Jersey’s Chamber of Commerce Retail and Supply Committee ran a survey focused on the ‘thorny’ subject of St Helier’s Broad Street and whether it should continue to be closed to traffic, effectively pedestrianising the area.
Broad Street was closed to traffic in May 2020, to allow more room for (Covid-19) social distancing in the centre of town and allow cafés to offer al fresco dining.
The short survey of four questions focused on St Helier’s Broad Street and the proposition (P.28/2021) being brought before the States Assembly this week, which proposes to continue with the closure of the road.
Over 80% of Chamber retail members were clear that the decision on whether to close Broad Street should be based on research on the implications of doing so. Retailers have indicated their wish for an impact study on businesses in the area, before any decision is made by States Members.
The key findings present interesting results:
With proposals to maintain the current pedestrian-priority restriction in Broad Street, for the remainder of 2021, would retailers see this as positive of negative step?
30% of those asked thought this was very positive or positive move, 20% were neutral to the closure, and 50% thought it was a negative or very negative step.
Will businesses will be adversely or negatively affected by a closure of the road?
Almost 12% thought it would benefit their business, 35% thought it would damage their business and just over 53% were uncertain as to the effect of the road being closed.
If more pedestrian areas in St Helier were to be considered, would it make the town centre more attractive and entice more people to shop in St Helier, or would it result in a decrease of footfall and damage business in St Helier?
Almost 40% thought it would enhance the town and increase shopping and just over 60% felt it would decrease footfall and damage business.
The Chair of the Chamber Retail and Supply Group, Paul Murphy said: “It is clear that opinion is divided on whether closing Broad Street to traffic is a good thing or not, both within Chamber and beyond, but it was important that we were fully sighted of our members thoughts and clearly they expect States Members to have researched data and implications presented to them before being able to vote with any degree of certainty.”
