The People & Places Partnership helped in reviewing access and signage in the ‘Malverns’ town centres. The review was commissioned by Malvern Hills District Council who wanted a study carried out for the District’s five town centres: Great Malvern, Barnards Green, Malvern Link, Upton upon Severn and Tenbury Wells.
Broadening understanding of journey to town
This work reviewing access and signage in the Malverns took a broad approach to understanding and then improving people’s journey to town, involving:
- an assessment of approach, signage, sense of arrival
- an assessment of pedestrian signage
- a summary of itemised recommendations for physical access and signage improvements
- wider recommendations on the potential access improvements
- stakeholder engagement
Helping people to get more out of a visit
People & Places’ Director, Chris Wade, explained the approach by saying, “One of the simplest ways to think about it is, if you were contemplating a weekend a way in an unfamiliar town, what would help you to have a good first impression and get the most out of your visit? This is what we are trying to achieve for unfamiliar visitors and those residents who use their local town centre infrequently.”
Factors that were taken into account included understanding what motivates visitors including the ‘triggers for the trip’, online investigation and where digital navigation might take unfamiliar visitors. This was followed-up by practical improvements such as information about parking, travel by train and waymarking routes to help people get the most out of a visit. Chris Wade commented, “The more we know about why people are coming to the Malverns towns, the better we can manage the online information about arrival points, create a great first impression and help people explore the town centres fully. Even local residents can be encouraged to add to their usual routines and maybe visit more often or linger longer.”
Engaging local stakeholders in access issues
As part of the work reviewing access and signage in the Malverns, People & Places worked closely with the District Council and involved local stakeholders, including business groups and town councils, in sharing insights on how the town centres are used. This five minute video presentation introducing the Malverns signage and access review, uses the example of Great Malvern to demonstrate the practical issues for local stakeholders to consider. Issues revealed by an initial review can include:
- Clearly presenting a towns’ identity to potential visitors.
- The importance of first impressions when considering how visitors best arrive to town.
- Awareness of importance of key arrival points for different types of users including motorists as day-visitors, local shoppers, Blue Badge holders, train travellers or cyclists.
- Opportunities to work collectively with all attractions, public services, events & businesses to promote appropriate arrival points.
- Need to make the most of existing or potential wayfinding such as Great Malvern’s fabulous ‘Route to the Hills’ as connecting circuits around town.
- Value of assessing accessible routes & making necessary improvements linked to Blue Badge parking.
- Consideration of approaches such as our People, Places & Parking process to make sure provision best matches different customers’ needs.
Bringing facts and faces to town centres
The People & Places Partnership offers a proven track-record of bringing facts and faces to centres through an evidenced-based, collaborative working for the revitalisation of town and city centres. Increasingly this approach by People & Places includes a special focus on understanding and enhancing users’ journeys into and around town centres, whether through digital promotion, parking strategy, active travel, footfall/foot-flow monitoring, or access and signage reviews.
