Considering alternative management models..
What does good look like?
By Andrew McCall, ROI Team and Graham Wilson of NABMA
Recent work by ROI Team indicates that across the UK, more than half of retail markets continue to be managed by Local Authorities, with further work by NABMA indicating that the trend away from LA management observed across the last five years, has stalled.
Given financial pressures on councils and the consequent challenge that many face in investing to update their markets, this resistance to change is surprising. NABMA wants to enable councils and other members to learn from pioneers who have walked the path towards trialling and adopting alternative management methods:
To see the improvements to the fortunes of markets that sometimes (not always) follow from adoption of new management methods
To learn lessons from those who have blazed the trail. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel for every new case!
Best and most effective practice for putting your market out to tender, taking account of many good and some flawed examples.
NABMA has appointed retail markets consultants, ROI Team and will work with them through the summer to research and produce a slate of easily usable information and guidance that will be released at the NABMA Conference in September. These will include case studies showing ‘Key Learnings’ from ten councils that have adopted a range of routes for transferring out management of their markets, such as:
- From council to commercial operator
- From council to Community Interest Company
- From council to BID or Town Centre Management
- From regional to local council
- From one council to consortium of councils
- From council to quasi-independent trading company and maybe others too.
Additionally, further analysis and the presentation of Nabma’s 2016 Survey of Members, regarding alternative management methods, will be delivered along with templates to guide members through the process of tendering out your market and appointing an external operator. Information will include:
- How to attract and shortlist the best applicants
- How to structure and mark the competition
- Having the confidence to appoint the best candidate
ROI Team are already at work, in collaboration with The Assembly Line, to research and produce material for release at the conference and the findings will then be available free of charge to members via a new members zone of the NABMA website.
If you have transferred your market to a new management structure and have a story that you believe NABMA members can learn from please contact Andrew McCall of ROI Team via Andrew.McCall@roiteam.co.uk