OCTAGON CENTRE BURTON UPON TRENT PLANNING STATEMENT NOVEMBER 2016 OCTAGON CENTRE, BURTON UPON TRENT PLANNING STATEMENT Contents 1.0 Introduction 1 2.0 The Proposed Development 5 3.0 Planning Policy 9 4.0 Planning Analysis 12 5.0 Conclusions 17 Appendices 1 Fawcett Mead Letter, October 2016 2 Fawcett Mead Letter, November 2016 3 Transport Statement, June 2016 Date: 12 November 2016 Location: \\mev-fs02.medom.local\redirectedfolder$\PaulB1\Desktop\Octagon Planning Statement.docx OCTAGON CENTRE, BURTON UPON TRENT 1 PLANNING STATEMENT 1.0 INTRODUCTION The Proposed Development 1.1 This Statement has been prepared in support of a planning application by Vixcroft Burton Ltd (hereafter ‘Vixcroft’), owners of the Octagon Centre in Burton upon Trent (East Staffordshire Borough). 1.2 The planning application (P/2016/01434) seeks planning permission for the change of use of part of the first floor of the Octagon Centre from Class A1 retail to a Class D2 health and fitness gym. The general location of the application site is indicated at Figure 1.1. Figure 1.1 – General Location of the Site N APPLICATION SITE Map Source – PromapTM. © Crown Copyright 2016. All rights reserved. Licence number 100022432. 1.3 The exact extent of the area affected by the proposal is shown on Figure 1.2 which is on the next page. 1.4 As can be seen from that drawing, the area subject of this application comprises the following areas: Former Department Store Retail Area 496 sq m Empty Small Retail Units 289 sq m Sub-total 785 sq m Mall Space 1,090 sq m Public WCs 147 sq m Redundant Office 90 sq m Redundant Kitchen 180 sq m Unused / Blocked-off Storage 665 sq m 2,957 sq m OCTAGON CENTRE, BURTON UPON TRENT 2 PLANNING STATEMENT Figure 1.2 – The Existing First Floor of the Octagon Shopping Centre Circulation / Seating Empty Small Units Public WCs Former Department Store Redundant Office Redundant Kitchen Unused Storage Unused Storage (Blocked Off) Source and © – Juice Architects; not to scale. Background 1.5 The Octagon Centre was originally developed by St Modwen in conjunction with the Strathclyde Pension Fund and completed in 1990. It incorporated a Beatties OCTAGON CENTRE, BURTON UPON TRENT 3 PLANNING STATEMENT department store of 40,000 square feet (3,716 sq m), located in a key position with frontage where the mall turns through ninety degrees. The store traded on ground and first floor levels and department store customers moved to the upper level within the store. There was a customer café in the store at first floor level and a range of other facilities that were ancillary to the department store such as offices. Photograph 1.1 – Location of the Former Department Store at First Floor Source – Burton Mail. 1.6 Beatties plc was acquired by House of Fraser in June 2005 and the store was converted to operate under the House of Fraser fascia. Unfortunately in October 2012 House of Fraser closed the store, depriving the Octagon Centre of its most important element and the facility for internal movement within the department store that carried customers to the application premises. No comparable occupier could be found for the department store accommodation. The best occupier that could be found and which did occupy the ground floor (only) of the department store was Poundland. 1.7 Vixcroft acquired the Octagon Centre in May 2014 and plans to augment the Centre’s performance through reconfiguration and upgrading of its offer. Vixcroft has already secured a number of new lettings of smaller units at mall level and is making preparations for a significant upgrade of the internal mall environment to ensure the continued success of the Centre in today’s tough retail environment. Context 1.8 The context of this application is very important. 1.9 The rise of internet shopping and changes in people’s shopping habits has undermined the traditional retail role of many of the United Kingdom’s town and city centres. Since the beginning of this century we have seen the strengthening of the largest retail centres, for example Birmingham where major investment has seen the opening of OCTAGON CENTRE, BURTON UPON TRENT 4 PLANNING STATEMENT three high-quality department stores (Harvey Nichols, Selfridges and John Lewis) and many other shops covering the whole spectrum from mass market to high end. We have also seen the emergence of ‘fast fashion’ from the likes of Primark and Zara, serving those who wish to choose from a vast array of often cheaper products that they will use for a short time and then replace with new purchases. Again, such retailers tend to focus their flagships stores in the country’s largest retail centres albeit they will complement those stores with smaller outlets in lower-order retail locations. 