PLYMOUTH CITY CENTRE FUTURE DIRECTION INVESTMENT AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY 43-45 Portman Square London W1A 3BG June 2008 PLYMOUTH CITY CENTRE INVESTMENT & DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY June 2008 1.0 INTRODUCTION Page 1.1 Background 6 1.2 Brief 7 1.3 Scope of Report 7 2.0 ECONOMIC CONTEXT 2.1 Market Overview 9 2.2 Consumer Demand and Preferences 11 2.3 Funding Availability 13 2.4 Development Cycles 14 2.5 Anticipated Trends 14 2.6 Local Economy 15 3.0 REGIONAL CONTEXT 3.1 Geography and Hierarchy 17 3.2 Catchment 18 3.3 Competing Centres 20 4.0 POLICY CONTEXT 4.1 National Policy 25 4.2 Regional Policy 28 4.3 Local Policy 29 4.4 Local Development Framework 29 4.5 Masterplan Vision 30 4.6 West End Study 30 4.7 Transport Policies and Proposals 31 5.0 PLYMOUTH CITY CENTRE HEALTH CHECK 5.1 Offer and Diversity 34 2 PLYMOUTH CITY CENTRE INVESTMENT & DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY June 2008 5.2 Pedestrian Footfall 38 5.3 Retail Capacity 38 5.4 Rental Levels, Investment Yields and Vacancies 39 5.5 Perceptions/ Incidences of Crime 41 5.6 Demand 41 5.7 Historic Environment and Design Context 42 5.8 Weather and Microclimate 44 5.9 Environmental Quality 45 5.10 Accessibility and Connections 45 6.0 TRANSPORT AND ACCESSIBILITY 6.1 Introduction 46 6.2 Existing Transport Infrastructure 46 6.3 Road Network 46 6.4 Rail Services 46 6.5 Bus Services 46 6.6 Airport and Ferry Services 46 6.7 Pedestrian Facilities 47 6.8 Cycle Facilities 47 6.9 Park and Ride 47 7.0 THE STRATEGY 7.1 Introduction 48 7.2 Urban Design Strategy 49 7.3 Transport Strategies 51 7.4 Pedestrian Permeability and Connectivity 53 7.5 Alternative High Quality Public Transport Option 55 7.6 Facilities for Cyclists 55 7.6 Highway Infrastructure and Improvements 56 7.7 Parking Provision 57 7.8 Future Scenario 58 3 PLYMOUTH CITY CENTRE INVESTMENT & DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY June 2008 7.9 Deliverability 60 7.10 Further Studies 60 7.11 Summary 60 8.0 DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES 8.1 Cornwall Street 61 8.2 Colin Campbell Court 61 8.3 Morley Court 62 62 8.4 Mayflower Street North & North Cross Island 63 8.5 Civic Centre 63 8.6 Bretonside 64 8.7 Markets Quarter 64 8.8 Drake’s Circus Extension 65 8.9 Quarter Definition 65 9.0 IMPROVEMENTS TO THE PUBLIC REALM 9.1 Environmental Improvements 66 9.2 Pavement Treatment and Street Lighting 66 9.3 Street Cleansing 66 9.4 Street Furniture and Landscaping 66 9.5 Information and Signage 66 9.6 Pedestrian Priority 66 9.7 Shop Fronts and Displays 67 9.8 Car Parks 67 9.9 Accessibility 67 9.10 Security 68 9.11 Building Stock 68 9.12 Policy 68 9.13 Retail Frontages 69 9.14 Art 69 4 PLYMOUTH CITY CENTRE INVESTMENT & DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY June 2008 9.15 Market 69 9.16 Parking Policy 69 10.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 10.1 Strengths and Weaknesses 70 10.2 Market Opportunities 70 10.3 Catchment Potential 71 10.4 Policy Rationale 72 10.5 Recommendations 72 APPENDICES 1-30 to which this report refers are contained in the accompanying document. 5 PLYMOUTH CITY CENTRE INVESTMENT & DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY June 2008 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background 1.1.1 In January 2007 Plymouth City Centre Company commissioned Cushman & Wakefield along with Building Design Partnership, Savill Bird and Axon and Gardiner and Theobold to undertake a review of the City Centre of Plymouth to identify options for attracting further development and investment, having regard to Core Strategy objectives and as a sound evidence base for the emerging City Centre Action Area Plan. 1.1.2 Plymouth City Centre is the primary centre within a significant catchment area, extending within Devon and along the South West coast and into the Cornwall peninsular. The City Centre provides an important shopping destination, which is its dominant function. It is also an important location for employment, leisure and tourism and provides local civic and other essential services. 1.1.3 To ensure the City remains competitive locally, regionally and increasingly internationally and to further assist regeneration ambitions; improvements to the local economy; housing supply and environment, it is essential that further investment is attracted during the planning framework period. Failure to attract sustainable investment will undermine the City’s long term prospects, not least as competing centres have grown and will continue to grow in status and as new threats and challenges emerge. 