Retail Planning web links
   
www.farmersmarkets.net National Association of Farmers’ Markets web site. Lists of markets, traders etc are given. A retail health check involving measures such as footfall is being recorded by the organisation.
   
www.farma.org.uk The National Farmers’ Retail and Markets Association web site. Sector briefings are available.
   
www.ehtf.org.uk The English Historic Towns Forum web site gives information about current interests and activities of the group. The organisation has a Retail Working Group whose activities are entered and conference reports on retailing in historic towns are available.
   
www.communities.gov.uk This site gives official government department material on planning.
The statistics section of the web site is: www.communities.gov.uk/planningandbuilding/
planningbuilding/planningstatistics
the State of the Cities Database (including town centres and retail cores) is at: www.socd.communities.gov.uk/socd
Neighbourhood Statistics are at www.statistics.gov.uk/neighbourhood.

Other major reports on more general aspects of planning such as the Killian Pretty review are also available from this site.
   
www.bis.gov.uk The government Department for Business, Innovation and Skills includes publications and analysis from its Retail Strategy Group and a Sector Competitive Analysis.
   
www.bids-scotland.com The BIDs web site for Scotland has details of legislation, projects in Scotland and leaflets on topics such as key questions, town centres and multiple retailers.
   
www.direct.gov.uk This site provides the most direct links to all local authority planning office sites.
   
www.planning-inspectorate.gov.uk The Planning Inspectorate web site includes both links to the planning portal section of the site and also on-line copies of the Planning Inspectorate Newsletter. The search facility on this site provides a rapid means of access to relevant material on retail applications with the use of the search term PPS6.
   
www.planningportal.gov.uk This is the planning portal site operated by the Planning Inspectorate. It acts as an on-line advisory service to link users to progress on planning decisions. It also includes recent parliamentary questions, technical advice notes and planning guidance notes for England and Wales .
   
www.statistics.gov.uk The government statistical web site has a virtual bookshelf with almost all the government statistical publications including the Family Expenditure Survey, Labour Market Trends, Retail Sales Monitor and the Annual Business Inquiry. In addition to sectoral data there are cross sector publications such as neighbourhood statistics.
   
www.imrg.org This is the e-retail industry web site. Most of the detailed statistics are by subscription only. News items are also available on topics such as the effect of online retailing on high streets.
   
www.livingstreets.org.uk The Pedestrians Association post reports and findings relating to the use of streets by pedestrians and proposals to improve streets. The site includes material on the implications of congestion charging for example. An image library is available on the site.
   
www.acs.org.uk The Association of Convenience Stores web site includes the various comments on changes in policy expressed by its membership. The Association of Convenience Stores has been involved in a variety of lobbying activities and their representations are available on the web site.
   
www.scotland.gov.uk/planning This is the section of the Scottish Government web site concerned with planning issues in Scotland .
   
www.business-strategies.co.uk This is the section of the Experian web site which includes GOAD plan information. Experian GOAD have for many years produced town plans showing retail premises. These used to be available from UK copyright libraries. As a printed version is only now produced to order these are no longer deposited in copyright libraries. However a move has been made to make deposit of electronic material a legal deposit obligation. Shop counts are available under Shop*Point. Experian now owns Footfall as well (www.footfall.com). The new True Touch segmentation system is outlined on the site. Retail Market Spotlight gives the broad regional breakdown of the annual retail rankings. The site also includes information on retail outlets in Europe.
   
www.brc.org.uk The British Retail Consortium site has no particular section on retail planning matters. However it includes key figures for the retail industry and also parliamentary questions relating to retailing.
   
www.planning.haynet.com This remains the most accessible and informative site. It has a very useful news section as well as a substantial archive of recent articles and items from Planning. There are also extensive listings of links to documents referred to in planning although these are only held now for a two month period.
   
www.nrpf.org The National Retail Planning Forum web site highlights the activities of the organisation and gives an outline of the current publications available. Some publications are available on-line.
   
bigboxtoolkit.com A US web site which campaigns against big box retailing but which includes key studies to illustrate impacts on jobs and incomes of big box retailing.
   
www.bcsc.org.uk This is the British Council of Shopping Centres site. It is a members-oriented site giving information about the organisation. Newcomers can have a free trial permitting them to visit the site five times. Responses to current policy debates are available on the site. Executive summaries of publications are available online.
   
www.irs.stir.ac.uk This is the web site for the Institute for Retail Studies at the University of Stirling. The Institute has been at the forefront of retail research. The site provides a basic description and details contact points as well as some links to other commercial and academic retail sites.
   
www.csrs.ac.uk The centre for the Study of Retailing in Scotland web site includes datasets, retail trends, bibliographic data and publications.
   
www.oxygen.mintel.com Mintel publications are shown on this site. Publications are by retail sector such food retailing and factory outlet retailing.
   
www.cbre.co.uk    This site combines the former CBHillier Parker and Richard Ellis sites but it does not include the wealth of on-line material on the former CBHillier Parker web site. It includes reports on the UK Shopping Centre Investment Market, Out of Town Retail Investment, Shopping Centres in the Pipeline, Retail Sales Monitor and UK Retail Briefing. There are similar publications on European retailing. Navigating round this site users should search under the ‘Find a report’ section selecting ‘UK’ under the country selection and ‘retail and leisure’ from the list of sectors.
   
