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From new towns to re-purposing – 60 years of innovation
It’s some 25 years since I first walked through the door at Lichfields, fresh-faced and looking forward to my new role as a Planner in the Newcastle Office, with a focus on town centre and retail work. Much water has passed under the bridge in the quarter century that has followed, and having just passed that milestone, it seems like an appropriate moment to reflect on our work over the years.
Founded in 1962, Lichfields has, throughout its 60 year history, been at the forefront of planning for town centres and town centre uses. Looking back to the early years of the business, we were actively involved in the establishment of the New Towns being planned during the 1960s. In the North East we assisted in the preparation of the masterplan for Cramlington New Town but our work was perhaps more celebrated in Milton Keynes and Peterborough. Our founder, Nathaniel Lichfield, created the first economic model for use in planning, and this formed the basis for our inputs into the Milton Keynes masterplan. In Peterborough, the challenge was slightly different as the new town was to be an extension of an existing settlement – but we made our mark there too, with Nat Lichfield successfully resisting arguments for the development of an entirely new city centre and instead promoting the expansion of the existing, historic core.

Cathedral Square, Peterborough

Image credit: Opportunity Peterborough

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s we carried out shopping studies, much the same as we do now for local planning authorities today. We also advised developers promoting large new shopping centres in the centre of established towns and cities – a good example being our work for the developers of the Arndale Shopping Centres across several locations, most notably in Manchester where we provided evidence in support of the quantum of new shopping floorspace as part of the CPO.
However, while much of our work at this time was in town and city centres, interest had started to emerge in out of town shopping and we worked on Brent Cross, the first out of town shopping mall in the UK. We acted for Hammerson, the developers, making the case on the basis of filling a gap in the hierarchy of NE London. We also later acted for Capital and Counties on the second large regional shopping centre proposal at Lakeside.
During the 1980s, we started to evolve into a modern town planning consultancy practice, working for commercial operators, initially through our economic and masterplanning services but increasingly also as planning and development advisors. We started to work for M&S, providing advice on the sales potential of new stores (and indeed we played a similar role for the Co-operative Group during the 1990s). This led to us becoming involved in reviewing new store development proposals, including in relation to M&S’ first out of town store at the Brookfield Centre in Cheshunt which led to a more general role in providing support on development management issues across their store portfolio. As they accelerated their store development programme, this led to a huge amount of work in coordinating their planning applications, which were mainly town and city centre redevelopments at that time. One particularly significant example of this work was our advice to M&S on the redevelopment of their flagship Manchester City Centre store in the aftermath of the IRA bomb in the mid-1990s, a hugely important and symbolic investment in the regeneration of the centre.

M&S, Manchester City Centre

In the 1990s, new policy approaches emerged in response to the rapid growth in out of town development, fuelled by a fast-growing economy, increasing disposable income and credit card debt. A revised PPG6 was published in 1996 which significantly strengthened the “impact” test and introduced a new requirement – the need for “a sequential approach to site selection”. We had to react quickly to these new requirements as we were engaged by many local authorities – and also by various developers promoting large out of centre developments – developing new methodologies to respond to the new requirements. In particular, from a personal perspective I recall being involved in a major Public Inquiry at the Metro Centre in the late 1990s, where we developed what was, at the time, a ground-breaking approach to respond to the new ‘sequential test’.
In 2003 the Government confirmed that any proposals for out of centre development should also demonstrate ‘need’. While assessments of need had been around for many years – to inform and support Development Plans – this new requirement led to a greater focus on how to assess need for town centre uses. We responded to this by developing new capacity models to help assess need, not only for retail, but also other commercial leisure uses such as health and fitness clubs and cinemas. Our cinema capacity model – CineSCOPE – was particularly well used, both to support plan-making and planning applications – including, for example, a planning application for a new cinema at Parrs Wood in South Manchester – and indeed, we still use it to this day.

