The High Street is dead, long live the High Street
- E30
- 1:10:09
- September 30th 2020
‘Vital and Viable’, the good practice guidance that accompanied the old PPG6 included a large survey of planning authorities. A fifth of town centres in 1995, it was reported, were then thought to be ‘declining’, while only a few metropolitan cities and historic towns thought of themselves as ‘vibrant’.
What would the results of such a survey be now?
Oasis, Warehouse, Debenhams and Cath Kidston have filed for administration and between M&S, John Lewis, Boots and WH Smith 14,000 jobs could be at risk.
According to the ONS, online sales in March were up 13% year-on-year, including a substantial 52% growth in sales of household goods. ONS data up to 26 July showed that footfall in UK High Streets, retail parks and shopping centres was 60% of what it was a year previously.
On the one hand, with just one in six workers back in the office and two-thirds of chief executives predicting a move to low density office usage, the prospects for city centre sandwich shops and bars that rely on lunchtime and after work trade look bleak. On the other hand the prospects for independent businesses in the towns and villages where former commuters might be spending their money look rosier.
Can the High Street be saved? Should the High Street be saved? What, indeed, do we even mean by the High Street? What role does the planning system have in answering these questions?
Sam Stafford puts these questions to Iain Jenkinson, Rebecca Trevalyan and Bill Grimsey.
Iain (@iain_jenkinson) is a Senior Director at CBRE and has spent twenty years advising private and public sector clients on city and town centre regeneration projects.
Rebecca (@RTrevalyan) is a co-founder of social enterprise Library of Things and an advocate for community-powered neighbourhoods. Rebecca co-authored the Grimsey Review Covid-19 Supplement Report: ‘Build Back Better’.
Bill (@BillGrimsey) is known for his leadership at Wickes, Iceland and Focus, and is arguably the most high-profile advocate for our High Streets, publishing reports in 2013 and 2018, as well as the recent Covid-19 update mentioned above.
Some accompanying reading.
The Grimsey Review Covid-19 Supplement Report: ‘Build Back Better’.
'Life after Coronavirus: A new high street is waiting — if we’re brave enough to reimagine access to property' by Rebecca.
'The future of high streets and how we can all play a part' by Chris Sands.
https://totallylocally.org/stuff/blog/the-future-of-high-streets-how-we-can-all-play-a-part/
'A different way to save the high street' by Josh Lowe.
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/high-street-shops-community-marks-and-spencer
Rebecca's Twitter Mega-Thread on alternative uses.
https://twitter.com/rtrevalyan/status/1270662358600425472?s=21
Participatory City.
http://www.participatorycity.org/about
Some accompanying listening.
'Shopping' by the Pet Shop Boys.
50 Shades of Planning
Sam Stafford started posting on the 50 Shades of Planning blog in 2012 and in 2019 turned it into a podcast. 50 Shades of Planning is about the foibles of the English planning system and it's aim is to cover the breadth of the sector both in terms of topics of conversation and in terms of guests with different experiences and perspectives.
50 Shades episodes include 'Hitting The High Notes', which is a series of conversations with leading planning and property figures. The conversations take in the six milestone planning permissions or projects within a contributor’s career and for every project guests are invited to choose a piece of music that they were listening to at that time. Think Desert Island Discs, but for planners. If you would like to feature on 'Hitting The High Notes', or know somebody that would make a great guest, please email [email protected].
If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that...
'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.
Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html
Sam is on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford), and his blogs can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com.
As with the 50 Shades Blog, the 50 Shades Podcast is a platform for Sam's personal opinions, which may or may not represent the opinions of his past, present or future employers.
50 Shades of Planning is produced in partnership with Cratus Group.
Why Fifty Shades? Well, planning is not a black and white endeavour. There are at least fifty shades in between...
