04 Royston First | UPDATE
New Shortened Town Trail For many years there has been a trail of historic Royston which takes the visitor to 31 key points in the town (marked by brass plaques set into the pavement). Royston First has supported this important town centre attraction by redesigning the Trail Guide and by restoring damaged or missing plaques.
Royston First UPDATE - Su mmer/Autu mn
Important information
However, the current trails extends to a couple of miles and takes at least 1½ hours to complete. In support of the Discover Royston project (see elsewhere in this document), we have taken it upon ourselves to produce a shortened version of trail – cut down to a 45-minute experience. Keeping to just the town centre, this version of the trail includes all the key attractions – just in a condensed form.
discover all three attractions!
Town Trail
Essentially Discover Royston consists of three 45-minute experiences: the (cut-down) Royston Trail; a private, conducted tour of the Royston Cave; a private, curated visit to Royston Museum. Our pitch is to visiting groups where we offer a half-day experience for up to three groups (each consisting of up to 18 persons) to complete all three attractions in rotation.
Cave
The cost for each group is £142.
Visitors, or you yourselves, can request a brochure by contacting James Robinson on 01763 878 242.
Royston F1rst c/o Town Hall Melbourn Street Royston SG8 7DA t 01763 878 242 e info@roystonfirst.com
A505 Link Road Development Nearly a year ago, Royston First approached the developer of the Royston Gateway and the Hertfordshire LEP with a proposal to develop the planned link between York Way and the A505 in advance of the remainder of the Gateway development.
discover royston
The Discover Royston experience is anchored from the Royston Information Centre (built and maintained in the library by Royston First).
for Royston businesses
This trail takes approx 45 mins
Perhaps you or your colleagues might like to ‘give it a go’ during your lunch hour?
The second 5 year term of the BID switches increasingly to focus on publicising Royston further afield. Already we have created an ‘everything you need to know about Royston’ website (www.roystontown.uk); now we are in the process of releasing a product called Discover Royston.
2017
Museum
Many months later and following discussions with the planning authorities, the highways agency, local representatives and stakeholders we then surveyed the people most affected by the proposed changes i.e. the existing businesses on the industrial estate. The result was almost unanimous - with 92% of businesses believing their employees, customers and suppliers would ‘definitely’ welcome the new link road.
Section 278 and 38 licenses are poised for agreement. The scheme has also been supported by officers at the local authorities and by the Strategic Infrastructure Board at the Hertfordshire LEP.
Since that time the scheme has received planning consent to be developed, ahead of the rest of the Gateway; plus the requisite
We will let you know of any significant developments (no pun intended!)
However, final approval is yet to be received from the LEP/HCC and the contract is yet to be finalised. This should all transpire during the month of September, with a decision due from the LEP board on the 21st of the month.
High Street Refurbishment All businesses and residents potentially affected by these plans should have received details in the post. However, in case you missed this, the latest information from County Hall is that the project is due to commence Monday 11th September and last for up to four weeks.
advantageous, you need to feed your request direct to Highways (email CSCHighways@hertfordshire.gov.uk or phone on 0300 123 4047)
Exact details are not available here at the time of writing, but from our consultations it would appear that the work will be carried out in phases causing the High Street south of John Street to be closed first, followed by north of John Street. Work will be carried out between the hours of 09:00 – 18:00 … with access restored whenever possible. We had proposed that any closures should not commence until 10:00 – giving up to an hour for retailers to receive deliveries. If this is something your business would find
Work on John Street itself will also be carried out during this period, but it will be completed at night between the hours of 22:00 – 05:00 to avoid blocking access to such parts of the High Street that are open. Highways have also brought forward a project to resurface Fish Hill which will now be completed during the four week period (currently scheduled for Sunday September 17th).
02 Royston First | UPDATE
Royston First | UPDATE 03
NHDC Discretionary Rates Relief Scheme
Royston Town Website
The following are extracts from a document issued by NHDC:
The website was launched over a year ago. Over this time the number of people visiting the website has increased enormously. Just this year there have been over 12,000 visitors to the website with over 200 people visiting it on one day!
available to assist those businesses that have been most hit by the 2017 business rates revaluation. Essentially, each Council is given a pot of money over four years to distribute to those most hit. The funding has been based by the Government on the number of properties with RV’s under £200,000 and where the increase in net Rates payable has increased by more than 12.5% in 2017/2018 compared with 2016/2017.
