Both the Blenheim and Picton CBDs have received a positive bill of health according to the Council’s Town Centre Health Check 2021-2022, but there is still room for some improvement.

With the ongoing impact of Covid being felt in both of Marlborough’s main towns, Council’s Economic Development Manager Neil Henry says the results of the latest Health Check surveys are positive overall.

Every two years Council takes the temperature of the central business district in the region’s largest towns. The Planning Finance and Community Committee received the final reports today for the December 2021-February 2022 period.

Mr Henry said the health checks provided a snapshot in time of how the Blenheim and Picton CBDs were performing.

“We use a variety of indicators based on a UK methodology to critically analyse and capture data about the health of our two main CBDs. We also analyse MarketView data to capture key trends in economic spend,” he said.

The key findings from the Blenheim report include that the number of retail shops in the CBD has continued a downward trend from 29% of total businesses in the area in 2018, to 27% in 2020 and 25% in 2021/2022.

“There is no doubt that Covid has had a huge impact on consumer tendencies, driving more purchasing online. However, the Blenheim CBD is also constantly changing. There was a sentiment from some respondents that the CBD could be made more attractive,” said Mr Henry.

“However, it is positive to see that, according to MarketView data for Blenheim, there was more money spent in Blenheim last year than Marlburians spent out of the region. Just over $281M was spent in the Blenheim CBD from January 2021 to December 2021 – that’s the second highest yearly spend since 2016.”

Visiting cafes/restaurants at 20% is now the most popular reason for visiting the town centre followed by non-food shopping at 19%. “The average amount of time most pedestrians spend in the CBD is one hour. And most people still like to drive into town,” he said.

Vacant properties in the Blenheim CBD decreased from 8% in 2018 to 5% in 2022 with a third of these on Queen Street. Some have since been filled since the data was collected.

In Picton, the number of vacant shops has doubled from six units in 2020 to 12 in 2022. “That’s the second-highest number of vacancies since 2014,” said Mr Henry.

Food and entertainment premises are continuing to increase and make up 28% of total CBD businesses in Picton.

“Picton is an essential connection between the North and South islands, and the gateway into the wider Marlborough Sounds area. It’s a hub for tourists and locals to experience the food and activities on offer. Retail in the town primarily caters to visitors and some locals surveyed were keen to see a wider variety of shops to cater for their needs,” he said.

With Covid putting a halt on international travel, food shopping at 25% has overtaken entertainment/leisure as the most popular reason for visiting the Picton CBD since the previous survey.

There were 142 responses to the Picton CBD pedestrian survey and 342 responses to the Blenheim CBD pedestrian survey, a record high from any previous survey.

To read the full Marlborough Town Centre Health Checks for 2020 for Blenheim and Picton go to:

https://www.marlborough.govt.nz/your-council/growing-marlborough/projects-associated-with-growing-marlborough/marlborough-town-centre-health-checks

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