Issue - meetings

To Follow – At the time of agenda publication no reports or presentations were available, these will be published and circulated to the Panel and public as soon as is possible.

At the meeting the Panel are due to receive presentations in respect of this agenda item and discuss the matter in more detail.

The Director for Economy & Growth introduced this item to the Panel. He said that he welcomed the opportunity to discuss the issue and acknowledged that this comes at a time of national headlines reporting the closure of many large retail businesses.

He informed the Panel that this could be due to a number of factors, including;

·  Use of technology / online purchases

·  Higher costs to businesses – Minimum wage, Rates etc.

·  Less cash in the economy

·  Change in the tastes of the public

·  Chains opening too many outlets

He explained that the Panel would receive three presentations (Matthew Morris (GVA), Alison Herbert (BID) and Rob Dawson (Council’s Business Growth Team) and discuss how the local area can be supported.

Matthew Morris, GVA – Retail and Town Centre Trends

A summary of his presentation is set out below.

Retail Spending

Councillor Lisa O’Brien commented that shoppers were now not simply looking to make pure retail visits they are looking for a leisure experience. She added that since a number of coffee shops have opened in Keynsham that footfall has increased.

Matthew Morris agreed that over the past ten years that food and drink outlets have been the saviour of high streets.

Sales by location

Malls    2014 size  2019 size  Growth (2014-19)

  £22.9bn  29.7bn  29.6%

Local /   2014 size  2019 size  Growth (2014-19)

Other  £54.5bn  59.6bn  9.5%

Retail  2014 size  2019 size  Growth (2014-19)

Parks  94.7bn  97.8bn  3.3%

High  2014 size  2019 size  Growth (2014-19)

Streets  107.2bn  108.0bn  0.7%

Traditional retailing v non-store retailing

Since 2012 growth in retailing has increased between 2 – 4.2%, in comparison growth in non-store retailing which has increased between 9 – 16.4%. A forecast for future years shows a similar trend.

Grocery retail sector – Market shares

Between 2012 – 2017 there has been a degree of change to shopping at one of ‘big four’ supermarkets with Aldi (+2.5%) and Lidl (+1.3%) seeing an increase in custom.

2018 – A tough year on the high street

Jamie’s Italian – 12 restaurants close

Toys R us – closure of UK business

New Look – up to 60 stores to close

Carpetright – 92 of its 409 stores to close

Marks & Spencer – 100 stores to close by 2022

Carphone Warehouse – 92 shops to close

Mothercare – 50 stores to close

Poundworld – closure of all stores

House of Fraser – 31 of 59 stores to close

Retail Trends Influencing Planning Applications

?  Re-purposing of out of centre space and vacancies created by store closures – see M&S, Lower Bristol Road, Bath example

?  Move from large high end out of centre retail park proposals to more modest value orientated proposals

?  Aggressive ‘asset management’ of retail parks

?  Slower pace of re-purposing town centre space in the face of change / decline

How can the public sector respond to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8