Buchan Local Community Planning Group
Peterhead Town Centre – Your Views
Report
October 2013
Contents
Page
Summary of Key Findings
1.0 Background, Objectives and Methodology 1
2.0 Respondent Profile 3
3.0 Usage of Peterhead Town Centre 6
4.0 Views about Shopping and Services in Peterhead Town Centre 19
5.0 Catto Park Development 30
6.0 Initiatives to Improve Peterhead Town Centre 38
7.0 Conclusions 50
Appendices (Under Separate Cover)
1.0 Survey Questionnaires
2.0 Detailed Data Tables
3.0 Listing of Open-Ended Responses
4.0 Youth Survey Results
Summary of Key Findings
The profile of respondents by gender shows a greater female than male proportion (64%) which is typical of surveys of this nature.
Respondents also represented a broad range of age groups, although 65% were over the age of 45.
64% of respondents are employed and 27% are retired.
The average gross annual income per household is £33,762.93.
Usage of Peterhead Town Centre
The majority of respondents (61%) are frequent users of Peterhead Town Centre i.e. they use it weekly or more often. This is mainly for ‘top-up’ grocery shopping (33%, weekly or more often), private sector services such as banks, estate agents, solicitors etc. (30%), main grocery shopping (28%) and eating and drinking in bars, cafes and restaurants (21%).
When compared to other potential areas for shopping and using services Peterhead Town Centre is mainly used for private sector services such as banks, estate agents, solicitors etc. (68%), public services such as doctors, dentists, council services etc. (49%) and eating and drinking in bars, cafes and restaurants (45%). However, in relation to main grocery shopping and top-up grocery shopping, the majority of respondents will go elsewhere in Peterhead rather than the Town Centre (73% and 54% respectively).
60% of respondents say that they now visit Peterhead Town Centre less or much less than they did a couple of years ago, while 34% say that they still visit with the same frequency. Only 5% say that they now visit more or much more.
The main reasons for visiting Peterhead Town Centre less were: choice of shops (62%); physical environment (23%); charity shops (18%); personal safety / undesirable people (15%) and alternatives to Peterhead (10%).
Amongst the small minority that now visit Peterhead Town Centre more the main reasons for this were: changes in personal circumstances (60%) and choice of shops (26%).
Most respondents (73%) visit Peterhead Town Centre by car as the driver.
Typically, the vast majority of respondents (91%) spend between 1 and 2 hours in Peterhead Town Centre when they visit it and on average spend approximately £22.25 per visit.
While 22% have used a website or mobile phone app to get access to local information about shops or goods in Peterhead, the majority (78%) have never used either and amongst these respondents almost a third (31%) say they would use this in the future.
Views About Shopping and Services in Peterhead Town Centre
Respondents’ perceptions of the main good things about Peterhead are: convenience / ease of access (27%) and layout of the Town Centre (26%).
The main perceptions of what could be improved about Peterhead are: range of shops (36%); specific shops or types of shops (29%) and fewer charity shops (19%).
Peterhead Town Centre is rated positively in relation to ease of getting there (68%, rate it as good or very good) and ease of walking about the Town Centre (64%). By comparison poor ratings are given to the variety of shops in general (only 12%, rate it as good or very good), the variety of leisure and cultural opportunities in general (13%), physical appearance (15%), variety of services in general (20%) and cleanliness (21%).
Local private sector services and local public sector services are rated positively (73% and 60% respectively, rate it as good or very good). However, significantly poorer ratings are accorded to shopping other than grocery shopping (24%, rate it as good or very good), leisure services (28%) and main grocery shopping (30%).
The main types of shops, services or facilities that respondents would like to see in Peterhead that are not there at present are: clothing (52%) and grocery (37%).
The main specific brands of shops, services or facilities that respondents would like to see in Peterhead that are not there at present are: Marks and Spencer (56%); Primark (18%) and Next (18%).
Catto Park Development
Respondents mainly use Peterhead Community Centre (30%) and locations outwith Peterhead Town Centre (28%) to participate in sporting activities.
37% of respondents participate in sport once a week or more often while 40% say that they never participate in sport.
