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Town Centre Health Check 2012 Has a Very Positive Outlook on the Town Centre and Is Showing Progressive Improvement Year on Year

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Town Centre Health Check 2012 Has a Very Positive Outlook on the Town Centre and Is Showing Progressive Improvement Year on Year 1 Contents Page Chapter 1: Introduction 4 Chapter 2: Spatial Portrait 7 Chapter 3: Bromsgrove Overview 10 Chapter 4: The Survey - Town Centre Health Check Indicators 20 Chapter 5: Conclusion 64 Chapter 6: Recommendations 70 Appendices Appendix A: Glossary 72 Appendix B: Street Surveys Record 2012 74 Appendix C: Goad Category Report 2008 83 Appendix D: Town Centre Use Maps 91 Appendix E: Pedestrian Footfall 2009-2012 93 Tables and Figures Table 1: Local Units in VAT and/or PAYE Based Enterprises by Industry 10 Table 2: VAT Registered Businesses 11 Table 3: Count of Births of New Enterprises 12 Table 4: Count of Deaths of Enterprises 12 Table 5: Employment and Unemployment 13 Table 6: Reasons for Economic Inactivity (%) 13 Table 7: Total JSA Claimaints 14 2 Table 8: Qualifications 15 Table 9: Employment by occupation 15 Table 10: Household Income 18 Table 11: Annual Mean Earnings for all Employees by District 19 Table 12: Use Class by Area 25 Table 13: Use Class Groups 29 Table 14: Floorspace (Sq. Ft.) by Sector in Bromsgrove 32 Table 15: Total number of pedestrians each day from 2009 to 2012 45 Table 16: Car Ownership Levels 51 Table 17: Crime figures for Bromsgrove Town centre (St. Johns Ward) 55 Figure 1: Town Centre Boundaries 23 Figure 2: Town Centre Uses (North) 24 Figure 3: Town Centre Uses (South) 25 Figure 4: Ground Floor Uses Class by Area 27 Figure 5: Ground Floor Use Class Distribution 28 Figure 6: Vacant Units 2009 to 2012 29 Figure 7: Footfall Locations 41 Figure 8: Pedestrian Footfall 2012 44 Figure 9: Pedestrian Footfall at location 2009 to 2012 44 Figure 10: Bromsgrove Town Conservation Area 58 Figure 11: Worcester Road AQMA 62 3 1. Introduction 1.1 The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was published in March 2012 and supersedes guidance contained in Planning Policy Statement 4 ‘Economic Development’ (PPS4). One of the purposes of the planning system is to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development by contributing to building a strong, responsive and competitive economy, by ensuring that sufficient land of the right type is available in the right places and at the right time to support growth and innovation; and by identifying and coordinating development requirements, including the provision of infrastructure. 1.2 The Government is committed to securing economic growth in order to create jobs and prosperity, building on the country’s inherent strengths, and to meeting the twin challenges of global competition and of a low carbon future. The Government is committed to ensuring that the planning system does everything it can to support sustainable economic growth. Planning should operate to encourage and not act as an impediment to sustainable growth. Therefore significant weight should be placed on the need to support economic growth through the planning system. To help achieve economic growth, local planning authorities should plan proactively to meet the development needs of business and support an economy fit for the 21st century. 1.3 The NPPF expands on economic development and devotes a chapter to ‘Ensuring the vitality of town centres’. This chapter states that planning should promote competitive town centre environments that provide customer choice and a diverse retail offer and which reflect the individuality of the town centre. Town centres should be recognised as the heart of the community and their viability and vitality supported. Suitable sites should be allocated to meet the scale and type of retail, leisure, commercial, office, tourism, cultural, community and residential development needed in the town centre. Where town centres are in decline, local planning authorities should plan positively for their future to encourage economic activity. Town Centre Health Checks 1.4 This Health Check updates key elements from the previous study published in November 2011, which was produced by the Strategic Planning Team within Bromsgrove District Council. To provide continuity and the opportunity for comparisons to be drawn, attempts have been made to use data sources compatible with the studies completed in 2009, 2010 and 2011. 3 1.5 The main purpose of this town centre health check is to monitor the vitality and viability of Bromsgrove Town Centre. Although PPS4 has been deleted regarding the methodology for health check process and identifying indicators, the accompanying practice guidance on ‘Planning for Town Centres’ still exists, detailing the benefits of regular auditing and monitoring of town centres. The useful indicators for Health check monitoring that were established as part of PPS4 will continue to be used by Bromsgrove District Council in order to compare data from previous year’s studies. This report will be used to inform the review of site allocations and town centre policies, particularly the Town Centre Area Action Plan. The report also enables early signs of change of town centres to be identified and informs the type of action that should be taken. 