Extract from CineSCOPE Cinema Capacity Model

Over the last few years we have been very actively engaged in town centres again, against the background of structural change on the high street and the need for town centres to continue their evolution – this time away from retailing and towards a broader range of uses. This has included work on various town centre masterplans and providing associated support to local authorities and other public sector organisations in both compulsory purchase matters and by developing business cases to support applications for funding. Over the last year we have provided support on various Town Investment Plans and other bids for funding, including to the Future High Streets Fund, and a wide range of planning projects aimed at the re-purposing of former shopping centres and department stores. Many of these projects are truly innovative, and our work in Stockton on Tees is a great example. As part of a masterplan team looking at the redevelopment of the Castlegate Shopping Centre site we submitted a planning application promoting the development of a new urban park, which was approved last summer.

Proposed Urban Park, Castlegate, Stockton on Tees


Image credit: Ryder Architecture
Structural change in the retail sector, and the knock-on effect of this on the high street, has undoubtedly prompted a much greater focus on town and city centres than at any point in my career, with most towns now subject to proposals which will both diversify the mix of uses away from retail, and re-establish their broader role at the heart of local communities. To support this, we will, over the coming months, launch REVITALISE, our latest toolkit aimed at providing support to those engaged in town centre revitalisation.
The changing dynamic within town centres is genuinely exciting and we look forward to playing our part in supporting the continued evolution of town centres to meet the needs of the 21st century.

 

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Town Centres: A Time for Change

Town Centres: A Time for Change

Jonathan Wallace 31 May 2019
It is all too tempting to open this blog by asking the question do town centres have a future? After all, the last 12 months has seen a huge number of town centre retailers hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons, and many announcing widespread closures. This trend has continued apace in 2019, with many more names announcing plans to reduce their presence on the high street. Last month it was Debenhams, last week it was Arcadia and Jamie Oliver’s restaurant chain, this week it is Boots. The list appears endless and it is clearly not a ‘blip’ – town centres, and the wider retail and leisure market, are undergoing major structural change – change characterised by an oversupply of retail space in many locations, tumbling rents and values, rising yields and most visibly an increase in vacancies – and change which is likely to be with us for the long term.

It was against this background that I chaired a Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) seminar last week on ‘Town Centre Futures’. Truth be told, I had my concerns that it could turn out to be rather downbeat with much discussion about increasing vacancies, lack of demand and wider economic uncertainty. However, I am happy to say that my concerns were unfounded – thanks to a series of positive presentations from speakers from a variety of different backgrounds, attendees at the event enjoyed a stimulating day which confirmed that town centres do indeed have a future – albeit one which is likely to be different from the roles they play at present, or have played in the past.

Of course, as you would expect, we did spend some time analysing what has led to the current crisis on the high street – a ‘Perfect Storm’ created by the untimely collision of a range of factors:

  • The march of technology – smart phones and other technological advancements have made internet shopping ever more convenient;
  • A greater consumer focus on convenience;
  • A decline in consumer loyalty – both in terms of individual brands and shopping locations; and
  • Increased interest in experiences– in preference to material goods, and in subscription services over products.

We also spent some time discussing the ‘elephant in the room’ – the growth in online shopping – which has undoubtedly been a key driver of change and one which shows no sign of abating with growth set to continue (albeit at a slower pace) for at least the next decade. There is no question about it – online retailing is still growing and is here to stay.

However, the discussion quickly moved on to the future and a number of broad themes emerged:
  1. In most centres ‘do-nothing’ isn’t an option – given the extent of the structural change currently being experienced, a ‘do nothing’ approach won’t work and except perhaps in the very strongest locations, we aren’t going to able to rely on retail demand to fill the space in our centres – put simply, many centres now have an over-supply of Class A1 and A2 retail floorspace. Weak values in many centres will undermine the viability of redevelopment options in many centres, and ‘re-purposing’ existing spaces to meet occupier demand and current and future needs will be key.

  2. Despite the doom and gloom, some sectors are growing – while retail demand has unquestionably fallen, there are still some A1 retailers with live requirements for new floorspace. In addition there is increased demand in many centres for town centre pubs / bars, gyms and health clubs, and retail services such as hairdressers, beauty salons, dentists / orthodontists – typically the things we can’t buy on-line. Some of these uses were previously ‘priced out’ of town centres but are now finding opportunities to take space due to the fall in rental values. In addition, some retailers (e.g Primark) are continuing to thrive despite no on-line sales presence.

