Committee Reports > List of Committees > Joint > 2000 > Committee on Enterprise and Small Business > Report - Development in Relation to UK Supermarket Trading Practices & Retail Planning

APPENDIX VII

Appendix 7.

LGA/NRPF CONFERENCE ON “TOWN CENTRES - TURNING THE LIGHTS ON”

TUESDAY 29 FEBRUARY 2000

SPEECH BY NICK RAYNSFORD MP

Let me start by thanking you for inviting me to speak at this important conference. It is the first of its type, developed through a close partnership between local government and the retail industry, which is itself a major sign of progress. The challenge of creating competitive and attractive town centres is an issue which should unite us all. So thank you for providing me with the opportunity to make clear the Government’s position, to report progress and to address your research agenda.

PPG6: THE GOVERNMENT’S COMMITMENT TO TOWN CENTRES

Towns and cities have for 3000 years or more been the main focus for shopping and commercial activities. This was their natural function and the main reason for their existence. However, changing transport and living patterns over the past century have posed a potentially serious threat to the viability of towns and cities as major shopping centres. This culminated in an explosion of out-of-town shopping centres in the 1980s and early 1990s. The last Government which for much of its period in office acquiesced in this process, recognised in its dying years, the serious threat which this posed to existing town centres, and published new planning guidance in PPG6 designed to put the focus back onto town centres.

The new Labour Government did not require convincing of the need for a strong stance on town centres. We could see the damage done in the previous 20 years by permissive planning policies and a lack of support for local authorities who were desperately trying to maintain the competitiveness of their town centres against out-of-town competition.

Focusing new investment in town centres is a key policy for this Government. It is fundamental to achieving some of our main policy aims, especially:

•promoting an urban renaissance;

•tackling social exclusion; and

•creating more sustainable patterns of development.

We are committed to creating a policy framework which enables towns and cities to implement their vision for their centres. We want to help our city and town centres improve their competitiveness.

SELECT COMMITTEE

I think I must, at this stage, pay a tribute to the focus which the Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Committee has given to this subject. They have steadfastly promoted town centres. They have been a spur to both this Government and the last administration to strengthen planning policy to sustain and enhance town centres. I welcome their persistence and support. Their most recent report, on the Environmental impact of Supermarket Competition, has yet again put its finger on what needs doing to make this popular policy work even better. I do not want to pre-empt the Government’s Response, which will appear shortly. I will, however, comment later on one of the issues they have raised: how the sequential approach should be applied.

SUPPORT FOR TOWN CENTRE MANAGEMENT

The Government is also committed to town centre management. This is, of course, a local matter, but we provide support in a number of ways.

We support the Association of Town Centre Management, financially; as joint-funders of research; and through Ministerial support at conferences. Indeed, I have spoken at several ATCM conferences, including the first European Conference in Barcelona in 1997, when I was looking at cities with strong mayors as a model for London. I launched two of our joint publications, on town centre partnerships and managing urban spaces, copies of which were sent to all local authorities.

We have also supported the Civic Trust through our Special Grants Programme, matching funding from Boots and other contributors, for an action research programme - called “Realising the Vision” - to work in partnership with local authorities to revitalise the High Street. This illustrated the success of local partnerships in places as diverse as Brixton, Walsall, Eccles; Horsham, Leatherhead and Chester-le-Street. The final report “Investing in the High Street” was launched last May by Richard Caborn. Again the report was published in our good practice series and sent to all local authorities.

Recently our Government Office for the North West issued a good practice publication to promote town centres in their region - others may follow.

POLICY DEVELOPMENTS UNDER THIS GOVERNMENT

Clarifying the Policy:

But policy for town centres has not stood still. The policy has to evolve with events. Following our reaffirmation of support for PPG6 we have further clarified the policy.

Firstly, the sequential approach was clarified in the Government’s Response to the Select Committee in 1997. This made clear that where large out-of-town developments consisted of several elements, the appropriate test was whether the elements of the scheme, rather than the scheme as a whole, could be accommodated on more central sites. Whilst the Response dealt specifically with major leisure developments, the principle of “severability” for a retail warehouse park was challenged and upheld in the Courts.

