More people visiting York City centre

 

increase-footfall-retailFootfall cameras suggest popularity increasing

The latest footfall figures – taken from several camera locations in the City centre – reveal that more people are visiting the area than 12 months ago.

Figures for Coney Street reveal an average of 25,926 movements per day over the 12 months up to 13th December. That is the highest ever recorded, based on a 12 month rolling average

There is a similar picture in Church Street where an average of 3922 people are currently being recorded each day. This compared to 3861 recorded in the `12 months leading up to 24th August.

There has been a small reduction in footfall in Micklegate, where it is down from 7101 recorded in August to 6986 today.

Parliament Street has averaged 24511 movements per day so far in December.

Detailed figures are available on the Councils open data web site Click

Increase in visitor numbers in York City Centre

“Freedom of information” response reveals 24% more walked down Parliament Street in 2014 than in the previous year.

click

click

The number of visitors to the York City centre is now comparable with pre recession levels.

The area seems to have recovered from the reduction seen during the summer and autumn of 2013 when the Lendal bridge closure resulted in adverse publicity for the City across a wide part of the UK and indeed Europe.

The recovery seems to have extended into 2015 with 24% more pedestrian movements logged in January 2015 compared to 2014, with 10% more recorded during February

A complete day by day footfall monitor for cameras in Parliament Street, Coney Street, Church Street, Micklegate and Stonegate can be downloaded by clicking here. The latter 4 camera sites have been operating for less than a year, making comparisons difficult

Some caution should be used when looking at the footfall numbers.

The cameras may have been relocated in the past while special events and market stall locations, can “channel” greater or lesser numbers of people into range of the cameras.

The data is not of course a measure of how much people are spending in the City centre.

More City centre cycle parking

The amount of parking spaces for bikes in the city centre has increased to over 1,000.

cycle racks

Throughout 2013 the council has added space for an extra 150 bikes within the city centre, which has been done by adding new cycle racks and extending some existing racks. This has grown the number of spaces by 18 per-cent compared to the beginning of the year.

The new spaces are located on:

  • · Goodramgate
  • · Piccadilly
  • · King Street
  • · North Street
  • · Nunnery Lane car park
  • · Micklegate
  • · Lendal (outside the Post Office)

The existing racks that have been extended are:

  • · Library Square
  • · Castle Museum
  • · Lendal (outside Zizzi’s)
  • · Esplanade
  • · Castle Car Park

(more…)

4% drop in shopper numbers in City centre during August

Figures released today, under Freedom of Information rules, reveal that 4% fewer shoppers visited the York City centre in August compared to the same month last year.

"Footfall" numbers in Parliament Street. click to enlarge

“Footfall” numbers in Parliament Street. click to enlarge

The blame for the reduction is being attributed to the bungled introduction of new traffic regulations on Lendal Bridge and in Coppergate.

The news comes at a time when visitor attractions were reporting an increase in the numbers using their facilities earlier in the year

In the period up to August a 16% increase was recorded.

This was partly put down to special events like the Mallard 75 celebration as well as the opening of the new York Minster revealed axhibition.

The expectations had been that a recovering national economy – coupled with good weather – would lead to a bumper August; but those hopes seem to have been dashed.

Cameras, that measure the numbers of people on Parliament Street, recorded a drop in “footfall” from a monthly total of 780,646 in 2012 to 746,349 this year

Figures for September and early October are due to are published next week.

Many are forecasting a further decline.

Over 5000 visitors will have received penalty charge notices in September and word of mouth is likely to have resulted in further reputational damage for the City.

More may choose to shun the central area.

There are, however, some hopes that special events like the Food Festival might partly counter the decline.

Earlier in the week the Council was reported as having ordered additional footfall cameras.

Bizarre twist in footfall pantomime

increase-footfall-retail

With the Council resolutely refusing to reveal the reduction in the number of shoppers using the City centre since the Lendal Bridge restrictions were introduced, they have today announced investment in yet more “footfall” cameras.

Many will wonder whether spending money on more cameras can be justified when the authority apparently don’t want to believe the results of its existing two cameras (which are located in Parliament Street and Coney Street).

A beleaguered Council Leadership has agreed though that the decline in the numbers accessing the City centre over recent years is higher than in similar City’s elsewhere.

The Labour Leadership was quick to celebrate increased footfall in the run up to Christmas 2011 but since then a huge increase in car parking charges, and steps to further reduce on street parking, have taken their toll.

Now, the way that the Lendal Bridge restrictions have been introduced is already having a major impact on the City’s reputation with visitors and potential shoppers.

The Council seem to be following a strategy based on a new saying, “If you don’t like the facts, spend more money looking for alternative facts”

The Council has not revealed how much it intends to spend on the additional cameras.