SUTTON COLDFIELD TOWN CENTRE AND RETAIL MARKET ASSESSMENT Report prepared for and on behalf of Sutton Coldfield Town Council Peter Shearman Associates 01732 465 100 07768 994 087 [email protected] April 2018 1 CONTENTS Context and Objectives Summary Conclusions – 12 key points 1. Retail Market Trends – the national picture 2. Sutton Town Centre – the fundamentals : - layout and structure - environmental quality - accessibility 3. Sutton Town Centre – non-retail uses 4. Sutton Town Centre – trends in retail representation : 5. Sutton Town Centre – expanding the retail offer 6. Development Potential : specific sites 7. Suggested physical and promotional measures Appendices 1. How the town centre divides up (plan) 2. Main components of the shopping core (aerial photograph) 3. Retail composition (Goad Plan extract) 4. The Solihull factor 5. The Fort Retail Park – retail mix 6. Ventura Retail Park – retail mix 7. House of Fraser – Sutton Coldfield relaunch 2 CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVES In 2016 the Sutton Coldfield electorate voted in favour of establishing a town council to represent the interests of the town in a more focused way than is realistically possible for Birmingham City Council. Sutton’s population of some 95,000 covers a wide area that extends from the Staffordshire border to Wylde Green, and from the west side of Sutton Park across to Walmley. Despite the size of this area and its substantial population, it is dwarfed by the sheer scale of Birmingham City which has a total population of 1.2 million; to the south-west the continuous built-up area reaches as far as Rubery (15 miles from the centre of Sutton). Of particular significance to the present report is the importance of Sutton Town Centre; no other locality within Birmingham City Council’s area has a focal point of comparable importance. Its area of influence and attraction corresponds to the wards which form the Town Council area, as broadly defined above, plus Streetly. Against this background, and in collaboration with the City Council, the Town Council attaches importance to creating the conditions conducive to underpinning the health and robustness of all town centre functions. Retailing is the primary function by a wide margin, but leisure activities, office use, education and not least housing all have a part to play. This study is not in any sense an attempt at a masterplan such as that commissioned by the City Council in 2008. Nor is it a market reconnaissance exercise, which would be cutting across the work of the agency practices involved in the Sutton market. The main purpose of the work is to provide an objective assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of all aspects of the town centre, and from that starting point better understand what might be achieved ‘on the ground’. In due course it should serve as an input into an eventual framework for the town centre that blends with the statutory development plan. In addition to reviewing the three locations in the town centre that may offer possible scope for development or redevelopment, the report also includes a number of suggested measures – all relatively modest – intended to support the attraction of the town centre. Of particular significance at the present time are two major proposals with potentially positive implications for the future of the town centre : • proposed development of a new settlement at Langley, which could increase the catchment population by 15-20,000 people, albeit over a long time span (6000 dwellings over 20 years) • allocation of funding to a new public transport hub (in the context of HS2 connectivity) that could free up part of the centre from bus movements, improve the environment for shoppers, and perhaps even encourage redevelopment of adjoining commercial property. In preparing this report we have drawn on earlier West Midlands work for retail and other clients going back over more than two decades. However, our present assessment looks afresh at how the town centre works now, and its relationship to 3 shopping destinations further afield which compete with Sutton Town Centre, whether central areas or out-of-centre. All of these we have inspected and reviewed for the purpose of this study. We have also re-familiarised ourselves with the whole of Sutton Coldfield beyond the town centre, including the main local centres – Mere Green, Boldmere, Wylde Green, Walmsley, and New Oscott (including Princess Alice Retail Park) as well as out-of- centre at Minworth. No less importantly, we have had the benefit of meetings and discussions with all the main stakeholders in the town centre, including several agency practices with longstanding expertise in the Sutton market. We are grateful to all the individuals, companies and organisations in question : without their contributions our findings and recommendations would not be well founded. Inevitably the views expressed across such a wide spectrum of people vary significantly, and sometimes they differ outright. That simply reflects the fact that there are no easy, obvious and indisputable measures that will take the town centre forward. -------- 4 SUMMARY CONCLUSIONS – 12 KEY POINTS 1. Despite the increasingly adverse retail climate at national level, the growth of internet shopping and intense competition from alternative destinations, Sutton Coldfield town centre is holding its own and continues to attract market interest and premises investment. 