www.virsa.org the Village Rural Shops Association site has case studies of shop schemes and lists of publications on rural shop issues. News items are posted regularly.
   
www.towns.org.uk This site is the site for Action for Market Towns and gives details of existing and completed work. Back issues of the newsletter are available on-line. Submissions to the Competition Commission are available. The Active Towns Programme is also featured on the site. This programme iis engaged with revitalising market towns. A number of case examples are featured.
   
www.civicsocietyinitiative.org.uk The Civic Society Initiative was set up following the demise of the Civic Trust in 2009. It is launching a new charity, Civic Voice, to represent the civic movement and support civic societies. See also Project High Street www.highstreetuk.org.uk which the Civic Trust set up with the New Economics Foundation. The aim of the project is to engage the interest and support of local people as agents of change. Great Malvern is featured as an example.
   
www.igd.com This is the site for the Institute of Grocery Distribution. Current publications and some news are given on the site. Important IGD publications include the annual lists of grocery stores organised by store operator, size and location. Weekly analyses are held on-line and performance indices for major retailers are available. The links section includes most major food retailer sites.
   
www.lga.gov.uk The Local Government Association web site provides information on the association and its briefings to government commissions and inquiries. Media releases give LGA responses to issues such as the impact of the recession on high streets and areas and possible local government responses to this.
   
www.verdict.co.uk The Verdict site gives summaries of recent reports. Relevant reports are in the Consumer Dynamics Series. Location titles include neighbourhood retailing, out of town retailing, the high street, the series on How Britain Shops for different product categories and and channel titles include Where Britain Shops (supermarkets and department stores) and UK shopping habits.
   
www.yell.co.uk The Yellow Pages web site is a starting point for the location of retail enterprises by postcode. These can be listed and location maps of individual stores are available for postcodes.
   
www.rtpi.org.uk The web site for the Royal Town Planning Institute giving information on the organisation's activities and resources as well as details of meetings. A good search facility is available and references to articles in Planning and RTPI responses to various planning issues are listed.
   
www.atcm.org The Association of Town Centre Management site includes a range of useful material on town centre management issues. The newsletter of the Association of Town Centre Management is also available on-line. The site also holds the Directory of Managed Shopping Centres but this is available only to members of the Association of Town Centre Management. Details of the Milestoine Project are listed under ‘Latest Projects’.
   
www.scottishfarmersmarkets.co.uk For Scotland this site provides details of when markets take place and where and the stall holders at different markets.
   
www.tcpa.org.uk The Town and Country Planning Association site has responses to government consultation papers on planning issues. It also includes a section on press releases. The TCPA response to the consultation on PPS4 is available on the web site.
   
www.accessibleretail.co.uk This is the site for the British Council for Out of Town Retail. It has newsletters and on-line publications on key issues. There is a briefing note on PPS4.
   
www.collierscre.com Colliers CRE web site features reports on retail property trends. These are found under the header ‘Market Reports’ and include An Insight into Shopping Centre Sustainability and National Retail Barometer.
   
www.oft.gov.uk Office of Fair Trading web site.
   
www.competition-commission.org.uk Competition Commission web site. The publications, evidence and reports relating to the investigation on grocery retailing area are available.
   
www.bitc.org.uk Business in the Community is pursuing work on retail led investment in under served markets. Publications, reports and progress updates are available on the web site.
   
www.nabma.com The National Association of British Market Authorities web site includes their current newsletter which outlines the work the organisation does in supporting markets. The site also has a news archive and photogallery.
   
www.ukbids.org The UK BIDS web site includes details about how BIDs operates, factsheets, legislation and case studies.
   
www.planninginlondon.com Website of the London Planning & Development Forum, which represents the private and government sectors involved with development and planning in the capital. Selected articles from their journal Planning in London, planning performance data and a contacts directory are freely available.
   
www.planningofficers.org.uk The Planning Officers Society website contains much useful news and comment on planning policy developments as well as a full programme of events accessible to all users, with more material for POS members.
   
www.pas.gov.uk The Planning Advisory Service website aims to stimulate and support self-sustaining improvement within local planning authorities. It includes many useful tools and training materials, as well as guidance and examples of good practice from different councils across England.
   
www.neweconomics.org The New Economics Foundation lobbies on behalf of small shops and local high streets. Currently they are publishing a Clone Town Newsletter to flag up the problem of sameness in high streets in the UK.
   
www.localdatacompany.com  The Local Data Company site includes details of reports on current topics such as coffee shops, vacancies, fast food outlets as well as information about the type of data they collect.
   
www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/regeneration/town-centres/tcrf Scottish Government Town Centre Regeneration Fund web site which gives details of the fund, projects funded and assessment of the fund..
   
www.communities.gov.uk/news/planningandbuilding/1311377 Web address to find details about the Communities and Local Government empty shop revival fund.
   
www.scotlandstowns.org This web site is intended as a one stop shop for information on town centre initiatives in Scotland. It includes BIDs listings and information, publications, news, details of events, funding support and opportunities to share practical experience in improving town centres.