Neighbourhood regeneration plans ‘need strong retail strategy to protect local shops’

Neighbourhood regeneration strategies risk driving out local shops and replacing them with national chain stores unless the shopping needs of local residents are respected and the transition from old to new is carefully phased. In the best initiatives, large retailers and local shopkeepers work together to provide a high-quality shopping environment, according to new research for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Delegating the control of initiatives to experienced community development organisations or to regeneration companies with strong private sector participation can also help to ensure the survival of successful retailing.

The study of retailing, sustainability and neighbourhood regeneration by
Prof. Michael Carley and colleagues at Heriot-Watt University looks at 14 examples of initiatives around Britain that have made good progress in reviving local shopping facilities. It concludes that there are no simple answers to the decline of small shops and other retailing in many disadvantaged neighbourhoods and that solutions must be tailored to local needs and opportunities. In addition:

• The phasing of regeneration, especially demolition and decanting local people into alternative accommodation, can have a major negative effect on existing shopkeepers, even forcing those operating at the margins of profitability out of business. Redevelopment that leads to a greater concentration of low-income households on fewer estates also has a negative impact.
• Good practice requires strong leadership and clear attention to the retail market at sub-regional as well as local level. Public money and other social investment should be used to reinforce potential business success and profitability, rather than to subsidise marginal schemes.
• Community facilities such as libraries, employment training facilities and health centres can play an important part in increasing the attraction of local shopping facilities. Environmental improvements, making retail centres attractive to passers-by, can also add to the chances of success.
• Care must be taken to ensure that new retail schemes provide employment for local residents.

The study finds that initiatives to revive local retailing have been less successful where they have been governed by the short-term aspirations that dominate development planning and have lacked a clear vision. They have also tended to ignore the need for a strategy that ensures that economic, social and environmental objectives are pursued together, not separately.

However, the report notes that even the more successful retail regeneration initiatives had paid relatively little attention to broader environmental issues such as the relationship between location, transport and greenhouse gas emissions. Most developments were found to have flourished by broadening their catchment areas and attracting car-borne shoppers from further afield.

Prof. Carley said: “Too often in the case study areas, the demolition of a shopping precinct or market has meant the loss of local retailers. However, we have seen some initiatives that have gone out of their way to foster local retail vitality by making business support and advice available, by careful phasing of the programme and by making transitional arrangements while the actual regeneration work is taking place.”

He added: “The best developments we have seen contribute to the quality of life through environmental improvements, building restoration, quality public space and development of community facilities. However, most initiatives have also relied on attracting shoppers from further afield, using increased traffic volumes as a mark of success. This conflicts with national environmental objectives of reducing carbon dioxide and other emissions. National targets need to be translated into regional and local targets so that local developments properly assess the ‘greenhouse gas’ implications and ensure that walking, cycling and public transport are promoted.”