News Archive 2008

EVENT - National Food Markets Conference Dec 2008
The Third National Food Markets Conference - ‘Growing a Market’ took place in Blackpool on 9th December. Keynote speakers included Carolyn Steel, Author of 'Hungry City: How Food Shapes Our Lives'; Robin Butler, Chief Executive Lendlease Europe; Mike Wilkinson, Chief Executive, Blackpool and Lancashire Tourist Board and NRPF and Borough Market's George Nicholson.

NRPF Briefing Notes in context Nov 2008
An article in the International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management looks at the NRPF Briefing Notes in the context of the changing retail planning policy agenda.

Extent of Retail Development in England Nov 2008
CLG have released statistics on the amount of retail floorspace built during 2006 within town centres and the edges of town centres in England.

EVENT - Best Practice in Regeneration Nov 2008
The BURA Awards for Best Practice in Regeneration were presented at a ceremony in Leeds Town on 25th November, providing a change to meet the people setting the pace in regeneration.

Parliamentary Answer Oct 2008
A recent written answer sets out the research used by CLG to assess the impact of the proposed changes to PPS6.

Beyond Eco-towns - Lessons from Europe Oct 2008
A new report from PRP, URBED and Design for Homes looks at eco-towns and sustainable urban extensions through case studies from Europe and an examination of the economic issues, including retail provision.

New Town Centre Partnerships guide Oct 2008
Managing Town Centre Partnerships: A guide for practitioners has been published by CLG, the very useful product of a 2 year action-learning project involving 21 town centres of differing sizes from across England.

Under Served Markets revisited Oct 2008
The Guardian has returned to the Tesco at Failsworth in Oldham, one of the Under Served Markets project pilots, to see whether the see whether it has achieved its aims.

Town Centres and the London Economy Oct 2008
A report by Nicholas Falk of URBED, Over the Edge?, looks at the health of centres in North and West London and their counterparts beyond the GLA boundary, looking at wider issues of successful suburban town centres. A free breakfast talk on the report on October 15th was part of a series connected to New London Architecture's exhibition on London's Towns.

Future of Retail Property - the movie Oct 2008
The BCSC has produced short online films for each of its Future of Retail Property research reports; these provide easily digestible summaries of the programme's findings. The BCSC response to the PPS6 consultation is also available online.

Has PPS6 hindered independent retailers? Oct 2008
Recent research by Dr Rafaella Sadun at the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics suggests the acceleration of the decline of independent retailersan may be an unintended consequence of the 'town centres first' approach.

CONSULTATION - Definitions for Retail Planning Oct 2008
The NRPF’s new Definitions for Retail Planning cover a range of parameters widely used in retail planning analysis and forecasting. They are now published in draft form, and comments from interested parties were invited by 19th December.

Retail-led regeneration and changes to PPS6 Sep 2008
Presentations from a recent workshop held jointly by NRPF, the LGA and Business in the Community looking at the impact of the proposed revisions to PPS6 on retailing in deprived areas are now available on the Underserved Markets page, along with the USM response to the PPS6 consultation.

CLG Floorspace Statistics - update Sep 2008
The outcome of CLGs consultation into the future of their floorspace statistics has been announced; outputs will continue down to district level and below as before, with minor changes to the production process.

NEW Retail Planning Statistics resource Jul 2008
Our new Planning Statistics website provides an easy way to access retail and town centre planning statistics for England & Wales through maps, by searching or to download and is completely free to use!

Affordable Small Shops in London Plan Jul 2008
Proposals have been announced to amend the London Plan to enable planners to use section 106 agreements to require developers to make provision for affordable small shop units in major retail schemes.

Groceries inquiry: Government response Jul 2008
The Government's response to the Compertion Commission investigation into the groceries market has been published. There will be further reflection on the proposed competition test following the outcomes of the consultation on revisions to PPS6 and the Tesco legal challenge.

NEW Retail Planning Statistics resource Jul 2008
Our new Planning Statistics website is now live. It provides an easy way to access retail and town centre planning statistics for England & Wales through maps, by searching or to download and is completely free to use!

Initially it contains CLG's Town Centre Statistics for nearly 1500 centres with extra Retail Core data for the 700 largest. The website can also be found under 'Resources' in the navigation at the top of any page on this site.

Consultation on changes to PPS6 Jul 2008
Consultation on revisions to PPS6, including removal of the needs test and a strenthened impact test, took place until 3 October. See the CLG press release and full proposed revised PPS6.

Town Centre Health Checks Jul 2008
At a recent NRPF Research Group meeting, Gerard Burgess from the GLA gave a presentation on the 2008 London Town Centre Health Checks. The methodology draws on NRPF's ealier research (see also appendices) into this area .

Website changes Jul 2008
As well as updating the design, the navigation options have been changed to make the content easier to find. Newsletters are now in the 'News' menu and the Retail Planning Knowledge Base has its own 'Knowledge' menu. In the expanded 'Resources' menu are materials from our events and the Under-Served Markets project, along with our publications and details of our research programme.

Conservative Small Shops Commission Report Jul 2008
The Conservative Parliamentary Enterprise Group's commission into small shops has published its final report, recommending retention of the needs test.

Urban Regeneration Briefing Note Jul 2008
The latest paper in our series prepared by the Insititute of Retail Studies at the University of Stirling looks at Retail-led Urban Regeneration.

