Fall in town centre retail floor space feared

The proportion of newly completed retail floor space in town centres appears to have declined since 2000, according to the retail industry.

The British Council of Shopping Centres (BCSC) has pointed out that recent planning policy guidance has encouraged the development of major mixed-use, retail-driven shopping centres in almost every major city in England.

However, it reported that the proportion of new floor space had remained constant at around 40 per cent. The BCSC argued that given the recent surge in activity the proportion (of new floor space) should have increased.

It also voiced concern that out-of-centre development is having a significant effect on medium-sized and smaller town centres by diverting trade from these more "vulnerable" town centres/high streets. The loss of floor space included traditional town centre non-food goods.

The BCSC has called for better monitoring and faster collection of floor space data so that trends and the impact of policy changes can be assessed more quickly.

These comments came as the BCSC submitted its response to the Government's revised guidance on planning for town centres. The organisation is broadly supportive of the draft guidance but has called for clearer guidance over the new impact appraisal framework to "ensure that the assessment of out-of-centre proposals is more effective".

In a related development the British Property Federation has welcomed the proposed revisions to the advice on town centres and the proposed "impact test".

Read the news story on the British Council of Shopping Centres website.

Roger Milne

9 October 2008