Shopping Frontages in Town Centres

6.28 National and regional guidance on shopping policy places great emphasis upon improving the vitality and viability of existing shopping centres. Vitality comes from the variety and mix of uses and from activity within a town centre, but it is all underpinned by retailing. Different but complementary uses both during the day and in the evening can reinforce each other making town centres more attractive to local residents, shoppers and visitors. Restaurants, entertainment facilities, museums, hotels, banks, building societies and other financial institutions offering services to the public are well suited to town centre locations, but no advantage is achieved if these uses undermine the retail character and function of the centre.

6.29 Primary Shopping Frontages, which form the core of the retail area, have been defined in Halifax, Brighouse, Hebden Bridge and Todmorden town centres, using the criteria of commercial rental levels and pedestrian flows set out in PPS6. In Halifax these frontages have been refined by the work undertaken by Donaldson’s Consultants in developing the review of the Town Centre Strategy. Within these frontages it is the intention to keep a very high proportion of retail uses in order to ensure that the retail character of the streets is not diluted to the detriment of the vitality and viability of the town centre as a whole.

6.30 To assist in the interpretation of this policy the following should be taken to apply:-

  • A block is defined as being between major road frontages. It is not split by small access points (such as Upper George Yard, Union Cross Yard or Star Yard in Halifax, nor by entrances to market buildings). More substantial streets such as Cheapside, The Old Arcade, Market Arcade or Old Cock Yard, in Halifax should be regarded as splitting the frontage and therefore assist in defining the block.
  • The frontage to any one street should be regarded as being on one side of the street only. Calculations should not consider the implications of the number of non-Class A1 uses on the opposite side of the road, which would be regarded as being within another frontage.

(These rules do not apply within the small centres considered within Policy S 9 ‘Non-Retail Uses in Smaller and Local Centres’, where calculations should be taken to include the whole centre, not just one side of the road).

6.31 Within Primary Retail Frontages the following Policy will apply:-

Policy S 6

Primary Shopping Frontages

In the Primary Shopping Frontages identified on the Proposals Map proposals for the development/redevelopment or change of use of ground floor premises in retail use (Class A1) to uses within Class A2 and A3 will be permitted unless they would either:-
  1. create a continuous frontage of more than two non Class A1 uses, or exceed 15m of continuous frontage in non-Class A1 use; or
  2. result in more than about 15% of the total length of street frontage in any one street of any one block being in non-Class A1 use.

Uses outside Classes A1, A2 or A3 will not be permitted.

6.32 Secondary Frontages have also been defined in these town centres where a more relaxed approach to non-retail uses will be adopted although the intention is still to retain a retail character and dominance. The following Policy relates to these areas:-

Policy S 7

Secondary Shopping Frontages

In the Secondary Shopping Frontages identified on the Proposals Map proposals for the development/redevelopment or change of use of ground floor premises in retail use (Class A1) to uses not within Class A1 will be permitted unless they would either:-
  1. create a continuous frontage of more than three non-Class A1 uses, or exceed 21m of continuous frontage in non-Class A1 use; or
  2. result in more than about 30% of the total length of street frontage in any one street of any one block being in non-Class A1 use.

6.33 A Tertiary Mixed Use Frontage Area has also been defined for Halifax and Brighouse Town Centres, where non-Class A1 uses will be supported but should not be allowed to dominate the area. This area has been defined to assist in the shaping of the night-time economy within the town centres:-

Policy S 8

Tertiary Mixed-Use Frontage 

Within the Tertiary Mixed-Use Frontage Area of Halifax and Brighouse Town Centres, identified on the Proposals Map, proposals for the development/redevelopment or change of use of ground floor premises in retail use (Class A1) will be permitted except where they would lead to more than 50% of the length of the street frontage of any block being in non-retail use .

6.34 In other centres of the hierarchy it has not been possible to identify Primary and Secondary Frontages. However, it is important to protect the retail character of these centres as well and therefore some restrictions will apply. These are not considered to be as restrictive as those within the secondary areas of the town centres and reflect the predominantly tertiary character of these smaller centres.

Policy S 9

Non-Retail Uses in Smaller and Local Centres

In the Local Centres (shown on the Proposals Map) and other parades of shops where there are no defined shopping frontages, proposals for non-shopping uses will be permitted provided that the number of non Class A1 uses within the centre does not exceed 35% of the total number of units available within the centre or parade as a whole.

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