When asked to choose a priority for a new or enhanced sporting facilities in Peterhead Town Centre a significant minority (27%) chose a sports hall as their top priority, while 23% chose a dance / fitness studio and a further 26% chose ‘something else’.
71% of respondents think it is very or quite important for community and sporting facilities to be housed at a single site. Only 10% perceive it to be not important or not at all important and the remaining 20% of respondents gave a neutral response.
Other comments made about the development of sporting facilities at Catto Park were mainly: the desire for a range of facilities other than just football (25%); access to facilities (22%); general support for the development (21%) and the desire for specific facilities to be included in the development (20%).
Initiatives to Improve Peterhead Town Centre
The initiatives most likely seen as a ‘good thing’ by the majority of respondents are ‘greater enforcement of the on-street drinking Bye Law’ (93%), ‘free parking at weekends’ (89%) and ‘improvements to Drummers Corner’ (88%). Conversely, initiatives less likely to be seen as a ‘good thing’ are ‘prohibiting traffic from more town centre streets’ (19%), ‘provision of street art’ (30%) and ‘improving traffic flow by opening Marishal Street to traffic’ (40%).
The top five priorities for future initiatives as perceived by respondents are: ‘greater enforcement of the on-street drinking Bye Law’ (65%); ‘improvements to Drummers Corner’ (65%); ‘free parking at weekends’ (55%); ‘removing the cobbles’ (47%) and ‘abolition of all parking charges’ (41%).
The main things respondents think would help improve Peterhead Town Centre as a shopping and leisure destination were mainly to the range and variety of stores available (41%).
Free parking (60%) and improved opening hours (41%) are cited by respondents as initiatives that would most likely encourage visitors from other areas to visit Peterhead Town Centre.
The main suggestions made to encourage people that do not know Peterhead to use it as a visitor destination were: friendly people (30%); good selection of shops (22%) and good eating places / cafes (19%).
Conclusions
Overall, the survey highlights a number of challenges in terms of the shopping and service offer within Peterhead as well as ongoing public space issues. It seems likely that a range of short, medium and longer term actions will be required and that these will include engagement with the people of Peterhead to build their own pride in their town.
1.0 Background, Objectives and Methodology
Background
1.1 The Buchan Local Community Planning Group brings together partners from local services, organisations and the community to help identify and address the needs and concerns of the Buchan area. It is against this background that the Group wished to focus specifically on Peterhead Town Centre and commission a survey to capture information that would help partners, including the community itself, take action to enhance Peterhead, making it a successful and sustainable place for residents and visitors.
Objectives
1.2 The specific objectives of the survey were as follows:
· To understand the demographic profile of Peterhead residents
· To assess residents’ use Peterhead Town Centre
· To ascertain residents’ perception of Peterhead Town Centre
· To determine residents’ level of sporting activity and their priorities for new or improved facilities at Catto Park
· To identify possible initiatives to improve Peterhead
Methodology
1.3 The survey questionnaire was developed by the Buchan Local Community Planning Group with input from IBP Strategy and Research. Questionnaires were posted to households in Peterhead and those with a Peterhead postal address, using the edited Electoral Register. The survey was also promoted locally and additional hard copies were made available in public buildings. An online option was also made available for residents to respond.
1.4 Overall, there were 2,004 responses to the survey; 1,613 hard copy responses and 391 online. A sample of 2,004 responses provides a confidence interval of +/-2.1%.
1.5 Youth residents of secondary school age were given the opportunity to have their say through a separate online youth survey. A total of 37 responses were received for the youth survey and these results are shown in full in Appendix 4. Where appropriate we have commented on the youth survey results throughout this report.
2.0 Respondent Profile
2.1 The profile of respondents by gender is illustrated below. As shown, respondents were more likely to be female which is common in surveys of this nature.
Figure 2.1: Gender
2.2 Figure 2.2 illustrates the profile of respondents by age. A broad range of ages is evident, although the majority of respondents (65%) are over the age of 45.
Figure 2.2: Age
2.3 The vast majority of respondents are either employed (64%) or retired (27%) as shown in Figure 2.3.
Figure 2.3: Working Status
2.4 Figure 2.4 illustrates the gross annual income of respondents’ households. Taking the mid-point value for each of the bands we can calculate that the average gross annual income of respondents’ households is £33,762.93.[1]
Figure 2.4: Gross Annual Income of Household
Key PointsThe profile of respondents by gender shows a greater female than male proportion (64%) which is typical of surveys of this nature.
