Location of Retail and Key Town Centre Uses
6.9 To ensure that new retail and other key town centre developments are sited in appropriate locations in accordance with the principle of maintaining the vitality and viability of existing centres and ensuring they are in accessible locations well related to public transport, it is appropriate to apply the 'sequential approach' to retail developments and other key developments. (Additional policy advice for leisure uses may be found in Policy CF 10 ‘Major Leisure/Entertainment Uses’ and for offices in Policy E 6 ‘A2 (Financial and Professional Services) Office Development.’, Policy E 7 ‘Sequential Approach for Major B1 Office Development’ and Policy E 8 ‘Criteria for Assessing Major Office B1 Development’).This approach is set out in PPS6 and therefore forms an important part of national retail policy. As a result the following general principles will apply:-
POLICY GS 2
THE LOCATION OF RETAIL AND KEY TOWN CENTRE AND LEISURE USES
RETAIL DEVELOPMENT INTENDED TO SERVE A WIDE CATCHMENT AREA OR WHICH MIGHT HAVE A SIGNIFICANT EFFECT UPON LOCAL SHOPPING PATTERNS, OR KEY TOWN CENTRE AND LEISURE USES SHOULD BE SITED WITHIN AN EXISTING TOWN CENTRE. WHERE SUITABLE CENTRAL SITES ARE NOT AVAILABLE A SEQUENTIAL APPROACH TO SITE SELECTION SHOULD BE ADOPTED, WITH EDGE OF CENTRE SITES HAVING PREFERENCE OVER OUT OF CENTRE LOCATIONS. DEVELOPMENT SHOULD BE APPROPRIATE TO THE SCALE, ROLE AND CHARACTER OF THE CENTRE AND THE CATCHMENT THAT THE DEVELOPER SEEKS TO SERVE. PROPOSALS FOR RETAIL FACILITIES WHICH IN THEMSELVES OR TOGETHER WITH OTHER SIMILAR DEVELOPMENTS WITH PLANNING PERMISSION IN THE LOCALITY COULD SERIOUSLY AFFECT THE VITALITY AND VIABILITY OF ANY NEARBY TOWN CENTRE, OR WOULD GIVE RISE TO UNACCEPTABLE ENVIRONMENTAL, AMENITY, TRAFFIC, SUSTAINABILITY OR OTHER PROBLEMS WILL NOT BE PERMITTED.
Retail Hierarchy for Calderdale
6.10 To focus retailing activity into appropriate locations, a shopping hierarchy has been defined. In Calderdale, the retail hierarchy is dominated by Halifax town centre, which is the fifth largest centre in West Yorkshire (1999 WYRCS). The West Yorkshire retail hierarchy is dominated by the regional centre of Leeds, Bradford city centre, Huddersfield town centre and Wakefield city centre and are all larger than Halifax town centre which itself possesses more retailing floorspace than all the other town and smaller centres within Calderdale combined. Halifax town centre is a little larger than Keighley, which is sixth in the county’s retail hierarchy. Halifax is also the main focus for services within the District and a major centre for office employment, leisure and cultural activities. Brighouse, Elland, Todmorden and Hebden Bridge provide a focus for shopping and services within their parts of the District but remain subservient to Halifax within the hierarchy. Todmorden and Hebden Bridge act as service centres to their respective rural hinterlands in the western part of the District. The WYRCS found that Halifax has a strong core catchment based upon the Halifax/Sowerby Bridge/Hebden Bridge/Ripponden area, but that its influence in Brighouse, Elland and Todmorden is greatly diminished by other competing centres such as Huddersfield, Bradford, the White Rose Centre, Leeds, Meadowhall, the Lancashire Towns, Manchester and the Trafford Centre. Despite having a strong core catchment, Halifax experiences significant out flow of expenditure to other competing centres, which means that the centre does not provide the sorts of retail facility and range of goods that would generally be expected from a town of its size and status. It is a reasonable position to attempt to bolster the retail offer of Halifax, but recognising that this is in the context of the West Yorkshire hierarchy. Any major new retail proposal intended to significantly increase the retail potential in Halifax Town Centre should demonstrate that the proposals are appropriate to the role that the centre serves and address the implications for other centres within the hierarchy.