1.10 Change to the retail environment was precipitated by the crash and subsequent economic uncertainty in 2008. Retailers that were already in a fragile state of health such as Woolworths, Comet and Allders, collapsed and we have seen other stalwarts of the high street disappear ever since, most recently British Homes Stores. Some, such as HMV and T J Hughes, managed to be saved but with much-reduced branch networks. 1.11 The trend for polarisation of retail centres looks set to continue as higher-spending shoppers use the internet and the largest centres, while smaller centres will serve more of a day-to-day role. Most recently Marks and Spencer has indicated that it will be closing a not insignificant number of its less profitable stores and that others will be converted to food-only formats. 1.12 To date the space that has been vacated by such changes has largely been filled by a small number of single-price discounters and the likes of Primark, Wilkinson, B&M and so on. Because such retailers operate in a very competitive marketplace, visibility of and footfall past prospective locations is a critical consideration. 1.13 Future changes to our high streets, such as the closure of Marks and Spencer stores, will not all happen at once – they will take perhaps five to ten years to filter through, not least because retailers will often wait until leases expire before closing a store rather than incurring punitive exit costs. 1.14 That is why is particularly important for companies such as Vixcroft to proactively address such change; the more that landlords do to improve the quality and breadth of their offer now to respond to and anticipate structural change, and the more that they do to encourage footfall to support their existing tenants, the more they insure against the negative effects of structural change and, ultimately, the unwelcome prospect of greater numbers of vacant shop units in the future. OCTAGON CENTRE, BURTON UPON TRENT 5 PLANNING STATEMENT 2.0 THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT 2.1 The Octagon Centre’s mall remains unaltered since its original completion in 1990 and as a consequence it is somewhat dated and in need of investment to achieve aesthetic improvement that will support an enhanced retailing function and vitality. 2.2 The proposed health and fitness facility is part of a package of investment by Vixcroft to revitalise the Centre, comprising: conversion of the vacant first floor to create a new gym; an upgrade of the mall with new floor tiling and lighting; and improvement of the entrance from the car park. Figure 2.1 – Illustration of Internal Improvements Source – Vixcroft / Juice Architects. 2.3 Vixcroft hopes that the internal aesthetic improvements will support its ongoing work to increase retail lettings at ground floor level and, over time, to improve the tenant mix. 2.4 Since acquiring the Centre, Vixcroft has worked hard to secure a viable tenant for the large first floor vacancy (ie the vacant remnant of the former department store). Whilst there are smaller units at first floor too, letting these largely depends on generating sufficient footfall to enable them to be attractive propositions for prospective tenants; they are not large enough to be destinations in their own right. 2.5 As will be discussed later in this Statement, Vixcroft’s agent has directly approached many potential retailers, all of whom have said that the first floor space is of no interest OCTAGON CENTRE, BURTON UPON TRENT 6 PLANNING STATEMENT to them. Consequently, Vixcroft opened up the search to other ‘town centre uses’, also having regard to what has proved successful in similar situations elsewhere. 2.6 Examples include the Southside shopping centre in Wandsworth (London). Upper level space has for some time been used as a premium gym and now a second gym has been opened above ground floor level in the centre’s recently-completed extension. 2.7 In 2012 an upper level vacant space was let to a gym in Southend’s (in Essex) Victoria Shopping Centre. The local press reported the story thus1: Gym moves in at Southend shopping centre 13 January 2012 A CUT-price gym is coming to Southend to fill an empty space at the Victoria shopping centre. Health chain Fitness 4 Less will be filling a 20,000 sq ft empty unit on the first floor of the shopping centre, next to New Look. The new gym is set to open in April and will cost £14.99 for a monthly membership and includes access to all equipment and classes, from Zumba to spinning. People can also pay for a one-off day pass, costing £7. Bill Harkness, managing director of the centre, said: “We are very much looking forward to Fitness 4 Less opening in the Victoria centre.