65 Gresham Street London EC2V 7NQ T: +44 (0)20 7911 2468 F: +44 (0)20 7911 2560 Greater Norwich: Town Centres & Retail Study Final Report, October 2017 Volume 1: Main Report gva.co.uk Greater Norwich Town Centres & Retail Study 2017 Final Report Volume 1: Main Report Contents 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 2. National & local policy context ....................................................................................................................................................... 5 3. Study context .................................................................................................................................................................................... 21 4. Introduction to health checks & Norwich City Centre health check ...................................................................................... 31 5. Norwich large district centres health checks (Riverside & Anglia Square) ............................................................................. 49 6. ‘Main Towns’ & large villages health checks (Aylsham, Diss, Harleston, Loddon, Long Stratton and Wymondham) ..... 56 7. Introduction to quantitative needs assessment .......................................................................................................................... 73 8. Quantitative retail capacity forecasts .......................................................................................................................................... 83 9. Commercial leisure assessment ..................................................................................................................................................... 97 10. Summary and conclusions ............................................................................................................................................................ 109 Volume 2 — Study area & market share plans Volume 3 — Quantitative need forecasts Volume 4 — Household telephone survey results (NEMS Market Research) Report version: Final Report Prepared By: Adam Bunn ([email protected]) Date: October 2017 For and on behalf of GVA Grimley Limited May 2017 | gva.co.uk Greater Norwich Town Centres & Retail Study 2017 Final Report 1. Introduction 1.1 GVA have been commissioned to undertake an Employment, Retail and Town Centre Study on behalf of the three local authorities (Broadland District Council, Norwich City Council and South Norfolk Council) and Norfolk County Council that make up the Greater Norwich Development Partnership (GNDP). 1.2 The GNDP authorities have agreed to work together to prepare the emerging Greater Norwich Local Plan (GNLP), to guide the future development of the Greater Norwich area over the period to 2036. This strategic approach to planning for future development and growth builds on long-established joint working arrangements for Greater Norwich by the GNDP; the same working arrangements delivered the current Joint Core Strategy (JCS), which guides development in the Greater Norwich area to 2026. GVA prepared the ‘Norwich Sub-Region: Retail and Town Centres Study’ in October 2007 (referred to throughout this report as ‘The 2007 Study’), the retail and town evidence base study which informed the policies and strategic approach to retail and town centre development set in the JCS. This study acts as an update to the 2007 Study. 1.3 The JCS identifies that the Norwich urban area has a population of approximately 200,000 people, and holds assets of international importance including its heritage, natural environment and a growing knowledge economy. Norwich City is recognised by the JCS as a major regional economic driver and visitor destination providing a hub for employment, tourism and culture and educational activity. Norwich is also recognised by the JCS as the region’s highest ranking retail centre, and accordingly the city centre has an important influence over the shopping patterns of residents across the GNDP area and further afield. 1.4 The overall purpose of the study is to identify the future needs and opportunities for retail, office, industrial and warehousing floorspace across the three local authority areas. This report specifically focuses on identifying the future requirements in respect of retail needs, and sets out a strategy for how these requirements should be addressed by through the emerging Greater Norwich Local Plan (GNLP). It focuses on the key urban centres in the Greater Norwich area, headed by Norwich city centre, and supported by the ‘Main Towns’ of Aylsham, Diss, Harleston and Wymondham. The study brief also requires consideration of two large district centres within the Norwich urban area — Anglia Square and Riverside — and two smaller centres within South Norfolk, Loddon and Long Stratton. 1.5 Our study has been informed by on-site and desk-based information gathering, including site visits to each of the centres listed above. Further evidence is provided by way of a household telephone survey of shopping and patterns of commercial leisure visits across Greater Norwich and a wider surrounding catchment (we refer to the area over which the household telephone survey was undertaken as the ‘survey area’ throughout this report). 1.6 The Town Centres & Retail Study 2017 is split over four volumes. This report forms Volume 1; Volume 2 sets out supporting plans; Volume 3 provides the quantitative retail ‘need’ tabulations which inform the overall findings of our study; and Volume 4 provides a full copy of the household survey results. GVA has also been instructed by the GNDP to undertake an assessment of employment needs across the GNDP area; a separate Combined Strategy Paper links the findings of this study with those of the employment study to provide a combined approach to planning for future employment and retail land use needs across the Greater Norwich area. 1.7 The remainder of Volume 1 of this Town Centres & Retail Study is structured as follows: • Section 2 sets out our review of national, strategic and local planning policies relevant to retail and leisure planning; October 2017 | gva.co.uk | 3 Greater Norwich Town Centres & Retail Study 2017 Final Report • Section 3 considers national trends in the retail sector, and in particular the implications of recent economic growth and technological advances which are impacting on people’s shopping habits; • Section 4 undertakes a detailed ‘health check’ assessment of Norwich city centre, setting out its current retail and leisure offer and performance against Planning Practice Guidance town centre vitality and viability indicators; • Section 5 sets out ‘health check’ assessments of the two large district centres in Norwich at Anglia Square and Riverside; • Section 6 sets out ‘health check’ assessments of the ‘Main Town’ centres of Aylsham, Diss, Harleston and Wymondham, plus high-level assessments of the ‘large villages’ of Loddon and Long Stratton; • Section 7 sets out our approach to calculating retail capacity, including definition of the household telephone survey area and discussion of the approach to the survey work; • Section 8 sets out the quantitative ‘need’ for additional non-food (‘comparison goods’) and food (‘convenience goods’) floorspace, with forecasts split between the Norwich urban area and the rural areas of South Norfolk and Broadland (which include the aforementioned ‘Main Towns’); • Section 9 sets out our review of commercial leisure provision and provides an indication of the extent of growth likely to come forward in this sector; and • Section 10 draws our analysis together and sets out conclusions which in turn inform the strategies and recommendations in the Combined Strategy Paper which forms part of this study. 1.8 A glossary of key terms which are used throughout this study is appended to the rear of Volume 1. October 2017 | gva.co.uk | 4 Greater Norwich Town Centres & Retail Study 2017 Final Report 2. National & local policy context 2.1 In this section we summarise the key features of national and local planning policy which provides the context and framework for this study, and informs the development of strategic policy recommendations in the Combined Strategy Paper. In respect of the local policy context, we present a review of how development plan policy in respect of retaining and town centres has been developed over time, and summarise the adopted Joint Core Strategy, which provides important context in respect of establishing the current hierarchy of centres within the GNDP area, and identifying the locations for where growth is planned. It also assists in identifying potential development opportunities in Norwich City Centre. The JCS will be replaced in full by the new GNLP and this study will form part of the evidence base which underpins the GNLP. National policy context National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), 2012 2.2 The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), published on 27 March 2012, sets out the Government’s planning policies for England and replaces the suite of national Planning Policy Statements, Planning Policy Guidance and Circulars with a single document. The NPPF recognises that the planning system is plan-led and therefore Local Plans, incorporating neighbourhood plans where relevant, are the starting point for the determination of any planning application. In line with the Government’s aim to streamline the planning process,