The second clarification applies to extensions - whether for retail or leisure. This made clear that extensions to out-of-centre developments should be treated in the same way as new floorspace. It should be subject to the same tests as any new out-of-centre floorspace.

The most recent clarification - made last February - was to make clear that all proposals for retail and leisure developments outside a town centre must demonstrate that there a “need” for the development.

Wider Planning Dimension:

Of course our efforts to improve the attractiveness and competitiveness of town centres is part of a wider planning agenda. We will shortly be publishing the new PPG3 on meeting housing needs. In fact, the same way as town centres have been threatened by out-of-town shopping centres, so too greenfield development has undermined the viability of many towns as attractive places for people to live.

Our urban renaissance agenda is all about reversing that damaging trend - and of course protecting the countryside in the process. We are determined to make our towns and cities attractive places for people to live as well as shop and incidentally centres of leisure and recreation facilities as well. We have set a target for 60% of all new homes to be built brownfield sites and to be provided by converting existing buildings. We have nailed our colours to the mast of higher quality design and to the creation of mixed communities, providing for people who want to rent houses as well as those who want to buy, and providing for the growing number of single people and childless couples who will need homes in the years ahead. It is a sobering and significant statistic that 70% of additional demand for housing in England over the next twenty years is likely to come from single person households. Many will be only too pleased to live in town centre locations, close to shops and entertainment as much as transport links, providing we ensure that suitable and affordable housing is made available.

Concern For Market Towns and District Centres:

But we are concerned not only with major centres - we are worried by the problems now being faced by smaller centres: market towns, district centres and local centres. These have faced problems of competition from the major city centres and from out-of-town shopping. On one hand many have suffered from the decline of their anchor store - usually a supermarket. People do not often understand the fragility of these centres and their dependence on these anchor stores.

Some centres now have the opposite problem. What they need is a local supermarket, with its size directly related to the size, role and catchment of the centre itself. Some are now experiencing the problem of large supermarkets seeking to piggyback on a local centre - arguing that they are in a town centre but in practice having all the characteristics of a freestanding superstore; relying predominantly on car-borne shoppers diverted from other out-of-centre stores.

We recognise that there is a need for further research on the health of secondary centres and to look at the importance of anchor stores to such centres.

Tackling Social Exclusion:

Tackling social exclusion is the next main task for retail planning policy - to provide access to shopping for all. As part of the Government’s efforts to tackle social exclusion, a Policy Action Team, PAT13: Access to Shopping, was set up to look at how to tackle the issue. The consultation report published last November highlights the need to change the way we plan for local shopping, and, in particular, the need for local retail strategies - a bottom-up approach, based on ensuring access to local shops. We are currently considering how to take forward the work of PAT13. It is becoming clear that there is a need to articulate this policy for local centres. This will require a much more positive and proactive approach to local planning, with the policies and the local retail strategy being developed in partnership with the local community.

GOVERNMENT-FINANCED RESEARCH TO SUPPORT THE POLICY

Let me now turn to the second part of your conference, which has been about the town centre research agenda.

The Government is a major player in the policy research field. Our primary role is to commission research to inform policy development, including monitoring and evaluation. This still leaves plenty of scope for others. There may be lots of subjects that need research. Many are in the “nice to know” category - we concentrate on the “need to know” category. Nevertheless, we are happy to be a partner on projects of common interest, including those promoted the National Retail Planning Forum.

DETR Research Programme:

The NRPF’s recent Bibliography of Retail Planning drew up a “top ten” list of books for the retail planner’s bookshelf. Even though PPG6 was excluded - you are all supposed to treat it as the Bible - publications by my Department research programme figured prominently in the list. This indicates both the quality of the publications, but also that this is a wide open research field.

My Department’s “Vital and Viable Town Centres: Meeting the Challenge”- one of the key documents for the planners’ bookshelf - recommended the need for health checks and for better data. The follow-up work on defining town centres for statistical purposes has devised a technique for identifying town centres on a common basis across England. The pilot for London - producing a set of post codes for each statistical town centre into which national data on turnover, floorspace and employment can be downloaded - will help monitor the health of town centres. This year we will complete London, next year - England.

Our project on “The Impact of Large Food Stores on Market Towns and District Centres” also made quite a splash. It confirmed what a lot of people suspected - that large out-of-centre or out-of-town superstores could seriously damage market towns and district centres. It illustrates clearly what impact such stores can have.

