Retailers support town centre development
contributing to the rapid demise of many town centres, with the
development of out-of-town supermarkets often leading to other
retail outlets setting up shop in the same location. But new
government plans to revitalise town centres have been welcomed by
the British Retail Consortium as vital for the continued prosperity
of the sector, writes Chris Jones.
A draft policy document called PPS6, unveiled this week by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, sets out the government's vision for the future of Britain's towns, focusing in particular in rebuilding communities - including both affordable, pleasant housing and a complete range of retail facilities. The aim is also to reduce the need for cars by bring retail outlets closer to their customers.
Among the aims set out in the document are "enhancing consumer choice by making provision for a range of shopping, leisure and local services, which allow genuine choice to meet the needs of the entire community," and "supporting an efficient, competitive and innovative retail and leisure sector, with improving productivity" - two areas where the supermarket groups are likely to play a major role.
The BRC, which represents Britain's retail community, including the supermarket sector, welcomed the government's proposals, but called for greater support from the authorities to help its members do their bit to encourage prosperous and thriving town centres.
"The British Retail Consortium is pleased that the government recognises the importance of vibrant and successful towns and that this can be balanced with appropriate out-of-town development, but now asks the government to do more to encourage retail investment in our town centres," the organisation said in a statement.
Nigel Smith, director of corporate social responsibility at the BRC, added: "It is important to remember that curbing out-of-town development will not in itself secure retail provision in the town centre. There are restrictions and barriers that can deter retailers from successfully investing in town centres, such as poor transport links, inadequate parking facilities, restrictions on delivery and high property costs."
Smith said that the draft proposals included the requirement to provide local shopping facilities for city centre residents, but that they said nothing of the barriers to this provision or what steps local authorities could take to remove them.
"The draft PPS6 is the right way forward but a holistic approach is needed to include all of the retail formats that actually exist in any given area. Planning should not suppress what might be a valuable contribution to regeneration and community development."
Supermarkets in the UK have found it increasingly hard to get permission for out-of-town outlets as planning authorities have grown increasingly concerned about the exodus of retailers from town centres. This in turn has led to the likes of Tesco and Sainsbury's looking for new opportunities in the convenience store sector, where most of the outlets are in High Street locations, but there are still many limitations on this form of outlet.
Convenience stores are targeted mainly at 'top-up' shoppers in need of bread, milk or other items to keep them going until their next major shopping trip to the out-of-town store. As such, they stock a limited range of products and are generally more expensive than the major stores, even those run by the same company. While this kind of outlet undoubtedly serves the needs of the local community (not to mention allowing the major multiples to expand without planning restrictions), it still falls far short of the type of store envisaged by the government.
Companies such as Waitrose and Somerfield have pursued a more consistent High Street retail focus, offering a much broader range of goods than convenience stores and other independent retail outlets, but their stores tend to serve specific communities (Waitrose, for example, has a very specific customer base it targets, as is reflected in the price of its products).
Furthermore, with consumers used to large out-of-town outlets with a wide range of goods at low prices, supermarkets will need to be able to offer the same levels of service to town centre shoppers - who, in any case, should not be discriminated against by being forced to pay more for their food. A loosening of the restrictions on town centre planning will certainly help - but the authorities will be wary of giving the major retailers too much room for manoeuvre in a market which is already considered by many to be anti-competitive.