  3. Multi-Channel retailing is an opportunity, not just a threat – the internet is here to stay and it has clearly impacted on shopping patterns and will continue to do so. However, multi-channel retailing and ‘click and collect’ in particular brings opportunities to attract new customers into town centre environments – and customers using ‘click and collect’ facilities are quite likely to spend money on other goods and services when they come into town to collect goods bought online. Social media channels such as Instagram also provide new opportunities to engage with and attract customers e.g through the role of on-line social media ‘influencers’  and their ability to promote in-store events.

  4. Town Centres need to be customer-focused – if centres are to be successful, there needs to be an increased focus on the needs and wants of customers – and the overall experience they offer. Factors like toilet provision, perceptions of safety, cleanliness, lighting, disabled access, evening opening hours, accessibility and parking all make a big difference to how people view town and city centres, and ultimately influence how often and when they choose to visit. The most successful centres will be those that understand this and develop strategies to ensure that the overall customer experience is positive and encourages return visits.

  5. Local authorities have a central role to play – whether through business support, car parking, planning policy strategies or development management decisions, local authorities have a key role to play in driving the success of town centres. Those authorities that take a positive and pro-active planning strategies to ensure centres can both evolve and attract new investment (e.g through changes of use away from A1 retail to a broader range of uses, and through new office and residential development), and through support for independent businesses, will create the platform for success.

  6. Business also needs to play its part – Notwithstanding the need for local authorities to create the platform for success, business also needs to play its part. All town centre businesses have an interest in the success of the centres in which they are located but business engagement and collaboration in town centre strategies and initiatives is often poor. Through active participation and leadership, national and local / independent businesses need to step up and play full and active roles as stakeholders in centres.

  7. The need for Town Centre Management remains as great as ever – while the funding / resource environment may be difficult – local authorities budgets are tight and in contrast to the 1990s, few national retailers actively support town centre management posts and initiatives – the need for management of our town centres is probably greater now than it has ever been.

  8. There are a wide range of planning tools available to support town centres – planning policy has a role to play and while national planning policy, as set down in the NPPF appears unlikely to be tightened in the near future, there are many existing planning tools which LPA’s can use to support and regenerate town centres. Compulsory purchase powers, Local Development Orders, Neighbourhood Development Orders, Area Action Plans, Supplementary Planning Documents, Business Improvement Districts, Heritage Action Zones and Development Corporations provide local authorities with a multitude of different options, which are not currently being fully explored.

  9. Town centres need to remain relevant to the communities that they serve – people have more choice in retail and leisure than ever before and we need to give them reasons to choose town centres over the myriad of other options available.

  10. Town centres remain an important element in our local economies - even if total employment in the retail sector has fallen recently, it remains a hugely important sector within the economy. The latest available ONS data confirms that 9.5% of the total working population in England is employed in the retail sector – equating to around 2.5 million people. Only the healthcare sector employs more people nationally. This shows the value in supporting town centres from an economic perspective.


Image credit: Orange "Pip" market (Middlesbrough Council) 
After years of focus from the Government and the built environment profession on other issues, the high street is finally climbing up the agenda. An expert panel was set up at  the request of the High Streets Minister (Jake Berry) in July 2018, culminating in the publication of the High Street Report in December of that year. The Government then published its own response to a Select Committee inquiry in May 2019. As part of this, they announced a review of the Use Classes Order and number of changes to Permitted Development Rights (including changes of use), which my colleague Dan Gregg will cover in a separate blog next week. 

Here in the North East, we recently took part in a research project with the North East of England Chamber of Commerce (NEECC). This project developed a series of recommendations to help town centres ensure their future roles, based on research and examples of best practice, focused around workshops with key stakeholders in five city/town centres. The report can be found here and while it is based on experiences in the North East, the recommendations from the research will be relevant to many centres around the UK.

In summary, town centres do have a future, but it will be a little different. In many cases, they might not look radically different from the way they look now – they will offer less retail floorspace, but also a wider range of other uses including a stronger independent offer, and they will be supported by increased footfall from office workers and new residential communities. Fundamentally, to be successful, centres need to be relevant to the communities that they serve – and they will need a lot more love than we show them now.

 

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