The Council’s intention is to distribute the money based on the following: RV under £200,000 Increase in net Rates more than 12.5% n Property must be occupied n Ratepayer not in receipt of “Support for Small Business Relief” (Where the Rates payable is restricted to £600 per annum) n Any award capped to ensure that any business pays at least what it paid in 2016/2017 n State Aid Rules apply n n
“
may be aware of the £300M “potYou that the Government has made
IMPORTANT information NHDC will only consider businesses that APPLY for this relief AND BY SEPTEMBER 17TH 2017. They will be writing to any business they think qualifies, but if they don’t subsequently receive an application, or if they by chance miss a company off their list, no further action will be taken. If you are in any doubt, we suggest in the first instance you ring NHDC finance department on 01462 474000 and talk your situation through with a council representative.
26,608 page views
10,833 12,864 visits to the site individual site visitors
Royston’s Green Spaces The latest addition to the Royston Town website is a guide to parks and open spaces. www.roystontown.uk/ parks-and-open-spaces There are 12 recreation grounds around the town, an allotment site with 125 allotments and a BMX track which is recognised as one of the top tracks in the region!
6,081 visits through a
Trails 2017
mobile device
*Figures based on Jan - Aug 2017 period
VisIt us at www.roystontown.uk Once again we were able to claim a record year – just (at 265 entries we were two up on last year)!
1st Saturday in July
This is a very good performance when you consider that, at just 2½ hours, this is the briefest trail we run.
Royston Music Trail
If you assume at least one adult per child, there were something in excess of 500 pairs of eyes examining just about every shop window in the town centre.
As our newest ‘trail’, this event is still building an audience (with some success it would seem – entries this year were up 40% on last year). Total numbers attending across the 5 hours of the event were estimated at 600+.
Saturday of Easter Weekend
Parking Scratchcards This initiative offers an hour of free parking on the day and at the time indicated on a scratchcard. Aimed at attracting employees of businesses located on the industrial estates, the number of companies and employees using the scheme continues to grow.
The greater duration of this event offers more scope for free craft activities – which this year included drum making (the parents must just love us!)
To join the scheme, ring our answering service on
01763 878 242
Cinema Show Reels If you’ve been to the Royston Picture Palace recently, you’ll have seen one of the three promotional films about Royston that we show during the trailers. There is one that features places to eat (this has recently been updated to reflect changes in the town); another focuses on the retail offer (showing a glimpse of over 60 retailers in under 90 seconds); and finally we have a a film that promotes Royston as a place to visit and live. The cinema attracts just under
10,000
paying customers per year!
Photos courtesy of Clive Porter
02 Royston First | UPDATE
Royston First | UPDATE 03
NHDC Discretionary Rates Relief Scheme
Royston Town Website
The following are extracts from a document issued by NHDC:
The website was launched over a year ago. Over this time the number of people visiting the website has increased enormously. Just this year there have been over 12,000 visitors to the website with over 200 people visiting it on one day!
available to assist those businesses that have been most hit by the 2017 business rates revaluation. Essentially, each Council is given a pot of money over four years to distribute to those most hit. The funding has been based by the Government on the number of properties with RV’s under £200,000 and where the increase in net Rates payable has increased by more than 12.5% in 2017/2018 compared with 2016/2017.
The Council’s intention is to distribute the money based on the following: RV under £200,000 Increase in net Rates more than 12.5% n Property must be occupied n Ratepayer not in receipt of “Support for Small Business Relief” (Where the Rates payable is restricted to £600 per annum) n Any award capped to ensure that any business pays at least what it paid in 2016/2017 n State Aid Rules apply n n
“
may be aware of the £300M “potYou that the Government has made
IMPORTANT information NHDC will only consider businesses that APPLY for this relief AND BY SEPTEMBER 17TH 2017. They will be writing to any business they think qualifies, but if they don’t subsequently receive an application, or if they by chance miss a company off their list, no further action will be taken. If you are in any doubt, we suggest in the first instance you ring NHDC finance department on 01462 474000 and talk your situation through with a council representative.
26,608 page views
10,833 12,864 visits to the site individual site visitors
Royston’s Green Spaces The latest addition to the Royston Town website is a guide to parks and open spaces. www.roystontown.uk/ parks-and-open-spaces There are 12 recreation grounds around the town, an allotment site with 125 allotments and a BMX track which is recognised as one of the top tracks in the region!
6,081 visits through a
Trails 2017
mobile device
*Figures based on Jan - Aug 2017 period
VisIt us at www.roystontown.uk Once again we were able to claim a record year – just (at 265 entries we were two up on last year)!
1st Saturday in July
This is a very good performance when you consider that, at just 2½ hours, this is the briefest trail we run.
Royston Music Trail
If you assume at least one adult per child, there were something in excess of 500 pairs of eyes examining just about every shop window in the town centre.
As our newest ‘trail’, this event is still building an audience (with some success it would seem – entries this year were up 40% on last year). Total numbers attending across the 5 hours of the event were estimated at 600+.
