City Council and stakeholders to create new City Centre Management Partnership - City

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 16th Jun 2008

Cllr Rod Cantrill

Cambridge City Council is seeking to create a new City Centre Partnership in collaboration with a broad spectrum of stakeholders from across the city

This step builds on the current informal City Centre Management Partnership, which has been in operation since 1995, and is led by the City Council.

The key objective of the proposed changes is to strengthen the existing model and to provide a structure, which will enable all stakeholders to have a say in how the city centre evolves.

The Council believes this will enhance the management of the historic core and city centre for the benefit of residents, businesses, educational institutions, visitors and other users

The core role of the new entity will be to identify and lead on a range of key city centre projects, which will improve the vibrancy and vitality of the city centre. In the main these projects will address the following areas:

? Marketing and Promotion

? Safety and Security

? Environment / Public Realm

? Transport and Access

? Early evening and Night time economy

The proposed new structure will enable the partnership to explore funding opportunities, which have not previously been open to the existing City Centre Management structure

The new partnership will take the form of a not for profit, company limited by guarantee, managed by a Board of Directors drawn from the key stakeholders, including the City Council

Initially, the new partnership will focus on the City Centre Management function, however, it plans to explore opportunities in the medium term to expand its role to include other functions such as tourism

The partnership will not initially have an operational role but it will work very closely with the City Council to improve the operational elements of City Centre Management

The topic will be discussed at the Strategy and Resources scrutiny committee on Monday 16th June 2008

Councillor Rod Cantrill, Executive City Councillor for Customer Services and Resources, commented:

"The City Council is committed to ensuring the ongoing vitality and economic prosperity of Cambridge's city centre.

The recent opening of the Grand Arcade, Christ's Lane, the proposed further development of the Lion Yard and the Council's changes to the Peas Hill and Wheeler Street area will lead to the character of the city centre evolving.

The proposed new partnership structure will enable all stakeholders to have a proper voice in how the city centre evolves and will build capacity amongst the partnership to respond to the city's current and future challenges"

ENDS

Notes to Editors

1) Councillor Rod Cantrill can be contacted on 07919 103 865.

2) Emma Thornton, Head of Tourism and City Centre Management can be contacted on 01223 457 446.