1.1.4 In addition to improvements in competing town and city centres, threats have also emerged to the City Centre’s underlying core function from the growth and popularity of out-of-centre retailing and other off centre attractions. Most notably from Cribbs Causeway, which is effectively a regional shopping facility with its excellent road transport links and extensive free parking, but also from the increasing number of retail parks, off centre: food stores; employment and leisure facilities. These competing attractions have and will continue to affect the potential of Plymouth City Centre to maintain and improve upon its status, function, market share and attraction. Inaction over the next two decades will undermine Core Strategy objectives and fail to address the needs of the people of Plymouth and the surrounding City region. 1.1.5 Against a background of significant growth in retail expenditure on a national basis, regionally and locally, the City Centre has recently enjoyed the benefits of the opening of the long awaited Drakes Shopping Centre. It has also been the subject of various development proposals including those at Colin Campbell Court, Bretonside bus station, the Civic Centre and recently at Millbay. However, many of these remain largely on the drawing board at this time. 1.1.6 Whilst it is recognised that the role and function of centres will change over time, there continues to be a strong economic, social and policy rationale for Plymouth City Centre to maintain its current role and status and to improve upon its attraction and draw. Its current status is reflected in Regional Guidance upon which the City Centre policies in the emerging Core Strategy have been prepared, not only in relation to retailing but also leisure, tourism, offices and residential. The Regional Spatial Strategy is under review and it is imperative that Plymouth’s attributes are promoted to protect its role over the coming plan period. 1.1.7 It is recognised by the City Council that it should evolve policies to sustain and enhance Plymouth City Centre and to attract appropriate investment to ensure that the City provides the range and quality of shopping, leisure, employment and residential accommodation opportunities for its growing catchment population and visitors. The Core Strategy of the Council is essentially a strategy for growth. To ensure that the City Centre responds to this objective and the enhanced pressure that population growth will bring on demand for services, facilities and employment opportunities, a comprehensive and coordinated strategy is required. 1.1.8 This Investment and Development strategy seeks to extend beyond the confines of pure retail issues and highlights related but significant factors which will also influence the function, draw and success of the City Centre. However, the retail market place is the primary function of a 6 PLYMOUTH CITY CENTRE INVESTMENT & DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY June 2008 City Centre and, consequently, ensuring that this component of a cities’ offer is competitive and sustainable is a core objective of this strategy. 1.2 The Brief 1.2.1 The City Council is seeking ways to protect, enhance and grow Plymouth City Centre as part of a wider City growth agenda. In this respect, the Council wishes to understand the potential of the shopping area and the performance of the City Centre generally. The Council is keen to ensure the analysis should reflect considerations both at a strategic level including competition from elsewhere and, at a more local level, the interaction between retailing and other City Centre uses. 1.2.2 In particular, there is an underlying acceptance that investment and renewal must be a continual process. However, there is a perception that the City Centre has not been able to attract an appropriate share of high quality retailers, lacks a sufficiently diverse evening offer/attraction, suffers from a limited office/employment market and that there is a need for improvements to and increase in the City’s housing stock, along with improvements to City Centre accessibility and its environment generally. 1.2.3 The City Council, through this commission, is seeking considered views on the opportunities to overcome any confirmed deficiencies and opportunities to elevate the City’s role. In addition, the Council wishes to understand what market opportunities exist or will become available for retail, leisure, residential and office uses within the City Centre during the period to 2021. 1.2.4 It is recognized, that to achieve a balanced view, on the potential of the City Centre it will be necessary to assess the overall health of the City Centre in qualitative terms. This report supplements and should be considered alongside previous quantitative analysis undertaken by Cushman & Wakefield in 2006 and various other reports and analysis notably the “Mackay Vision” and the “West End Study” to which this strategy refers. 1.2.5 The City Council anticipates that this review will give sufficient clarity to the needs of Plymouth City Centre, in terms of scope for further development and investment. This is to enable the Council and its partners to assess how prospective developers and investors should be assisted through policy initiatives and wider corporate intervention, to enable the role of Plymouth City Centre to be safeguarded and the challenges of the growth agenda met.