Saturday of Easter Weekend
Parking Scratchcards This initiative offers an hour of free parking on the day and at the time indicated on a scratchcard. Aimed at attracting employees of businesses located on the industrial estates, the number of companies and employees using the scheme continues to grow.
The greater duration of this event offers more scope for free craft activities – which this year included drum making (the parents must just love us!)
To join the scheme, ring our answering service on
01763 878 242
Cinema Show Reels If you’ve been to the Royston Picture Palace recently, you’ll have seen one of the three promotional films about Royston that we show during the trailers. There is one that features places to eat (this has recently been updated to reflect changes in the town); another focuses on the retail offer (showing a glimpse of over 60 retailers in under 90 seconds); and finally we have a a film that promotes Royston as a place to visit and live. The cinema attracts just under
10,000
paying customers per year!
Photos courtesy of Clive Porter
04 Royston First | UPDATE
New Shortened Town Trail For many years there has been a trail of historic Royston which takes the visitor to 31 key points in the town (marked by brass plaques set into the pavement). Royston First has supported this important town centre attraction by redesigning the Trail Guide and by restoring damaged or missing plaques.
Royston First UPDATE - Su mmer/Autu mn
Important information
However, the current trails extends to a couple of miles and takes at least 1½ hours to complete. In support of the Discover Royston project (see elsewhere in this document), we have taken it upon ourselves to produce a shortened version of trail – cut down to a 45-minute experience. Keeping to just the town centre, this version of the trail includes all the key attractions – just in a condensed form.
discover all three attractions!
Town Trail
Essentially Discover Royston consists of three 45-minute experiences: the (cut-down) Royston Trail; a private, conducted tour of the Royston Cave; a private, curated visit to Royston Museum. Our pitch is to visiting groups where we offer a half-day experience for up to three groups (each consisting of up to 18 persons) to complete all three attractions in rotation.
Cave
The cost for each group is £142.
Visitors, or you yourselves, can request a brochure by contacting James Robinson on 01763 878 242.
Royston F1rst c/o Town Hall Melbourn Street Royston SG8 7DA t 01763 878 242 e info@roystonfirst.com
A505 Link Road Development Nearly a year ago, Royston First approached the developer of the Royston Gateway and the Hertfordshire LEP with a proposal to develop the planned link between York Way and the A505 in advance of the remainder of the Gateway development.
discover royston
The Discover Royston experience is anchored from the Royston Information Centre (built and maintained in the library by Royston First).
for Royston businesses
This trail takes approx 45 mins
Perhaps you or your colleagues might like to ‘give it a go’ during your lunch hour?
The second 5 year term of the BID switches increasingly to focus on publicising Royston further afield. Already we have created an ‘everything you need to know about Royston’ website (www.roystontown.uk); now we are in the process of releasing a product called Discover Royston.
2017
Museum
Many months later and following discussions with the planning authorities, the highways agency, local representatives and stakeholders we then surveyed the people most affected by the proposed changes i.e. the existing businesses on the industrial estate. The result was almost unanimous - with 92% of businesses believing their employees, customers and suppliers would ‘definitely’ welcome the new link road.
Section 278 and 38 licenses are poised for agreement. The scheme has also been supported by officers at the local authorities and by the Strategic Infrastructure Board at the Hertfordshire LEP.
Since that time the scheme has received planning consent to be developed, ahead of the rest of the Gateway; plus the requisite
We will let you know of any significant developments (no pun intended!)
However, final approval is yet to be received from the LEP/HCC and the contract is yet to be finalised. This should all transpire during the month of September, with a decision due from the LEP board on the 21st of the month.
High Street Refurbishment All businesses and residents potentially affected by these plans should have received details in the post. However, in case you missed this, the latest information from County Hall is that the project is due to commence Monday 11th September and last for up to four weeks.
advantageous, you need to feed your request direct to Highways (email CSCHighways@hertfordshire.gov.uk or phone on 0300 123 4047)
Exact details are not available here at the time of writing, but from our consultations it would appear that the work will be carried out in phases causing the High Street south of John Street to be closed first, followed by north of John Street. Work will be carried out between the hours of 09:00 – 18:00 … with access restored whenever possible. We had proposed that any closures should not commence until 10:00 – giving up to an hour for retailers to receive deliveries. If this is something your business would find
Work on John Street itself will also be carried out during this period, but it will be completed at night between the hours of 22:00 – 05:00 to avoid blocking access to such parts of the High Street that are open. Highways have also brought forward a project to resurface Fish Hill which will now be completed during the four week period (currently scheduled for Sunday September 17th).