We also have a project looking at the barriers to mixed-use and housing developments in town centres. This will report shortly.

Future projects include monitoring the effectiveness of PPG6; the health of secondary centres; and developing a methodology for assessing need and impact for retail and leisure.

RESEARCH PARTNERSHIPS

As well as commissioning research ourselves, we have worked closely with others, and several of these projects have ended up as publications in the Department’s Good Practice series.

Our partners have included the London Planning Advisory Committee, the Association of Town Centre Management, Marks and Spencer and Boots.

NRPF RESEARCH

And we also work closely with the National Retail Planning Forum, having co-funded research on “Walking and Accessibility in Town Centres” in 1999. We are also currently co-funding research on the sequential approach which was reported today, and we look forward to working together on the subjects for this year: transport issues and on secondary centres and role of anchor stores.

CONTRIBUTION OF NRPF

I must at this stage pay tribute to the role of the National Retail Planning Forum, who have managed to create a dialogue amongst the main stakeholders in this field - retailers, local government, property owners and investors and Government. It provides an opportunity to develop a consensus on where we are going and to commission selectively research that will help illuminate the policy agenda.

I would like to comment briefly on two reports that have been published today.

The project on Successful Centres highlights the increasing concentration in major centres and development of regional/sub-regional “power centres”. This has potential implications for Government’s policy aims, particularly the decline in medium-sized centres for comparison-shopping and the implications of this for our policy for an urban renaissance. It would mean reduced choice with implications for social exclusion and increased long-distance travel for shopping.

Secondly, there is the research on the Sequential Approach to Retail Development. This highlights inconsistency in interpreting the sequential approach. PPG6 requires flexibility with regard to format, scale, design and car parking with the aim being to “fit” into a town centre or, failing that, an edge-of-centre site.

This presents a problem for large format developments - whether shopping or leisure. The principle of severability applies - where the sequential approach applies to the elements of the scheme.

The NRPF research contrasts two approaches:

i.the format-driven approach, where the developer says this is my preferred format, which does not fit into town centres and should be exempted from the policy; or

ii.the “class of goods” approach, where the key question is whether there is any reason why such goods cannot be sold from town centres.

The Government’s policy - as stated in PPG6 - is the latter. Most goods can and should be sold from town centres. It enables competition - comparison - shopping is a classic function of town centres. Retail warehouses are often just large showrooms. Most of the items are not “bulky”, which is the traditional argument, or even if they are large, they are not taken away by the customer - the other argument for choosing locations with generous car parking provision. PPG6, quite deliberately, does not propose exceptions to the application of the sequential approach.

The NRPF research - and the recent Select Committee report - have highlighted the need to clarify how the policy should apply to large-format developments. PPG6 is clear - it expects developers to demonstrate flexibility.

SUPERSTORES AND EMPLOYMENT

Finally, although not among the presentations today, there is also the question of whether superstores result in a net increase in employment. I understand that this has been the subject of heated debate, but the result seems to be a score draw. The growing concentration of the trade in fewer firms, which by definition are more efficient than their less successful rivals, suggests that the total labour input should decline.

I understand that one side says that the more superstores means less retail employment in terms of full-time equivalent jobs, whilst the other claims that superstores create an increase in job opportunities - albeit that people work part-time, more people have a job.

The key issue for planning is whether this issue is sufficiently important to sway a planning decision and my initial reaction is that this would seldom be the case. The key issues will always be “need”, location and impact on the vitality and viability of existing centres, accessibility and car use. Whilst employment could be a material consideration, however, it will seldom be a deciding factor.

CONCLUSION

May I conclude by reaffirming our commitment to a firm and consistent approach to town centres and key town centre uses - they should always look to town centres first.

My other theme to leave you with is the need for local leadership. There is a major role here for local government in partnership with the private sector and the local community. There is a need to develop a shared vision, not just for the town centre but for centres which provide access to everyday needs - this means facilitating community-led, local retail strategies. The common factor is the need for ownership by the community.

This is a major challenge for local government - to resume the local leadership role and to find partners with whom to develop this shared vision and strategy and with whom they will implement the revitalisation of town centres. This is a key role - to which I pledge the Government’s support.