AMT Public

Action for Market Towns Position Statement & Background information. Retail and Town Centres. (February 2009)

Part 1. Promotion of Independent Retail & Vibrant Town Centres

Introduction

Action for Market Towns (AMT) is an independent, membership supported, charitable organisation that works to promote the interests of small rural towns across the UK and maximise the opportunities open to them.

AMT’s members regularly raise concerns about the impact of supermarket location and development on the sustainability of the independent retail sector within their towns. This is a critical issue because of the fundamental social and economic role that retail plays within a small town. The traditional role of market towns was the provision of a ‘market’ for the trade in goods and services at the interface of urban and rural populations.

While the historical concept of this ‘marketplace’ role may have become more complex as retailing has developed and the nature of the relationship between urban and rural communities has shifted, the mark left on our national cultural and social identity by it remains important. This cultural and social heritage is to a large extent what continues to attract people to market towns; surveys repeatedly show high percentages of urban respondents indicating the desire to live in such communities.

Against this background come new Local Government practices and policies, such as those affecting what is called sub regional strategy, being implemented throughout the UK. They are intended to enhance the role of local authorities and local strategic partnerships in economic development through Local Area Agreements and Multi Area Agreements and encourage dialogue with local communities.

Another major influence over the town centres of rural market towns, are the planning policies that affect developments, particularly those to do with Supermarkets, whether in or out of towns.

In light of the recent publication of CLG’s (Department of Communities & Local Government) draft proposals for revised Town Planning Guidance (PPS6) and the earlier Competition Commission’s report on their inquiry into the UK grocery market, AMT’s Policy Working Group has agreed the following on which to base our responses to policy consultations on these issues.

Positioning Statement

The overall aim of policies should be to:

A. Sustain Town Centres as vibrant places at the heart of their communities.
B. A commitment to retail diversity and enhancement of the local economy, with a balance between different sized providers.
C. The importance of Town Centres as “Places” for economic, social and other needs.

A. Sustaining Town Centres as Vibrant Places

AMT recognises the distinctive nature of small rural towns (market towns) and of the challenges facing them. AMT supports the principle of community inspired and led solutions being adopted at a local level with the support of local authorities and strategic agencies.

Both research studies and the experience of our members indicate that the growth of supermarket retail operations has coincided with the decline of traditional town centre focused independent retailers.

AMT is confident that the growth of out of town supermarket development has negatively affected the profitability of town centre independent retailers to an unsustainable extent. AMT accepts that consumers have chosen to vote with their feet and that supermarkets have offered a retail model which is popular because of its convenience, price and uniformity of standards. AMT is unable to match the resources deployed by the Competition Commission in its inquiry into the UK grocery trade and therefore must accept its findings that, in terms of the limited scope of the inquiry, supermarkets have not unfairly competed with town centre independents. However, AMT would question the value of any inquiry into the effect of supermarkets that did not take into consideration their diversification into product ranges beyond groceries. The sale of alcohol, tobacco, newspapers and magazines, household wares, DIY tools and clothes from larger outlets clearly offers a far wider potential for the creation of a potentially monopolistic advantage than just grocery sales.

AMT advocates supporting a robust Town Centre First Policy, reinforced by planning guidance and control, to achieve policy aims, especially by ensuring development not in accordance with the local plan is very carefully tested.

B. A commitment to retail diversity and enhancement of the local economy, with a balance between different sized providers.

However, AMT members’ experiences of supermarket developments are not universally negative and AMT therefore recognises the potential for mutually beneficial retail developments within a ‘town centre first’ context. Sites must be close enough to add to the town centre but not compete; evidence shows that even 200m from town centres sees a rapid tail-off in walking.

