My recent friendly chats with local retailers contain a twinge of agitation about the “business blocking wooden boxes that appeared in the street overnight”. And although I support the letters, consultations and QR Codes inviting everyone to “have their say” about traffic calming measures, I struggle to contradict accounts from retailers who say they were never informed at all.
So is there a communication breakdown somewhere along the line? I suspect there is – so where is it?
Well, for starters the fat piles of unopened post and leaflets wedged next to cash registers are instant clues that more generic looking paper isn’t the best approach to informing the average busy retailer of anything. And nor is jargon-laden blogs hailing the benefits of traffic calming measures with links to videos or a 55-page report.
We must understand our retailers’ daily grind before we shower them with yet more bureaucratic sounding papers or web based gabby discourse. I believe that if we swapped places with them and tried running a shop single handedly we’d probably swerve the paper and 55-page “Pedestrian Pound” report espousing the benefits to be had when drivers eventually choose to park their cars and stroll to the shops.
I see both sides of the coin, but we need an inclusive approach to sharing information with our diverse and brilliant retailers; the question is when is this ever going to happen?
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