Our Local Plan

Town and Local Centre Review December 2020

1. Introduction

1.1 This Town and Local Centre Review 2020 is an update to the previous 2019 update review1. This assessment provides an up to date assessment on the performance of existing town and local centres within District. It also includes the performance of the recommended designations of and Smallfield Local Centres as well as the designation of neighbourhood centres; Westway, and Hurst Green2.

1.2 This report sets out the performance of each retail centre after two years since the first publication of the review3. This update report will continue to be updated annually to better understand how each centre is performing against the percentage thresholds applied in the Development Plan. For this report, the Development Plan relates to the Core Strategy and Detailed Policies.

1.3 This report does not aim to recommend changes to boundary or frontage amendments in the same way the 2018 iteration did. It is for the purpose of an update to the performance of our retail centres only.

2. Covid-19 Implications

2.1 On 23 March 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson declared a national lockdown following the Covid-19 pandemic4. As a result of this, people were told they must stay at home to limit the spread of coronavirus between households. People were only allowed to leave their home for a limited purpose which the Prime Minister sets out in his statement. As a result, all shops, selling non-essential goods, social events and social gatherings were all immediately closed and prohibited. 2.2 A phased reopening of shops and businesses began from 25 June, where shops selling non-essential goods were advised that they would be able to reopen as long as they followed government guidelines. From 4 July, pubs, restaurants, hairdressers as well as some leisure facilities and tourist attractions were advised that they would be able to reopen. From 13 July, beauty businesses such as beauty salons, nail bars, tattoo and massage studios were able to reopen. 2.3 The widespread closure of shops and business following national lockdown in March 2020 have inevitably impacted town and local centres. The effect on shops and business may not be imminent and may emerge in the next few

1 Town and Local Centre Review 2019 2 Recommendations: Town and Local Centre Review 2018, pg. 29, para. 5.5 3 Town and Local Centre Review 2018 4 Prime Minister’s statement on coronavirus (Covid-19): 23 March 2020

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years. Therefore, monitoring the performance of towns and local centres is paramount to identify the implications Covid-19 has had on the retail centres in the district and identifying interventions that could assist in their vitality and viability.

3. Policy Context

NPPF

3.1 In February 2019, the Government published a revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) (2019)5 and relevant Planning Practice Guidance (NPPG)6. Paragraph 85 of the NPPF, requires that ‘planning policies and decisions should support the role that town centres play at the heart of local communities, by taking a positive approach to their growth, management and adaptation’. It advises that local planning policies should define a hierarchy of town centres, primary shopping areas and allocate a range or suitable sites in town centres to meet anticipated needs for retail, leisure, office and other main town centre uses over at least ten years to promote their long-term vitality and viability. 3.2 Connections to the town centre are encouraged and where suitable and viable town centre sites are not available for main town centre uses then the NPPF states planning policies should allocate appropriate edge of centre sites. In accordance with the NPPF ‘Town Centre first’ principle, paragraph 86 informs a sequential test