1.6 It is a prerequisite for any town centre strategy to have a clear understanding of the scale and quality of existing provision of retail and other key town centres uses; the network and role of different centres; and their vitality and viability and how it has changed over time. The Practice Guidance ‘Planning for Town Centres’ sets out how town centre ‘health checks’ can be used to measure vitality and viability. 1.7 One of the key objectives of regular monitoring and town centre health checks (in addition to providing important baseline data for retail/town centre assessments) is to consider a centre’s performance over time. It will also be relevant to consider how the centre has performed relative to national trends, and to similar sized centres elsewhere. This type of analysis provides an important insight into whether the centre is improving, stable or declining, and will have a bearing when considering the potential/need for new development and the likely impact of new developments. 1.8 Retailing and leisure are particularly dynamic sectors, and a range of factors, including economic and social trends and new technology can have a significant impact on the current and future role of existing centres and the scope for new ones. These factors need to be taken into account when considering future needs, identifying sites and strategies, and assessing the impact of new development. However, it is also relevant to consider long term trends and to provide robust, policies to provide investor confidence and certainty given the complexity and scale of many town centre development projects. Data Collection 1.9 The report is divided into two parts. The first part gives an overview on Bromsgrove in terms of the local economy, economic performance, the 4 population and workforce, the labour market and the labour and property markets. Data is collected via desktop surveys such as online data from the Office of National Statistic (ONS), the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), Worcestershire County Council, West Midlands Regional Observatory Property Mall Control Panel’s websites and also the Bromsgrove’s Annual Monitoring Report. 1.10 The second part of the report covers the town centre health check indicators. In order to measure the vitality and viability and monitor the health of town centres over time and inform judgements about the impact of policies and development, local authorities should also regularly collect market information and economic data, preferably in cooperation with the private sector. In line with the health checks conducted in 2009, 2010, and 2011 the following key indicators will be used: . Diversity of main town centre uses (by number, type and amount of floorspace): the amount of space in use for different functions – such as offices; shopping; leisure, cultural and entertainment activities; pubs, cafes and restaurants; and, hotels. The amount of retail, leisure and office floorspace in edge-of-centre and out-of-centre locations. The potential capacity for growth or change of centres in the network: opportunities for centres to expand or consolidate, typically measured in the amount of land available for new or more intensive forms of town centre development. Retailer representation and intentions to change representation: existence and changes in representation of types of retailer, including street markets, and the demand of retailers wanting to come into the centre, or to change their representation in the centre, or to reduce or close their representation. Shopping rents: pattern of movement in Zone A rents within primary shopping areas (ie. the rental value for the first 6 metres depth of floorspace in retail units from the shop window). Proportion of vacant street level property and the length of time properties have been vacant: vacancies can arise even in the strongest town centres, and this indicator must be used with care. Vacancies in secondary frontages and changes to other uses will also be useful indicators. Commercial yields on non-domestic property (i.e. the capital value in relation to the expected market rental): demonstrates the confidence of investors in the long-term profitability of the centre for retail, office and other commercial developments. This indicator should be used with care. 5 . Land values and the length of time key sites have remained undeveloped: data on changes in land value and how long key town centre and edge of centre sites have remained undeveloped provide important indicators for how flexible policies should be framed and can help inform planning decisions. Pedestrian flows (footfall): a key indicator of the vitality of shopping streets, measured by the numbers and movement of people on the streets, in different parts of the centre at different times of the day and evening, who are available for businesses to attract into shops, restaurants or other facilities. Accessibility: ease and convenience of access by a choice of means of travel, including – the quality, quantity and type of car parking; the frequency and quality of public transport services and the range of customer origins served; and, the quality of provision for pedestrians, cyclists and disabled people and the ease of access from main arrival points to the main attractions.
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