This Report, commissioned by the Government from Mary Portas, was published on 13 December 2011. It recommends a range of remedies for the perceived decline of many High Streets, and the businesses which traditionally populate them.
Whilst she does not recommend a moratorium on out of town development, she does consider the option of forcing such sites to charge for parking, to help to level the planning field for town centre retailers.
On the planning front, she recommends much greater flexibility, allowing changes of use where retail is no longer viable to office, residential or other compatible uses, relaxing controls on the timing of deliveries and facilitating street markets and other similar uses, which might attract customers back to the High Street.
We will be assessing the implications of the report in greater detail over the next few weeks.
It is immediately apparent however that the draft National Planning Policy Framework published in July and now undergoing redrafting following the end of a consultation period, anticipated many of these recommendations in the following sections:
"Promote the vitality and viability of town
centres
76. Planning policies should be positive, promote competitive town
centre environments and set out policies for the management and
growth of centres over the plan period. Local planning
authorities should:
" Recognise town centres as the heart of their communities and
pursue policies to support the viability and vitality of town
centres
" Define a network (the pattern of provision of centres) and
hierarchy (the role and relationship of centres in the network) of
centres that is resilient to anticipated future economic
changes.
" Define the extent of the town centre and the primary
shopping area, based on a clear definition of primary and secondary
frontages in designated centres, and set policies that make clear
which uses will be permitted in such locations.
" Recognise that residential development can play an important
role in ensuring the vitality of centres and set out polices to
encourage residential development on appropriate sites.
" Allocate a range of suitable sites to meet the scale and
type of retail, leisure, commercial, community services and
residential development needed in town centres. It is
important that retail and leisure needs are met in full and are not
compromised by limited site availability. Local planning
authorities should therefore undertake an assessment of the need to
expand town centres to ensure a sufficient supply of suitable
sites.
" Allocate appropriate edge of centre sites where suitable and
viable town centre sites are not available, and if sufficient edge
of centre sites cannot be identified, set policies for meeting the
identified requirements in other accessible locations; and
" Set policies for the consideration of retail and leisure
proposals which cannot be accommodated in or adjacent to town
centres.
77. Local planning authorities should apply a sequential
approach to planning applications for retail and leisure uses that
are not an existing centre and are not in accordance with an up to
date Local Plan.
78. Local planning authorities should prefer
applications for retail and leisure uses to be located in town
centres where practical, then the edge of centre locations and only
if suitable suites are not available should out of centre sites be
considered. In applying this sequential approach, local
planning authorities should ensure that potential site are assessed
for their availability, suitability and for their ability to meet
the full extent of assessed quantitative and qualitative
needs.
79. When assessing applications for retail and leisure
development outside of town centres, which are not in accordance
with an up to date Local Plan, local planning authorities should
require an impact assessment if the development is over a
proportionate, locally set floorspace threshold. If there is no
locally set threshold, the default threshold is 2,500 sq m.
80. Planning policies and decisions should assess the impact
of retail and leisure proposals, including:
" The impact of the proposal on existing, committed and
planned public and private investment in a centre or centres in the
catchment area of the proposal; and
" The impact of the proposal on town centre vitality and
viability, including local consumer choice and trade in the town
centre and wider area, up to ten years from the time the
application is made."
Whilst many local planning authorities have been reluctant to
accept proposals for change of use of redundant retail units, it is
to be hoped that this report, and the proposed policy shift will
encourage them to adopt their own policies in similar terms and to
approve applications based on these new policy criteria.
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