When this situation is considered in relation to the difference between a shopper and a consumer our position can be clarified quite simply. Considering a person as a logically acting consumer, that person might be expected to prefer a large, fully stocked, one stop shop; while considering them as a shopper, that person becomes perhaps a little less logical, preferring to wander leisurely past a variety of distinctive shops, some offering goods of no immediate value to them, using their time inefficiently by stopping to compare similar products and then discussing their relative merits with the shop keeper. The first model totally neglects the ‘shopping experience’ and social interaction dynamics that are so pivotal to the second. The effective combination of the two offers convenience and value for everyday items, while for more specific requirements and for simple enjoyment there remains the more traditional approach.

Through the continuation of the ‘needs’ and ‘sequential’ tests alongside the robust defence of farsighted planning regimes, AMT sees the potential for towns to prosper from the development of centrally located and appropriately sized and stocked supermarkets. We would also argue that supermarkets that work cooperatively with town partnerships to deliver such developments would benefit from the uplift in independent retail activity generated around their stores.

AMT strongly believes that towns should not be seen as ‘open’ to supermarket development in the name of competition (between the big retailers). In most cases a town will only be able to support one outlet based in a central location before the virtuous circle outlined above is broken and independent retailers are again squeezed out.

AMT recognises that in many towns the independent retail offering has deteriorated over time as a result of underinvestment, tightening profit margins and the unattractiveness of independent retail as a career option for younger people due to the long hours, high costs of entry and limited returns. Evidence from the AMT BASE initiative indicates the potential for reversing this decline in standards through training.

AMT supports the creation of a scheme that would offer training to independent retailers and will/is seeking the support of the major retailers to facilitate it. We believe this will show their commitment to the communities who buy their goods and will ultimately benefit them through improving the overall standard of retailing in market towns across the country.

C. The importance of Town Centres as “Places” for economic, social and other needs.

Policies should focus on place and planning for economically successful places. Overall a balance of retail attractiveness needs to be secured, in which edge of town centre or town centre investments are made with an integrated intent, linked to other town centre facilities and attractors.

Other factors having a strong influence in Town centres have been: the tendency to strongly support Regional Hub development, for shopping, employment, education and transport infrastructure investment. This has often been at the expense of smaller towns and villages, which surround these regional centres: Infrastructure in the form of government offices, centres for secondary & adult education and health are often closed and turned over to residential development.

Commercial office development similarly thins out and over time the retail offer weakens and concern at “Sustainability” emerges. The transport infrastructure that would fit such a Regional Hub master plan is not there in today’s carbon footprint conscious world and needs a rethink. The cost of transport also becomes a potential issue. Both point towards maintaining a higher level of smaller town centre prosperity by encouraging the maintenance of infrastructure, retail choice and attractive environments. A commitment to ensuring new town centre development mitigates and adapts to the impacts of climate change, should be a high priority.

Other attractors for smaller towns from the market town heritage can be a mix of alternative forms of retail, particularly street and covered markets and farmers’ markets. These should continue to be supported and encouraged.

Action oriented support from AMT

A Policy into practice paper, describing many approaches that have been tried successfully around the UK, was published in February 2009. It can be downloaded by clicking here.

Tools and actions to help Town Centre’s to understand their relative strength’s and weaknesses have emerged through the AMT Healthcheck exercise, the community led planning exercise involving communities in a collaborative study of their area is an example.

In particular a set of 14 key performance indicators (KPI’s) have been chosen to track Town Centre performance, from a group of East Midlands towns in the Welland Area. This initiative is being made available elsewhere via AMT and will help towns to track and improve overall performance over time.

Training to help town retail development is available.

Detailed individual case studies of towns that have implemented a variety of support schemes, such as loyalty cards, business start-ups and overall regeneration initiatives to help promote the vitality and sustainability of their Town Centres are all available.

This paper and other information are available via the AMT web site for members. Home page:
http://www.towns.org.uk

Paper redrafted by Chris Windridge. February 2009, based on early 2008 policy paper from Robert Brady.

Contact: Chris Windridge

Contact:	Chris Windridge
Position:	Associate
Organisation:	AMT
Address:	Baxter Court Higher Baker Street Bury St Edmunds Suffolk IP33 1ES
Email:	Send Mail
Telephone:	0845 644 6202
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