2. That investment is reflected in new retailers and service businesses taking space in the town centre, but also the outstanding upgrade of the House of Fraser department store, completed November 2017; this introduced additional high quality brands, especially in fashion and associated product areas, and additional catering facilities. 3. Sutton’s strength and resilience stems from the backcloth of an extensive and largely prosperous catchment area, in conjunction with a pleasant, compact and easy to use core shopping area; generally convenient and reasonably priced car parking is a further key factor, along with excellent public transport accessibility. 4. Nevertheless, over the post-millenium period many retailers have ceased trading at Sutton; but most of these changes, and what has transpired since, are due to. corporate failure or changes in merchandising and/or location policies, rather than specific to Sutton. The prime example is Bhs – two years on no positive re- use in sight; but again no different from the many other places (out of 160) where the store is still vacant. 5. Like everywhere else Sutton is not immune to the impact of internet shopping; latest research puts the top slice of turnover lost to the internet at about 25% in non-food – a level which prejudices the viability of opening new shops and maintaining existing ones. In conjunction with shoppers’ greater willingness to travel to get the benefit of the best centres, retailers have every incentive to thin out established shop networks. 6. New retail development therefore becomes more difficult, and even where retailer demand remains, economic viability does not necessarily follow; the market has moved away from mid-sized centres like Sutton and the aim of creating even a smaller version of Touchwood – albeit understandable and logical – is in our view not capable of realisation. Even at Solihull – which now counts as a major centre – the proposed Touchwood extension is on hold, apparently due to insufficient retailer (and restaurant) demand. 7. Nor is shifting the focus onto leisure-orientated users an obvious or easy option; after several years of unrelenting expansion leading to market saturation, the last 12 months or so has seen the restaurant sector experiencing difficulties at least if not more serious as those affecting shops. Whilst there may be some scope to attract other leisure uses, the office market is limited and it is only residential which has proved consistently successful and continues to attract developer interest. 8. In the retail sector the extent of competition around Sutton is extremely challenging, especially compared with the late 90s when Touchwood was under construction; at that time Solihull benefitted from unfavourable perceptions of Birmingham city centre held in certain retail quarters; now, the city centre has 5 overcome those negative attitudes with a vengeance, having been radically transformed by the Bull Ring (2003) and Grand Central (2015) . 9. Equally if not more significant, given the apparent feeling amongst Sutton’s more traditionally inclined shoppers that the city centre can often be ‘manic’, is the emergence of the Ventura complex at Tamworth as a first rate and easily reached shopping park – 32 large retail stores including full line M&S department store, John Lewis Home and a new flagship store for Next. In contrast, whilst The Fort has lost ground it too continues to be a significant destination (inter alia Next, small format Debenhams, new Primark). 10. Also relevant are two developments within the immediate Sutton area : Princess Alice Retail Park with its easily manageable, extensive retail mix (including Next, now no longer in Gracechurch), and Mere Green where Mulberry Walk has established a strong position as a focus for higher end casual dining. 11. That Sutton has survived as well as it has against this level of competition is testament to the town centre’s intrinsic robustness. However, the challenges will not diminish and there is no room for complacency; we propose a number of modest measures that could help the centre to maintain its relative position. 12. In addition we have considered possible ways forward for the three locations within the town centre that have, or may have, some form of development potential. What happens on any one of these sites has direct implications for the other two. This highlights the importance of resolving quickly the uncertainty around the proposed transport hub and possible removal of buses from Lower Parade. -------- 6 1. RETAIL MARKET TRENDS – THE NATIONAL PICTURE Profitability challenges 1.1 Preparation of this study coincides with a period of increasingly severe difficulty in the retail sector.