Coherent Cultural Offer

3a. Accessibility 3b. Public Spaces/Vacant Properties

An Exhibition Strategy should be be formulated to ensure a coordinated events programme can be delivered throughout the year.

Linked trips will be directly linked to the cities ability to deliver a coherent and joined up series of cultural and visitor attractions.

In reality this means that visitor attractions need to be easy to find and signposted throughout the city. The signposting could be in the form of traditional signage but also in the form of pop-up events and performances which “bleed out” into the City. These could include (inter alia):

Chester zoo

Chester Racecourse

Story House

Chester Visual Arts

Cheshire Ice Cream Farm

The Deva Roman Discovery Centre

The Castle walls, amphitheatre and attractions at the river.

Council owned public space should have a function and be activated. CWaC should formulate a clear policy on the purpose of public space and how it could be used.

Vacant public spaces and properties have a role to play in delivering space for events and performances. Potentially suitable spaces within the City should be audited to understand what is available and how it could be utilised.

A schedule of available spaces should be created to enable potentially interested parties

Areas within the immediate vicinity of attractions should be the focus for intensive supporting uses such as F&B, Associated leisure attractions, tour guiding etc.

This is especially evident in areas around the cathedral and along the River Dee and Castle whereby a lack of supporting visitor and attraction infrastructure detract from the positioning of said attraction and create an uncared-for character around these assets.

The Council should seek to create a role within the organisation, which specifically seeks to act as the centrepoint for this type of activity.

An audit of meeting and conference facilities in Chester City Centre in terms of their capacity, quality, and offering should be undertaken to understand deficiencies and opportunities in the City.

The deficiencies and opportunities identified should feature and be addressed in the refreshed One City Plan. Through the refresh of the One City Plan, guidance could be formulated to encourage leisure facilities such as hotels to offer conference facilities to directly cater to business tourism.

There is the potential to offset changes in high street behaviours and the loss of key retailers such as Debenhams by utilising vacant retail provision in the retail core for business tourism purposes.

The potential to offer packages to organisations which incorporate hotel stays with the City’s tourism offer should be explored to enrich the stay of delegates within the City. This will also encourage greater spend within the City and benefit the City’s food and beverage offer.