman.

"The fact Bicester has gone through the last few years with a very low percentage of empty units, especially on Sheep Street, is testament to the skills of the traders, flexibility of landlords and the resistivity of the shopping mix of our town centre economy. This should be recognised. Whilst closure of shops, or any businesses is in no way desirable, many similar sized towns have seen significantly higher levels of negative churn and we should remember that only two cities have had positive churn among retailers in the last year, one being Oxford. What is needed is a holistic approach, to build on this unrecognised success, over the last two years, that creates a supportive economic environment, ensuring the opportunities, for the town centre, from the future growth is maximised."

There is no mention of "luck" anywhere in this quote, in fact exactly the opposite.

With regard to the actual number of empty high street units, the national average is just under 15%, for Bicester that would be around 25 to 30 units across the main shopping areas. We know some of the units in Crown walk are required for a shuffling of stores once the alterations start, while others may soon be occupied. Bicester is well under the National average and in fact probably under half of it.

We are not saying Bicester has been, or will be recession proof, what we are saying is that the hard work of all those helping support it should be recognised, not undermined.

We are bucking the National Trend and have done so throughout the recession, that positive story should attract the attention of retailers for the right reasons, helping to secure existing jobs, create new ones and bringing more visitors to the centre. A positive cycle.