Strategic Review of Town Centres and Retail in the TAYplan Area

TAYplan Commissioned Roderick MacLean Associates Ltd in spring 2013 to complete a Strategic Review of Town Centres and Retail in the TAYplan Area.

This research informed the TAYplan Main Issues Report (2014) on key strategic issues associated with town centres in the TAYplan area. Three main elements of the research were:-Analysis of policy and emerging policy- a concise review of the current policy framework on town centres, including the recent External Town Centre Review Group Report; the draft SPP; current development plans and MIR reports.
-Analysis of national regional and local trends- a review of trends in retailing, such as online spending and trends in retail property market demand, including information on the TAYplan area; trends in public attitudes to town centres, and trends in footfall in the main town centres within the TAYplan area.
-Data review:

-Review of the existing town centre database held by the TAYplan local authorities; identification of gaps or inconsistencies in the information (especially market demand information), plus remedies and/or recommendations on how to address the matters;
-Provide a summary of the comparison retail and non-retail service floorspace in the main town centres, plus vacancies. The main town centres identified in the consultancy brief include: Dundee, Perth, Arbroath, Cupar, Forfar, Montrose, St Andrews and the smaller centres of Aberfeldy, Alyth, Brechin, Carnoustie, Coupar Angus, Kirriemuir, Monifieth and Newburgh- 15 in total. Anstruther is not included in the review, although it is part of the wider catchment of St Andrews;
-Identify the role of comparison retailing in the hierarchy of town centres (TAYplan Policy7), including consideration of cross boundary issues between the local authorities – both internal and external to the plan area;
-Examine the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities relating to the key town centres in order to promote their diversity, character and sense of place. This includes diversity of uses, key festivals, cultural events etc.

The review requires a holistic approach to town centre policy and not simply focus on retailing. For example, this requires looking at factors such as attractiveness of town centres as places to visit, invest and live and work. In addition, the exercise suggests a consistent and standardised method of collecting data on town centres to monitor the health of the centres.