Key information
Request reference number: MGLA150724-7297
Date of response:
Summary of request
Request:
Can you also answer our questions regarding the discrepancies of the floorspace in your town centre health checks report as shown in the table below.
In particular, we don't believe it is possible to have 17,250 sq metres of Comparison retail floor space in Edgware where the total Edgware Broadwalk retail floor space is 190,000 sq ft (17,651 sqm) of which 63,400 sq ft is Sainsburys.
We would like to request as part of the FOI to see
1. evidence of your data with a breakdown of floorspace by shop
2. the categories of each shop as well as whether the shop is classified as a Comparison Retail or Convenience Retail
3. the defitional of Comparison Retail and Convenience Retail and the type of shops in each category.
4. How the Total floorspace of Edgware is derived.
Our response to your request is as follows:
1. The data was purchased as aggregated data for the whole of each town centre in the London Plan town centre network, therefore this information is exempt from disclosure under section 43(2) of the FOIA (Commercial Interest). The data is provided to the GLA under a commercial licence.
Section 43(2) constitutes a qualified exemption from our duty to disclose information under the FOIA and consideration must be given as to whether the public interest favours disclosure of the information covered by this exemption, outweighs the public interest considerations in favouring maintaining the exemption and withholding the information. In this instance we regard it not to be in the public interest to release information that would be detrimental to commercial activities, specifically where the information is a commercially available product sold by a third party.
2. Please see answer to Question 1
3. Comparison retail refers to shopping for things like clothes, electrical items, household and leisure goods. Comparison goods are bought relatively infrequently, so consumers usually evaluate prices, features and quality before making a purchase.
Convenience retail refers to shopping for everyday items like food, drink, newspapers and confectionery.
Service retail refers to the purchase of services rather than products, for example hairdressers, shoe repair or dry cleaning.
(definitions above sourced from the GLA report: London Town Centre Health Check 2017)
4. In the 2017 Town Centre Health Check, the calculations of Total floorspace in each town centre exclude office floorspace. The reason for excluding offices is highlighted in paragraph 3.1.1 of the report which states: “Excluding offices from this measure helps to compare centres more directly, as quantities of office floorspace can vary significantly between different centres that are otherwise commercially similar.”
The potential loss of 7,133 sq.m office floor space to residential use in Edgware town centre between 2012 and 2016 is therefore not factored into the calculations of total town centre floorspace on which the assessment is made.