About this survey

The survey is intended for businesses for whom the festive season is an important and busy trading period. Your experience and evidence will help us understand which measures can best support town centres and businesses during Christmas.

Herefordshire Council is reviewing how best to support town centres and high streets during the Christmas period.

In previous years, the council has funded a range of initiatives, including free parking at selected times. These measures require investment and, in some cases, reduce income that could otherwise be used to support local services.

As we consider future Christmas initiatives, we want to understand which measures are most useful to businesses, residents and visitors, and what impact they have on town centres.

We are particularly interested in your experience of Christmas shopping and access arrangements, including parking, public transport, events, marketing and other initiatives that may encourage people to visit and spend locally.

Why we are asking for your views

Christmas is an important trading period for many businesses and an important time for town centres.

We want to understand what helps people visit and spend time in our town centres, and whether existing or potential initiatives provide good value and make a meaningful difference.

We are interested in evidence and experience where possible. This could include information about:

• Parking arrangements and their impact on visits
• Public transport and other ways of accessing town centres
• Christmas events and activities
• Marketing and promotional campaigns
• Changes in visitor numbers
• Changes in customer spending or business performance
• Other measures that have helped attract people into town centres

How the information will be used

The feedback from this survey will be considered alongside other information and evidence when the council looks at future Christmas town centre initiatives.

The survey does not commit the council to introducing or continuing any particular measure. Instead, it will help us understand what businesses, residents and visitors consider most useful and where investment could have the greatest benefit.

We encourage you to provide specific examples and evidence where you have it, as this will help us better understand the impact of different approaches.

Take part in the survey

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