AMT Public

St Ives town loyalty card wins top market town award in the East of England

In the face of a global recession and with the increasing impact of out-of-town supermarkets, St Ives Town Initiative in Huntingdonshire launched East Anglia’s first town-wide independent loyalty card scheme. Now it has won the East of England regional prize in the prestigious Market Town Awards and will go head-to-head with projects from seven other regions in the National Market Town Awards.

The aim of the scheme was to encourage shoppers to shop locally rather than go to out-of-town shopping areas where they may feel that they get better value for money.

The SITI card rewards shoppers for shopping locally by giving them something back for doing so. This may be a discount, a BOGOF offer, free delivery/gift wrapping or a reduced price on certain items. This, combined with the personal approach of smaller independent businesses, encourages people to use their local businesses more often, thus sustaining the town centre.

The scheme depends on the community embracing it and continuing to use the SITI card. The success of the scheme is entirely dependent on the businesses keeping their offers relevant and attractive and on the community continuing to see benefit from using their cards in the town centre.

With 6000 cards in circulation and 43 member businesses, this need has been fulfilled. Evidence shows that the number of people using the town centre has once again increased against a national backdrop of decreasing figures and anecdotal evidence suggests that the scheme is popular amongst local people and visitors. New businesses are joining the scheme all the time having seen how the scheme has been successful for other businesses.

The SITI card won the Business and Economy Category in the regional Market Town Awards and was also the overall regional winner. The award was presented at a ceremony in Swaffham by Philip Eden, Vice- Chairman of Action for Market Towns.  They now go head-to-head with other regional winners to compete for the National Market Town Award at the Action for Market Towns Convention in Chippenham, Wiltshire on October 12.

Other winners were:

Partnership and Strategic Working Category – Advance Swaffham for involving the whole Swaffham community in the preparation and production of a detailed 10-year plan for Swaffham.

Social and Community Category – Ware in Bloom for its multiple projects involving local residents, shops, commercial businesses and community groups from the ground up in transforming the town as an entry to the Anglia in Bloom competition.

Environment and Culture Category – Thomas Paine Festival, Diss for its festival to commemorate the bi-centenary of the death of Thomas Paine, author of Rights of Man, who worked as a staymaker in Diss in the 1760s, involving wide sections of the community in a series of events.

The East of England Market Town Awards are part of the National Market Town Awards which each year celebrate the great variety of volunteer-led projects which are helping to regenerate and sustain small towns throughout the country. The Awards are organised by Action for Market Towns, the national organization with over 400 towns in membership which supports the regeneration and vitality of small towns.

Ends

For further press information on the market town awards, please contact: John Pole on 01430 441557. E-mail: john.pole@towns.org.uk

To contact St Ives Town Initiative, ring Angela Dickinson on 01480 495445

To contact Advance Swaffham, ring David Wickerson on 01760 725741

To contact Ware in Bloom, ring Jan Wing on 01920 421466

To contact Thomas Paine Festival ring Basil Abbott on 01379 650618