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London Town Centre AssessmentThe London Plan emphasises the strategic importance of town centres and sets out policies to maximise choice and promote sustainable access to goods and services. The London Town Centre Assessment includes the Convenience Goods Floorspace Need study published in June 2005 and the Comparison Goods Floorspace Need research published in September 2004. Together, these reports provide authoritative evidence to enable planners to identify sufficient development capacity to support a thriving, competitive retail sector in London, and will help in the implementation of the policies on shopping and town centre development in the London Plan. The assessments contribute towards the strategic framework for more local studies of retail need for individual boroughs and development proposals consistent with Government policy. They will help boroughs and the GLA to consider the possible future roles of town centres in meeting need and inform revisions to the town centre network in the light of the results of town centre ‘health checks’. They will also inform the preparation of Local Development Frameworks, the Mayor’s Sub Regional Development Frameworks, and the review of the London Plan. London-wide Town Centre Health Checks 2006 Analysis London has a complex pattern of town centres which are recognised and supported by the London Plan. They play a fundamental role in providing for the needs of Londoners and visitors through retail, leisure, employment and a range of other service provision. The network needs to remain sufficiently flexible to accommodate change in the role of centres and their relationships to one another and to accommodate forecast demands for future retail and leisure requirements. The need for a more sensitive and better informed town centre network was a major concern of the London Plan’s Examination in Public. The London Plan states that the network will be tested through regular town centre ‘health checks’ and centres can be reclassified in the light of these through Sub-Regional Development Frameworks and subsequent reviews or alterations the Plan. These London-wide Town Centre Health Checks (2006 Analysis) undertaken by the GLA, and drawing on data provided by a range of sources including surveys of the boroughs, are an important element of assessing the health of the network and centres relationships to each other. They for part of the wider town centre assessment which includes studies of the demand for additional convenience and comparison goods floorspace and will be incorporated in supplementary planning guidance together with demands for other uses such as hotels and offices. The main report analyses the range of data provided and, together with the annexes, assesses the relationships between centres in the network. Annex 5, available electronically as a separate range of documents, provides access to the data collected during the health checks in spreadsheets enabling the data to be further interrogated. These are available on CD from the London Plan team (contactable via telephone: 020 7983 4100). London-wide Town Centre Health Checks 2006 Analysis PDF London-wide Town Centre Health Checks 2006 Analysis Annexes PDF London-wide Town Centre Health Checks 2006 Analysis Annex 5 section 1 PDF only Convenience Goods Floorspace Need in London The authors of this report, Experian Business Strategies, project a modest increase of £3.6bn in convenience goods expenditure in London between 2001 and 2016 - or an annual average growth of 2 per cent. Taking into account this growth in expenditure and productivity - but not existing proposals for new retail development that are already in the pipeline - the report identifies a need for between 120,000 to 315,000 square metres of additional convenience goods floorspace across London as a whole to 2016. The report concludes that this strategic assessment of retail needs must be complemented by local assessments of need for convenience goods floorspace that take into account proposals already in the planning process and qualitative factors including over and under trading of individual stores, the complexion of the existing retail offer, the potential to make more efficient use of the existing stock, car parking provision and management, and accessibility. Convenience Goods Floorspace report PDF Comparison Goods Floorspace Need in London It identifies an increase of £37.5bn in consumer expenditure and a doubling of comparison goods expenditure in constant prices to 2016. The report challenges long held assumptions on rate of increase of sales densities (productivity growth) and identifies that the most realistic rate for planning purposes to 2016 should be 2 to 2.5 per cent. Taking into account growth in consumer expenditure, productivity growth and major developments in the pipeline, the report identifies need for between 1 million to 1.5 million square metres of comparison goods floorspace across London as a whole to 2016. Comparison goods floorspace report PDF Comparison goods floorspace appendices PDF The addendum below provides additional scenario information to the Comparison Goods Floorspace Need report. Based upon Scenario 2 in the main report, it contains a breakdown of the comparison goods floorspace requirements by centre level at 2 per cent and 2.5 per cent productivity growth rates. Comparison goods floorspace addendum PDF
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