6.11 Despite these weaknesses, the Calderdale retail system has some notable strengths, particularly in respect of the small independent retailers which characterise much of the retail sector within the district. It will be important to assist the smaller retailers and the services that they provide by providing attractive town centres, which will continue to be a focus for activity. As a result the application of the sequential approach to retail development becomes an essential part of securing the future of the town centres.
6.12 There are several out-of-centre convenience and comparison retailing facilities which provide significant facilities throughout the District. These have been defined as Other Retail Locations and are shown on the Proposals Map. They attract the majority of convenience expenditure and are an important feature of Calderdale’s retail trading pattern. In terms of comparison retailing however, the floorspace outside Halifax centre is only slightly larger than that within the centre, although a number of developments are coming forward. Much of this out-of-centre comparison floorspace has been developed since 1990 and consists of large retail warehouse units.
6.13 A retail hierarchy has been defined as suggested by PPS6 based upon the relative trading patterns and turnovers of the centres as identified by the WYRCS (1999) for the larger centres and based upon the floorspace and retail characteristics of the smaller centres. The hierarchy is as follows:-
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TYPE OF CENTRE |
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MAJOR TOWN CENTRE |
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TOWN CENTRES |
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Local Centres |
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Local Shops (These are not shown on the Proposals Map) |
Additional small groups of shops, which serve a local walk-in catchment, also contribute to the Retail Hierarchy. These are too numerous to mention and too small to show on the Proposals Map. |
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Other Retail Locations |
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These are convenience and comparison stores and small retail parks which are a feature of the Retail Hierarchy. They may be edge-of-centre or out-of-centre in terms of location. Whilst the Council does not accept that they should be regarded as Town Centres for the operation of the Sequential Approach, their enhancement or expansion would in many instances be a more satisfactory solution than the creation of another free standing facility, should there be no alternative town centre or edge of centre sites available. They therefore have an important role to play in the overall implementation of the sequential approach to retail planning. |
6.14 The Council supports proposals that achieve the consolidation, strengthening and enhancement of centres and wishes to see as a general principle new retail development being located within the centres identified on the Proposals Map. Whilst there may be a place for out-of-centre retailing developments, a sequential approach to the location of development is appropriate to ensure that central or edge-of-centre sites are developed in preference to out-of-centre locations. (See POLICY GS 2 ‘THE LOCATION OF RETAIL AND KEY TOWN CENTRE AND LEISURE USES’ and Policy S 1 ‘Sequential Approach for Retail and other Key Town Centre or Leisure Uses’).
6.15 In order to help sustain the character, vitality and viability of existing shopping centres, new retail development should be seen to complement the retail hierarchy rather than fundamentally change it. As a result it is important that new retail development is in scale with any centre with which it is associated and forms an appropriate addition or extension. Where a development may be considered to be out of scale, an appraisal of sustainability in accordance with RSS (2004) Policy SOC3 will be required to provide information regarding traffic, environmental and retail impacts of the proposals in order to allow informed decisions to be made.
POLICY GS 3
SCALE OF RETAIL PROPOSALS
RETAIL DEVELOPMENT PROPOSALS SHOULD RELATE TO THE SCALE, ROLE AND CHARACTER OF THE CENTRE WITHIN WHICH THE DEVELOPMENT IS TO BE LOCATED AND THE CATCHMENT THAT THE DEVELOPMENT SEEKS TO SERVE. WHERE THE DEVELOPMENT IS NOT IN SCALE OR CHARACTER THE APPLICATION SHOULD BE ACCOMPANIED BY A FULL APPRAISAL OF SUSTAINABILITY.