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| This work was commissioned by The Scottish Office in 1998 to provide advice on trends in town centre uses and their contribution to town centre vitality and viability. The study was to examine what makes a successful town centre and how various components, singly and collectively, interact to provide vitality and viability; understand how town centres have been changing and what changes are likely to occur in the future; and assess the role of and implications for planning policy and other government policies and initiatives of the current and future town centre uses. |
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| Main Findings |
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The key conclusions from the consideration of planning and policy are: - National planning policy through NPPG8 is generally appropriate and realistic and will reduce the scope for decentralised activities;
- positive policies in the areas of housing and transport are needed and should focus on the potential for more effective and efficient use of existing locations;
- local authorities have been broadly effective in making positive efforts, although financial constraints have resulted in a focus on building partnerships;
- local strategies will be key for town centres to thrive in their locality;
- town centre management has had many successes, but its long term progress depends on developing sustainable methods of funding;
- the funding crisis of town centre management must be resolved as a matter of urgency and local authorities need to be able to invest more freely in town centres;
- ideas such as BIDS/TIZS, hypothecation of business rates, reconstruction of the rating system and differential rate relief, and rewards for town centre investment need to be analysed and implemented rapidly;
- positive policies towards town centres and town centre investment are needed to balance any negative policies and to win over new users to town centres.
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| Background |
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| Government planning policy on town centres as set out in NPPG8 indicates that the vitality and viability of town centres should be promoted by encouraging a diversity of uses in the town centre, ensuring accessibility by a range of transport types, creating an attractive and safe town centre for pedestrians, and undertaking effective management and promotion of the town centre. The Scottish Office wishes to safeguard and enhance existing town centres by encouraging a variety of uses additional to retailing which contribute to their vitality and viability. This thinkpiece is intended to inform this process. |
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The aim of the thinkpiece is to 'advise SODD about trends in town centre uses and their contribution to town centre vitality and viability'. Underpinning this aim are three inter-related objectives: - to examine what makes a successful town centre and how various components, singly and collectively, interact to provide vitality and viability.
- to understand how town centres have been changing and what changes are likely to occur in the future.
- to assess the role of and implications for planning policy and other government policies and initiatives of the current and future town centre uses.
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| The Study |
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| The study was desk-based, and involved a three-stage process of obtaining and reviewing relevant material, network discussion, and assimilation and organisation of material. |
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| Key Findings |
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| Successful Town Centres |
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| Town centres are a multi-functional mix of activities that attract a range of different people at varying times. Successful town centres have this range of attractions. These are accessible in a variety of ways to various groups. The amenity of the centre is well presented and it should be a pleasant place. There is likely to be some form of management or propensity for action that promotes the town centre as a whole. For town centres to be successful, this mixture has to be present with people visiting for varying reasons. Reducing the reasons to visit town centres diminishes this synergy or public benefit. Interactions amongst uses may be somewhat hidden, but interaction by users of these uses may be more important. |
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| Changing Town Centres |
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| Town centres have changed in many ways. Over a decade or more, decentralisation of many previously core functions of town centres has reduced their attractiveness and enhanced the attractiveness and accessibility of new off-centre, car-borne locations. The town centre has been shrinking in many ways. In recent years, the problems of town centres have been recognised and town centre management has been reasonably widely introduced. The evidence on town centre management is that it has been effective, but is struggling against limited and short-term funding and other barriers. With decentralisation less likely in the future, the attention has to shift to making town centres more attractive to more people. Resources and action, including management is needed to change behaviour and perceptions of places. |
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| Implications for Planning Policies |
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| NPPG8 enforces the sequential test on proposed development and is likely to put a brake on the decentralisation process. There needs to be a wider recognition that it applies to all forms of development and that local authorities and developers will have to consider radical solutions to find new sites in town centres. In broad terms the policy is a sensible balance but more encouragement needs to be given to developments in town centres, including managerial developments. Positive policies are needed to change the current biases and perceptions. One of the biggest unknowns is the status of the proposed integrated transport policy. This has to strike a balance between car use and other modes and needs to ensure that all locations for such uses are accessible. |
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| Implications for Further Research |
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| What is clear from this research is that Scotland is poorly served by its information base. Official figures are not presented at appropriate levels and interesting questions on behaviour have simply not been asked consistently. Some work on local levels has been carried out and there is need to ensure this is fully exploited. Much could be gained from both formal research in this area and in better discrimination of what is already available. |
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| Recommendations |
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- It would enhance understanding of town centres and better inform policy if the Scottish Office sought to use in Scotland the DETR methodology for defining town centres;
- All towns in Scotland should undertake detailed regular, health checks, to an agreed format and incorporate these in their planning and marketing processes. Details of these checks and good practice should be exchanged through appropriate fora;
- The SODD should commission a rigorous research investigation of the success or failure of town centre management in Scotland, using appropriate academic techniques and knowledge;
- The Scottish Parliament should be asked at an early opportunity to consider hypothecation of UBR for specific schemes and to set up some trial forms of town centre improvement zones or other incentivisation schemes and the progress of these should be closely monitored;
- The Scottish Office should commission research on how people and businesses use town centres in the widest possible sense;
- Central and local government should spell out in detail what positive policies and actions they are taking to support town centres, rather than the current emphasis on negative policies towards off-centre development alone and that all possible steps are taken to ensure that small businesses are included in positive development policies and schemes;
- The revised draft NPPG8 could be re-thought to further emphasise that it is as much about town centres as it is about retail development;
- Local authorities should be encouraged to devise policies and programmes that encourage the provision of street activities of all forms and to share best practice;
- Schemes to encourage central urban living in currently vacant property should be encouraged and extended.
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| "Thinkpiece on Town Centre Uses", the research report summarised in this Research Findings, is available priced £5.00. Cheques should be made payable to The Stationery Office and addressed to: |
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The Stationery Office Bookshop, 71 Lothian Road, Edinburgh EH3 9AZ
Telephone: 0131-228 4181, or Fax: 0131-622 7017
The report can also be ordered online from: www.thestationeryoffice.co.uk |
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| Further copies of this Research Findings can be obtained from: |
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The Scottish Office Central Research Unit
2J
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ
Telephone: 0131-244 7560 |