UK retail guru Mary Portas is contributing to a government-backed review of High Street decline; she’s also doing a good job of keeping the debate in the news and accessible to people who aren’t town centres experts but are town-centre users. And that’s most of us.
Commenting on the latest release of shop vacancy figures from our old friends at the Local Data Company, she suggested that “the horse has bolted” from some towns – she simply cannot see a retail future for them. The Local Data Company evidence suggests these are mainly second-tier centres, and it’s the second-tier off-prime locations within them which are hardest hit.
The conclusion Mary Portas suggests is that some towns need to rethink the model entirely. If they cannot compete as retail centres, their only hope for rejuvenation is other uses. So far, where this has happened it has tended to be leisure-led, hence closed shops re-opening as bookmakers, cafes and bars. Better than vacant shops, perhaps, but a major change in mood which can have anti-social effects if not managed effectively.
Are there other potential ways that town centre regeneration could happen? I was pondering this as I looked again at the location of twelve new English Enterprise Zones announced by PM David Cameron in August.
This is the second round of new Zones, and the first lot included ex-industrial heartlands like the Black Country and Tees Valley, true. But these latest Zones are not designed for redistribution of opportunity: last I heard, Oxford, Lowestoft and Hereford were not high on the list of economic blackspots.
A quick mapping exercise backs up that conclusion. The Income Score is part of the Index of Multiple Deprivation, and the higher the score, the higher the deprivation – shown here in the brown shades.
As you can see, the areas surrounding the new Zones are not strongly characterised by below-average incomes, with the exception of Warrington.
So the Zones have been decided for other reasons, and my bet’s on “because they are most likely to be successful in bringing in new industry” and that will be counted as a win for the policy. Places where industries are already doing well attract other industries, and tend to be where skilled employees can be found. Locating them next to transport hubs is helpful, and a bit of government subsidy just adds to the mix that’s already there.
If enterprise is being encouraged where it’s happening already, what chance have second-tier retail centres have to be regenerated? Just maybe, the clue is in the question. Enterprise Zones are being given lower business rates, reduced planning controls and superfast broadband. Could this be achieved for smaller-scale ex-retail locations too – and would this be effort better targeted at genuine transformation?
I imagine that retail premises redeveloping as small business offices, live-work accommodation or even light industrial and distribution units might have a more balanced economic effect on a town’s economy than a night-time entertainment quarter. And if Dewsbury, Dudley, Hartlepool, Margate, Stockport and West Bromwich are the towns suffering the worst retail vacancies in England, I can think of worse places to start.
Mark Thurstain-Goodwin
Tags: retail, town centres
