Survey confirms massive support, but key questions remain and new volunteers needed
It gave us great pleasure last night to welcome 45 residents and traders to Chats Palace. The meeting focussed on the survey findings, brainstorming solutions, and the next steps forward.
Prize draw winner announced: Paddy Taylor & Cllr Rathbone
Huge thanks to to all those who came and contributed their time and ideas, and to the venue staff. And congratulations to local resident, Paddy Taylor of Meeson Street, who was presented with £50 by Cllr Rathbone as the winner of the survey prize draw.
Survey findings
The findings of our recent survey confirmed a huge level of interest in a new market. We’ll be making a full report available via the website in the near future. For now, here’s an overview of what the community said:
- 96% of the 863 people who completed the survey said they felt a new market would be positive for the area.
- 90% wanted a weekend market, rather than a weekday market, with support evenly split between Saturday and Sunday.
- People indicated a desire for a wide variety of stall types. The most popular categories were fruit & veg; plants & flowers; bread & cakes; organic food; 2nd hand & vintage clothing; meat, poultry & fish; ready-to-eat takeaway food; books; handicrafts; furniture; bric-a-brac. (That list is in descending order of popularity from 84% of people wanting fruit & veg to 47% wanting bric-a-bric.)
- Much emphasis was placed on wanting the selection of stalls to be inclusive; to be aimed at serving the local area; to offer both quality & affordable prices; to allow people to do a weekly shop; and to reflect the diversity of the community.
- 78% of people said they’d use a new market every week, and a further 17% said they’d use it once a month – further confirmation of widespread interest in a new market, albeit from a question that asks people to imagine their future behaviour.
- Over 90% of people said they already visit London markets, though we have limited data on how often.
- 72% of people who already go to markets said they spent, on average, £5-£25 per visit. A further 19% said they spent, on average, £25-£50, per visit.
- We asked people their priorities when visiting a market. Most emphasis was placed on: ‘Enjoying the experience’, ‘Feeling part of a community event’ and ‘Finding products not normally available in shops’. A significant but smaller number of people emphasised: ‘Getting a bargain’ and ‘High quality goods’.
- 65% of people said they had no concerns about a new market.
- 35% of people said they did have concerns.
- The concerns broke down into the following categories:
i) parking & traffic – congestion rising
ii) people being excluded from the market via high prices
iii) stalls competing with existing shopkeepers
iv) litter, noise & disruption
v) stalls being ‘tatty’, and a lack of quality control
vi) stalls only replicating what’s already available in shops
vii) market being aimed at customers from outside area
viii) character of the high street being eroded
- The level of emphasis different people placed on their concerns varied considerably.
- Many people also outlined positive suggestions on how a market could: i) enhance community cohesion; ii) offer opportunities to local entrepreneurs; iii) enable ‘green’ & ’sustainable living’ initiatives; iv) help bring back shoppers to the high street; v) widen shopping opportunities.
And that was another theme at last night’s meeting: SOLUTIONS.
Groups formed to work on potential strategies for resolving key questions such as, ‘How to ensure that stalls complement shops?’ and ‘How to ensure the market is inclusive?’ The fact that we now know 96% of people fundamentally think a new market is a positive idea makes it worth investing time and energy into developing good solutions.
Solution focussed: the groups in action
We’ll make sure that those ideas, plus all the survey comments – whether offered as suggestions or concerns – are available in the published report (all non-attributed and anonymised, of course). We will also detail how we did the survey in that report. (For those who want to know about methodology right now, skip to the end of this post.)
Next steps forward
The final section of the meeting identified steps forward from the successful completion of the survey:
1. Open talks with Hackney Council
On the basis of the very strong community interest expressed in the survey we’ll be seeking to meet with Council officers. Our consultation report will be submitted to the Markets Dept in the coming weeks.
2. Better organise the Chatsworth Traders & Residents Association
This will provide a strong foundation on which to build a market campaign and to address other issues, such as re-opening the post office and fighting long term shop closures. One of the ideas to emerge last night was to organise one-off ‘tester events’ at which the vision for the new market could be tried out and developed, based on feedback. That kind of project takes a lot of work. But with enough people pitching in, it’s all possible.
We’re currently a small coalition of volunteers. We’ve developed a large mailing list and we’ve got the community interested in a market.
But to effectively and fairly take the idea to the next stage we need to get organised and involve a wider group of people. We need to ensure that when someone offers help we’re capable of properly taking them up on that offer. We need to agree a constitution, to ensure that there is a transparent decision-making process, to develop a fundraising capacity, and to form a new Market Committee with new people offering skills, ideas & time.
To that end, following a vote last night, we’re going to invite the whole community down to another meeting in September at which people will have the chance to get involved in whatever aspects interest them.
In the meantime keep posting your comments up and have a great summer. If you want to be added to the mailing list just send us a request on: info@chatsworthroade5.co.uk
Methodology overview:
- Website and online version of survey went live, April
- Survey launched at public meeting, April 30th – 120 people attended
- At that meeting 30 volunteers took away batches of leaflets with street-specific delivery instructions
- 10,500 leaflets delivered door-to-door, during May, in estates and terraces throughout local area
- 1,500 leaflets also taken from shop counters on Chatsworth Rd, Homerton High St, Gilpin Square, Glyn Rd & Lower Clapton Rd
- 27 survey collection points set up at shops, library, pubs & schools, displaying posters, allowing people to drop-off completed survey leaflets
- 50 more posters displayed on residential streets advertising survey & informing people of their nearest survey collection point
- All posters provided phone number for queries or as alternative means of expressing views on market
- Survey ran until early June – 863 responses received in total
- Ratio of responses received online : on paper = 60 : 40 (approx)
- Survey also publicised via articles in local press
- Wide range of shops & outlets used as survey collection points
- Wide range of other shops made leaflets available on counters
- Various local organisations approached and offered opportunities to engage their service users with the market debate and survey (e.g. an older people’s housing scheme, a church congregation, Tenants & Residents Associations)
- Meeting held with Bannister House estate residents to discuss issues around market and to encourage particpation in survey
- Two day project carried out at Mandeville Primary school involving Year Six students in the survey and the history of their local high street
- Limitations of survey: i) leaflet only made available in English; ii) some streets & estates probably did not receive door-to-door leaflets – a very few volunteers failed to confirm they had completed delivering their batches.
A massive THANK YOU!
- To all the shopkeepers who gave up counter space to display the survey leaflets
- To all the shopkeepers, publicans, librarians and school staff who gave up window space to display posters and who collected completed surveys over the 4 weeks
- To all the volunteers who gave up many hours of their time to deliver the survey leaflets over a huge area, many of them actively speaking to residents and encouraging them to participate
- To the former Market Festival organisation for donating funds towards covering the costs of conducting the survey and hosting this website
- To everyone who took the time to submit a survey response
Couldn’t have done it without you! Thanks.