Report GVA One Kingsway Cardiff CF10 3AN Neath Port Talbot Retail Study Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council July 2013 gva.co.uk Prepared By: Ben Lewis Status: Associate Date: January 2013 Reviewed By: Matt Morris Status: Director Date: July 2013 For and on behalf of GVA Ltd July 2013 I gva.co.uk Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council Contents CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 2. PLANNING POLICY OVERVIEW .................................................................................... 8 3. RETAIL TRENDS ........................................................................................................... 17 4. TOWN CENTRE ASSESSMENT ................................................................................... 36 5. RETAIL NEED ASSESSMENT ...................................................................................... 69 6. RETAIL DEVELOPMENT SITES: POLICY ANALYSIS ................................................. 90 7. CONCLUSIONS & POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................... 99 Appendices Appendix A Neath Port Talbot Household Survey: Study Area Appendix B Neath Port Talbot Household Survey: Tabulations Appendix C Retail Capacity Assessment: Statistical Tables Appendix D Retail Site Assessment: Site Plans Appendix E Retail Site Assessment: Site Proformas July 2013 I gva.co.uk Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council Introduction 1. Introduction Background & Context 1.1 This report has been prepared by GVA on the instructions of Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council (‘NPTCBC’) to prepare a retail study to provide the Authority with essential background information for the emerging Local Development Plan (LDP). 1.2 NPTCBC is currently preparing its LDP and the recommendations in this report will feed into the LDP process. It is anticipated that the Deposit LDP will be issued for public consultation in August 2013. To ensure the evidence base for the Deposit Plan is as robust as possible, NPTCBC has commissioned this county-wide retail study. 1.3 National planning policy guidance requires that local planning authorities’ policies and proposals in a LDP should be underpinned by comprehensive and credible evidence. The Welsh Government (WG) document ‘Local Development Plans Wales’ requires local planning authorities to prepare and maintain an up-to-date evidence base and this retail study will form an integral part of NPTCBC’s information library. It is intended that this study will meet these requirements by providing comprehensive survey material, including surveys of: town centre uses, the availability and use of existing centres, the health of centres, the accessibility of centres, retail expenditure patterns and proposals in adjacent areas. 1.4 For the purposes of the study, the main town centres have been defined as: Neath, Port Talbot and Pontardawe. These centres are the principal focus of the study and its empirical research. The smaller district and local centres within NPTCBC are also considered within the report. Objectives of the Study 1.5 The overall aim of the study is to provide a single evidence base to inform the retailing and town centres section of the forthcoming NPTCBC LDP, including its strategy, area- wide policies and reasoned justification. The study will also provide the Council with a robust evidence base to make development control decisions on planning applications for retail development and specific allocations of land for retail development within the July 2013 I gva.co.uk 1 Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council Introduction town centres. To meet these objectives, the study can be broken down into 3 key stages. These, together with the principal tasks for each, are as follows: Stage 1 Town Centre Health Checks . Assess the health of the main centres within the study area using the indicators provided by Technical Advice Note 4: Retailing & Town Centres (TAN4). This review would be based on available data from NPTCBC background papers to the LDP and data records, supplemented by desktop research and site visits. The household survey (see below) commissioned for the study also provides very useful information on customer views of the main town centres. Review of out-of-centre retail provision in each of the main towns to derive a complete picture of shopping provision in each settlement. This will include an overview of the key destinations for bulky goods shopping. Stage 2: Assessment of Current Shopping Patterns & Expenditure Flows . Assess current shopping patterns (for food and different types of non-food shopping, including bulky goods) and apply this data to current population and per capita expenditure levels to derive expenditure flows across the County, including leakage of expenditure to other administrative areas; . Provide a detailed picture of the turnover of town centre and out-of-centre retail facilities in each of the main centres, including the catchment areas of each settlement and any inter-relationship between the centres in the County Borough in terms of shopping behaviour and expenditure flows. Stage 3 Assessment of the Need for Additional Retail Development in Neath Port Talbot up to 2026 . Undertake a quantitative assessment of the likely future retail demand and need for additional retail floorspace for comparison (including bulky goods) and convenience goods within each retail centre for the plan period (up to 2026). The assessment is broken down into food and non-food shopping, and several separate types of non-food categories are identified including clothing/footwear, carpets/furniture, DIY, electrical, personal/luxury goods, and recreational goods. Within the comparison goods analysis, this is split into bulky and non-bulky goods categories. July 2013 I gva.co.uk 2 Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council Introduction . Undertake a qualitative assessment of the need for additional retail floorspace for comparison and convenience goods by examining the quantum, location, range and choice of food and non-food retail facilities within each centre and identify (having regard to the position of each settlement in the overall settlement hierarchy) whether there is sufficient provision or whether there are gaps/deficiencies in provision. Account for changing or alternative shopping patterns (where qualitative indicators or retail commitments (permissions or allocations) dictate) and analyse how these would affect the resultant retail capacity (or quantitative need). Advice on the potential impacts that may arise from future retail development, under construction or proposed (i.e. commitments / planning applications), in competing centres outside Neath Port Talbot. Advice on the need for new retail development, the appropriate forms of such development to accommodate any projected retail need, and the impact that additional retail floorspace provision would have on the vitality and viability of each retail centre. 1.6 To achieve the above aims, the study provides a comprehensive analysis of retailing in Neath Port Talbot addressing both quantitative and qualitative issues. The study takes a holistic approach to the consideration of retail issues, and takes account of underlying patterns of sustainability, social inclusion and technological change. Accordingly, this study includes the following key components: . Provision of a policy analysis, based on the contents of Planning Policy Wales Edition 5 (November 2012) (PPW5). At the local level, the adopted Neath Port Talbot Unitary Development Plan (UDP) provides the current strategic context for retailing in the County Borough. The first key stage in the LDP process was the publication of the Pre-Deposit Plan in September 2011. This outlined the Council’s vision, objectives and preferred strategy for growth or change, including preferred options for major development sites. This retail study will facilitate a review of the robustness of shopping policies and proposals in the UDP, and inform policy formulation as the LDP is progressed to Deposit stage. Overview of the retail hierarchy in Neath Port Talbot, focussing on the position of the Borough’s main centres in the wider hierarchy and their respective retail performance, the trends and commercial pressures facing the centres and the July 2013 I gva.co.uk 3 Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council Introduction strategies which can be employed to maintain and enhance the health of the main centres; . Assessment of the need for additional retail floorspace across the County Borough, split into convenience and comparison (bulky and non-bulky) goods floorspace predictions for each of the main towns up to 2026. This work will draw upon up-to- date population, per capita expenditure and shopping patterns data to provide a forecast capacity for NPTCBC as a whole, plus predictions for the main towns. As part of the assessment of need, qualitative indicators of retail provision in the County Borough are also reviewed. Guidance on the opportunities for retail development in and around the main town centres, including commentary on proposed retail development sites that the Council have been engaged on. This assessment considers the performance of a number of known sites against a framework of retail planning policy criteria. The analysis also looks at other (non-retail policy) material considerations which may be relevant to the decision-making process, in order to draw robust conclusions on overall site suitability.