Wiltshire Retail and Town Centres Study 2020 Volume 1: Main Text November 2020 Client: Wiltshire Council Report Title: Wiltshire Retail and Town Centres Study 2020 Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................ 1 2. Policy Review ......................................................................................................................................................... 5 3. Retail and Town Centre Trends ............................................................................................................................ 9 4. Town Centre Health Checks ...............................................................................................................................19 5. Need Assessment .................................................................................................................................................91 6. Site Assessments ..................................................................................................................................................115 7. Policy Advice ......................................................................................................................................................132 8. Summary and Conclusions ................................................................................................................................139 Appendices (Bound Separately) I Study Area Plan II Quantitative Assessment Tables III Reported Crime Data Date: November 2020 Page: 2 Client: Wiltshire Council Report Title: Wiltshire Retail and Town Centres Study 2020 1. Introduction 1.1 This Retail and Town Centres Study (‘the Study’) has been prepared by Avison Young (‘AY’) for Wiltshire Council (‘the Council’) to provide evidence base information on retail and town centre planning issues associated with the Wiltshire Local Plan Review. The Local Plan Review will, when adopted, replace the Wiltshire Core Strategy, which was adopted in 2015, and will set the development strategy for Wiltshire up to 2036. 1.2 Key elements of the Local Plan Review will be retailing and town centre issues. Town centres lie at the heart of local communities in Wiltshire providing essential shops, services and other community functions. They are also a key focus for national Government policy, with the latest version1 of the National Planning Policy Framework (‘NPPF’) indicating 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. As set out in the next section of this document, the NPPF (February 2019) requires planning policies around retail and town centres to achieve a number of objectives, including defining a network of ‘town centres’, defining town centre boundaries and primary shopping areas, allocate sites to meet the scale and type of development needed and also to recognise the role that residential uses play in supporting and enhancing town centre vitality. 1.3 As a consequence of these requirements, the Council requires an up to date set of evidence across a range of retail and town centre issues and has set the following objectives for this Study: Review primary shopping areas and town centres boundaries, including those more recently defined by made Neighbourhood Plans. Identify existing uses within these primary shopping areas and the range of uses more generally within town centres. Understand the retail, leisure and other main town centre needs for the next 5, 10 and 15 years using both quantitative and qualitative methods, taking account of the emerging growth strategies set out in the Local Plan Review. Identify and appraise opportunity sites to meet specified needs either within town centres or edge of centre locations. Understand where employment and residential uses may have a role in larger town centres. Gain an understanding of the Unique Selling Point (‘USP’) of the town centres within the hierarchy, and identify opportunities to support a USP in individual town centres. Identify strengths and weaknesses in individual centres - e.g. out of centre retail and other significant outlying ‘main town centre uses’, which could be competing against/undermining the town centre offer, and/or meeting demands for comparison goods where they cannot be met in town centres. Distinguish the appropriate planning tools available and place specific aspirations that would enable town centre regeneration and the delivery of potential sites identified for development. 1 February 2019 Date: November 2020 Page: 1 Client: Wiltshire Council Report Title: Wiltshire Retail and Town Centres Study 2020 Understand the trends in changes of use/vacancy rates that have been apparent in each defined town centre. Consider the relationship that communities have with different centres and the provision of convenience goods. Define the terms ‘district centres’ and ‘local centres’ and the scale/range of acceptable uses within these. Understand the role that these have outside of defined centres at larger settlements. Guide the development of new district and local centres to meet needs forecast to arise as part of the emerging strategies at larger settlements. Evaluate policy options for Council wide strategies and area-based approaches/allocations, where relevant and understand the different policy approaches and options for the emerging Local Plan Review. Review the impact assessment threshold in Policy CP38 of the adopted Core Strategy. 1.4 In order to meet these objectives, this Study has undertaken a comprehensive review of the key issues facing retail land uses and town centres across Wiltshire, including: town centre health checks, a review of current shopping patterns and the usage of town centres, a review of retail and town centre trends and the current forecasts for the future in these areas, a review of how planning policy at the national level has changed since the adoption of the Core Strategy and previous evidence base studies, along with an assessment of any sites in and around town centres across Wiltshire can meet identified needs. 1.5 The preparation of this Study has been informed by the gathering of the following empirical research data: AY has undertaken land use surveys in each of the main ‘town centres’ across Wiltshire. This has included updating available Experian GOAD plan data published by Experian to a 2020 base level and, where Experian GOAD is not available, undertaking our own surveys of retail uses within defined ‘town centre’ boundaries. The data has been classified into the standard Experian GOAD retail land use classifications in order to provide consistency with previous land use uses. The Council and AY have commissioned a new survey of household shopping and leisure patterns in order to inform the quantitative and qualitative need assessments and town centre health checks. The survey conducted in February 2020 sought data on main and top-up food shopping patterns, various types of comparison goods shopping, visits to leisure facilities (such as cinemas, restaurants and cafes) along with the usage of town centres. Further details regarding the content of the household survey can be found in Section 4 of this Study. 1.6 This Study follows two previous retail and town centre studies commissioned since the formation of the Council in 2009. In March 2011 the Wiltshire Council Town Centre Retail Study (‘the 2011 Study’) was published. The 2011 Study was prepared by GVA (now AY) and provided a comprehensive review of town centre health and retail floorspace need issues. The 2011 Study was informed by a household survey of shopping patterns which was undertaken in June 2010. In February 2015, GVA completed the Wiltshire Core Strategy Retail Review (‘the 2015 Study’). Date: November 2020 Page: 2 Client: Wiltshire Council Report Title: Wiltshire Retail and Town Centres Study 2020 1.7 The 2015 Study superseded part of the 2011 Study, insofar as quantitative retail floorspace need forecasts were concerned, and provided additional information and analysis on the ‘town centre’ hierarchy across Wiltshire, town centre and primary shopping area boundaries and the wording of development management planning policies. This Study does not intend to supersede the ‘town centre’ hierarchy work undertaken in the 2015 Study, but it will supersede previous retail floorspace assessments and also re-visit planning policies and town centre boundary definitions to ensure that they remain fit for purpose in light of (A) the latest land use survey information, and (B) recent changes in national planning policy and planning legislation. 1.8 From the outset of this Study, it should be noted that its preparation commenced at the start of 2020 before the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the UK economy (and how the population went about their working and day-to-day lives) was fully realised. We can confirm that almost all of the evidence base data for the Study was collected before the government introduced lockdown measures (in March 2020) and that the economic forecasts adopted for our quantitative assessment are dated October 2020. As a consequence, the factual content of this Study should be read and understood in this context. Moreover, as will be discussed further later in this report, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is, based upon current predictions,