Batley Town Centre Audit 2004 Factsheet 5

BATLEY TOWN CENTRE AUDIT 2004FACT SHEET 5: PERCEPTIONS OF THE TOWNAround two thirds (66%) of questionnaire respondents wereIntroductionindependent traders. Just over half (52%) of businessrespondents have been trading in the town centre for more thanThis document, produced by Kirklees MC’s Planning Service, is10 years. Traders that are new to the town (up to 2 years)designed to provide supplementary information on the surveysconstitute 26% of respondents.of town centre businesses and shoppers/visitors that wereundertaken as part of the 2004 Town Centre Audit (in A1 foldedEmployment: Figure 2 shows the changes experienced byform). This is one of a series of Fact Sheets that containrespondents during the last 12 months in respect of employeedetailed analysis of the indicators of town centre performancenumbers. Over half (62%) recorded that their staff numbers hadpresented in the main publication.not changed whilst 19% registered an increase. Retailemployment continues to be characterised by part time jobs,Assessing perceptions: Methodologyand by a predominantly female workforce. This is particularlytrue of the convenience goods retail sector where 63% ofQuestionnaire surveys were undertaken in Batley town centre employees are part-time. during July and August 2003 to gauge the views ofshoppers/visitors and business owners/managers on various Figure 2: Changes in staff numbers (last 12 months)town centre issues. Tabulated full results from ...