AIM Research publications Jul 2008
The Advanced Institute of Management Research (AIM) and ESRC are looking at retail planning as part of their Retail Sector Business Engagement Project. See also the report 'How Does UK Retail Productivity Measure Up'

Event - The Planning Convention Jul 2008
NRPF sponsored this year's RTPI Planning Convention in London from 9-11 July, including a reception on the evening of the 9th.

Event: Retail Regeneration & Development 2008 June 2008
Subtitled 'Designing the future landscape of retail', this NRPF-supported event in Central London on 25th June focused on how schemes can contribute and indeed pave the way to local regeneration, identifying both opportunity and best practice in retail design.

Event: European Retail Markets Driving Communities June 2008
The WUWM Retail Conference was held in Hamburg on 12th and 13th June

Retail Planning - A Review May 2008
Presentations from our Manchester event on May 22nd are now available to download. UPDATE - DCLG presentation now added.

House of Commons Debate May 2008
The Westminster Hall Supermarkets debate on 13th May included discussion of the need test and proposed competition test.

Retail Planning in London May 2008
Michael Bach's recent article in Planning in London considers the impact of recent and possible future policy changes on retail and town centre planning in Greater London.

PPS London Elections Briefing May 2008
A briefing note from PPS Group looks at the likely impact of new London mayor Boris Johnson on planning matters in the capital.

Competition Commission Final Report Apr 2008
The final report of the Groceries Market inquiry recommends a Competition Assessment within the planning system, as suggested in the earlier proposed remedies. The report discusses some of the responses to those proposals - see section 7.34 onwards (the NRPF response is here).

BIDs Briefing Note Apr 2008
A new paper in our series prepared by the Insititute of Retail Studies at the University of Stirling looks at Business Improvement Districts.

Event - ACS Summit 2008 Apr 2008
The Association of Convenience Stores annual flagship event in Birmingham on April 24th will focus on innovation, community and the environment.

Event - BURA Seaside Symposium Mar 2008
An event looking at the diversification and regeneration of seaside places, held in Blackpool from 5-7 March.

Under Served Markets project Mar 2008
Materials from the recent BitC Under Served Markets project practitioner workshop in London and the USM Reseach Guide are now online, along with more details and materials from earlier events in the series.

NRPF Knowledge Base Updated Mar 2008
The latest update to our Knowledge Base, looking critically at relevant research from 2007, is now online. Our recommendations for the retail planner's bookshelf have also been updated, along with the annotated list of useful websites.

New Book: Open for Business Mar 2008
Photographer (and NRPF secretary) George Nicholson's forthcoming book 'Open for Business' celebrates the shops and market of Fulhams' North End Road. Read the afterword by NRPF chairman Chris Brearley which addresses the hot topic of secondary shopping; to see the foreword by the BBC's Evan Davis you'll need to read the book!

Ministerial Statement Mar 2008
CLG Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Iain Wright's recent response in a Westminster Hall debate on High Street Shops gives more clues about the forthcoming revisions to PPS6.

Food Security Mar 2008
In a recent lecture ‘Food Security: are we sleepwalking into a crisis?’, Prof. Tim Lang of City University explored the clash between our cheap food culture and the challenge of providing a sustainable food supply for the future. Another related lecture.

Floorspace Statistics and Consultation Mar 2008
DCLG has released floorspace and rateable value statistics for commercial properties, including retail, in England & Wales at 1 April 2007. A consultation on the future of these statistics has now closed.

Making Retail Research Accessbile Mar 2008
A recent ESRC event aimed to discover the big questions in retail that the academic community can help to address, based around a report by the Advanced Institute of Management Research (AIM).

NRPF Research Programme Feb 2008
The research page has been updated with details of our latest projects.

Competition Commission Remedies Feb 2008
The Competition Commission has published the provisional decision on remedies for the Groceries Market inquiry. This recommends a Competition Assessment is included within the planning process at the development control stage, with the OFT as a statutory consultee, for grocery store developments larger than 1000sq m. based on fascia count and floorspace, but no other specific changes to the planning system.

Retail Development Bill - Update Feb 2008
The debate from the second reading in the Lords of this Private Members' Bill to "provide support for small retail businesses; to establish the Office for Retail Planning; to make provision about retail planning and development" etc. is worth reading, especially the ministerial response (Lord Bassam) for insight into how the Government thinks it is addressing the issues.

Community Infrastructure Levy Jan 2008
DCLG have published a document on the proposed Community Infrastructure Levy, setting out its views on how this would operate. Retail is not explicitly mentioned, but is currently one of the forms of development which would contribute.

Consultation on 'Call In' Directions Jan 2008
DCLG is consulting on proposed changes to 'call in' directions. The Shopping Direction would be cancelled. A new Direction would reduce the number of cases notified to Government Offices by cutting out all retail developments between 2,500 sqm and 4,999 sqm and all extensions under 2,500 sqm.

Consultation on draft PPS4 Jan 2008
A draft of new Planning Policy Statement 4: Planning for Sustainable Economic Development has been issued by DCLG for consultation.

Retail Data Briefing Note Jan 2008
A new briefing note considers the evidence base for retail planning, the latest in our series by the Insititute of Retail Studies at the University of Stirling.

Event - Retail Property Forum Jan 2008
Retail Week's Property Directors' Forum took place in central London on 22nd January.