Respondents also represented a broad range of age groups, although 65% were over the age of 45.
64% of respondents are employed and 27% are retired.
The average gross annual income per household is £33,762.93.
3.0 Usage of Peterhead Town Centre
3.1 Figure 3.1 illustrates how often respondents say they go to Peterhead Town Centre to use the shops and services there.
Figure 3.1: Frequency of Visits Overall
How often do you go to Peterhead Town Centre to use the shops and services there?
Not answered excluded from base.
As shown above, the majority of respondents (61%) say that they visit Peterhead Town Centre weekly or more often. However, 10% of respondents visit the Town Centre less often than monthly.
3.2 The frequency with which respondents use specific types of shopping and services is detailed in Table 3.1.
Table 3.1: Frequency of Visits
How frequently would you say that you use Peterhead Town Centre for each of the following?
Not answered excluded from base.
Reason for visit / More than once a day / Daily / Two or three times a week / Weekly / Two or three times a month / Monthly / Once or twice a year / Less often / Never / BaseYour main grocery shop / 0% / 2% / 8% / 18% / 6% / 6% / 5% / 4% / 50% / 1,832
Top-up grocery shopping / 0% / 3% / 14% / 16% / 13% / 10% / 10% / 8% / 26% / 1,704
Other shopping, such as white goods, furniture, clothes, specialist shopping / 0% / 0% / 2% / 7% / 16% / 23% / 27% / 11% / 14% / 1,823
Using local private sector services (such as banks, estate agents, solicitors, dry cleaning) / 0% / 1% / 6% / 23% / 17% / 24% / 16% / 6% / 7% / 1,907
Using local public services (such as doctors, dentists, council services, library) / 0% / 0% / 1% / 4% / 9% / 15% / 43% / 9% / 18% / 1,883
Using leisure services (e.g. gym, other sports facilities) / 0% / 1% / 5% / 7% / 4% / 4% / 8% / 11% / 60% / 1,839
Eating and drinking (including bars, cafes, restaurants) / 0% / 2% / 5% / 14% / 16% / 22% / 20% / 9% / 12% / 1,915
As shown above, respondents most frequently visit Peterhead Town Centre for ‘top-up’ grocery shopping (33%, visit weekly or more often), private sector services such as banks, estate agents, solicitors etc. (30%), main grocery shopping (28%) and eating and drinking in bars, cafes and restaurants (21%). However, 60% of respondents say that they never visit Peterhead Town Centre to use leisure services and a 50% never visit for their main grocery shop.
3.3 Table 3.2 details the locations that respondents use most often for specific types of shopping and services.
Table 3.2: Location of Visits
Which of these locations do you use most often for each of the following types of shopping or services?
Not answered excluded from base.
Reason for visit / Peterhead Town Centre / Elsewhere in Peterhead / Elsewhere in Buchan / Outside Buchan / Online[2] / BaseYour main grocery shop / 8% / 73% / 9% / 7% / 2% / 1,893
Top-up grocery shopping / 24% / 54% / 14% / 7% / 1% / 1,657
Other shopping, such as white goods, furniture, clothes, specialist shopping / 25% / 9% / 13% / 36% / 17% / 1,683
Using local private sector services (such as banks, estate agents, solicitors, dry cleaning) / 68% / 6% / 9% / 7% / 9% / 1,853
Using local public services (such as doctors, dentists, council services, library) / 49% / 22% / 19% / 9% / 1% / 1,798
Using leisure services (e.g. gym, other sports facilities) / 21% / 34% / 20% / 19% / 6% / 1,269
Eating and drinking (including bars, cafes, restaurants) / 45% / 12% / 21% / 21% / 1% / 1,693
In relation to most types of shopping and services, the majority of respondents stay within the Peterhead area. The exception relates to other shopping such as white goods, furniture, clothes and specialist shopping where the majority (66%) will go outwith the Peterhead area, specifically outside Buchan (36%) or online (17%).