Request for Quotation (RFQ) for Economic Research on Leicestershire’s Market Tow

Request for Quotation (RFQ) for the service provision of Economic Research on Leicestershire’s Market Towns

Ref: LCC/CE/2015

Quotations are invited for the provision of economic research into Leicestershire’s Market Towns. The Council’s detailed requirements are defined in the Specification in Section 3 of the RfQ.

Leicestershire has a number of Market Towns that sit primarily on the borders of the county with the City of Leicester at the core. There are 5 towns with populations over 20,000 some of which have suitable local partnership arrangements such as Business Improvement Districts (BID) and town partnerships as well as the political will and appropriate executive skills to move forward with an integrated proposal for investment from the Leicestershire Local Enterprise Partnership (LLEP).

The key towns which we are looking to work with are:

• Loughborough • Melton Mowbray • Hinckley • Coalville • Ashby • Wigston • Blaby • Market Harborough • Lutterworth

We know that developing vibrant town centres is critical to achieving a strong and sustainable sub-regional economy. Market Towns also see a large number of business start-ups, most of which require some degrees of business support.

In order to make the most of the growing economy and adapt to the current structural and irreversible changes that are occurring on our high streets, including the rationalisation of many major high street retailers and banks, our Market Towns need to appear vibrant and attractive

In the past, and certainly since the Portas Review, the emphasis has been on facilities management and making local improvements through pop up shop schemes and use of vacant units alongside the work of BIDS, town partnerships etc. These initiatives have worked with the current configuration of town centres and while such measures have undoubtedly made a difference it has become apparent that more work is needed to tackle the greater structural issues underpinning the economic character of our towns. We need more innovative, strategic and joined up interventions to ensure our town centres can keep attracting shoppers and visitors, supporting business engagement and development, attracting inward investment and sustaining assets such as property, public realm and parking across areas where no single authority or agency has overall responsibility.

The key to ensuring success of our major towns is for those responsible for their management to work together. As part of the proposal we will look at adopting a more coordinated approach to asset, facilities and growth management within each of our towns to feed into the work of the Place Board /Business Growth Hub.

In drawing up the model approach we will give particular attention to the Town Centre Investment Management pilot (TCIM) supported by Department of Communities and Local Government as a framework to support delivery of an integrated programme of investment in market towns, where Melton will