Economic Development Minister Kirsten Morel announced the initiative earlier this year, explaining that cameras had been installed in Queen Street and King Street in December to provide more data on the “concentration” of footfall.
His announcement in July prompted Express to submit a request under the Freedom of Information law about the more precise locations of the three cameras now in place.
Where are the cameras and how much are they costing?
The response confirmed that the cameras are placed on the outside of Voisins to measure people walking in each direction of King Street, on a lamp post at the La Motte Street end of Queen Street, and on a lamp post at the Charing Cross end of King Street.
A parish-level FOI response further revealed the cameras were supplied by New Zealand-based company MRI OnLocation (formerly Springboard), and the subscriptions for the camera and analysis of that data it captures is £21,000 over three years (£8,200 in year one, £6,400 for each of years two and three).
While the footfall monitoring process is run by the parish of St Helier, the government contributed £8,200 towards the project.
What are the cameras monitoring?
The Government explained that the new cameras, and the subscriptions to MRI OnLocation, will aim to provide more comprehensive data and better understanding of the “nature, volume and dynamics of people moving through the town centre”.
In other words, the trends and habits of shoppers will be monitored, rather than the numbers alone.
The Government added: “The full retail strategy, which is due to be published this year, will use the footfall figures as part of the information to ensure St Helier town centre remains vibrant and attractive for islanders and visitors.”
Work to breathe life back into St Helier and the Central Market has been taking place for some time and the current Government listed “a plan to revitalise town” and “support retail vitality and vibrancy” as one of its priorities in the Common Strategic Policy.
Pictured: Economic Development Minister Kirsten Morel has been spearheading the project to revitalise town.
Deputy Morel recently published ‘Enabling Business’, his response to last year’s Barriers to Business report, which set out a raft of recommendations about how the Government could make it easier to do business in Jersey.
He said work was under way to implement 17 of the 38 recommendations, and that the Government was “exploring” relaxing the island’s strict rules around alcohol licensing and Sunday trading.
Data from last year revealed a 24% drop in foot traffic in town in August 2023 compared to the same period in 2019.
In his latest comments, Deputy Morel said: “Footfall is one of the key indicators of the health of a high street. However, it only paints half the picture. If the footfall is not being converted to store entries or sales, it is not valuable on its own.”
The data so far…
Because the new footfall cameras were only installed last December, Deputy Morel has said that the data collected will be comparable from this December onward.
However, the data from May and June this year is promising, with the total number of visitors in June at 2,353,544 compared to 1,779,760 in May – the difference mostly came in numbers higher throughout the week, while weekend numbers were stationary.
Pictured: ‘This Month’ is June, while ‘Previous Month’ is May.
The weekly average in June was 470,708, up from 444,940 in May and 403,674 in April.
The apparatus is also available to compare the decline or boost to similar high streets in the UK and South West, but the year-on-year comparisons cannot be put together until December.
However, the Government said: “Global changes in shopping and working (such as more working from home) have affected high street visitor numbers, but St Helier’s footfall is better than many UK towns and is continuing to hold up well.”
The figures also show that the south end of the high street, near Charing Cross, is much busier than the north end of Queen Street, near La Motte Street.
Pictured: The new cameras can also show the differences in footfall at opposite ends of town.
In June, around 97,000 visited the area near Charing Cross while around 63,000 visited Queen Street at La Motte Street.
Deputy Morel previously said he was appealing to the owners of empty units which previously housed retailers such as Next, Dorothy Perkins and Monsoon to entice businesses to trade from their premises and “invest in the island”. The upper end of Queen Street is one of two main areas that he is aiming to revitalise.
Plans were submitted last year to refurbish the former Dorothy Perkins store, and works are ongoing.
Earlier this year, proposals were also put forward to convert the office space above a former jeweller Ernest Jones and Seasons Boutique into eight flats with bespoke bronze entrance doors.
