Five-year ban of out-of-town shop developments plan to save Scotland's high streets

It says the 'Town Centre First' principle which ministers agreed with local authority leaders in July 2014, sold as "marking a significant shift in public policy towards town centres" has not fully achieved its goals.

It warned that out-of-town development proposals can continue to obtain permission by local authorities, thus "maintaining support for activities that damage town centres, the climate and exacerbate inequalities".

While there was a large supply of vacant and derelict land and under-used buildings within town centres that could be utilised for more sustainable development, the out-of-town option is "chosen for ease and cheapness".

And they suggested a moratorium on out-of-town development of the form that involves large volumes of car parking should be considered for a period of five years.

"This might be seen as too draconian or too blunt an approach given the likely need for some regionally or nationally important developments on new sites. Nonetheless a moratorium should be the starting point with with exceptions permitted only for nationally important exceptional reasons"," the review said.

They defined that as "major national investments and climate change response actions".

"The Scottish Government needs to tackle the systemic inequalities that are holding back our town centres and these measures go some way to doing that," it said.

The Town Centre Action Plan Review Group was commissioned by Scotland's communities secretary, Aileen Campbell to consider how the nation’s towns can be made greener, healthier, more equitable and inclusive places.

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Chairman of the group, respected retail academic Professor Leigh Sparks, told the Herald: "The time has come to put our town centres first. And fast. We simply cannot continue with the cards stacked against them as they are. It’s abundantly clear that the world in which we find ourselves compels meaningful - sometimes difficult - action to deliver radical change.

"When it comes to Scotland’s towns and town centres, that means righting some wrongs and creating a fairer playing field on which town centres have the best opportunities to not just survive, but to thrive; an environment where it is cheaper and more attractive to invest in them, for the good of people, planet and the economy.

"We need to create communities which are cleaner, greener and more equitable. To achieve that, governments (local and national) need to tackle the systematic inequalities which are holding back our town centres and focus on making them deliver.

The grave challenges hitting the Scottish retail sector have been underlined by new figures showing a dramatic downturn in high street and shopping centre footfall in January.

Scottish footfall plunged by 72.5 per cent year on year in January after the whole of the country was moved into the highest level of lockdown conditions to halt the spread of coronavirus, figures published by the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) reveal.

The deputy principal and professor of retail studies at the University of Stirling said the advice was to stop suppoting activities which damage town centres.

He said: We suggest a number of approaches. One urges a five-year moratorium on out-of-town developments. Contentious? Perhaps. But 60 years of disaggregation in development needs to be reversed.

"This decentralisation - driven by car use - has resulted in a hollowing out of activities from town centres.

"It’s led to the construction of off-centre mono-format developments, and this goes well beyond retailing, which has left local services being insufficient to meet local needs - or inaccessible without a car."

The review warned that out-of-town operations "well beyond retailing" have benefitted from operating and development costs which are cheaper than in town centres.

Their ease of operation on purpose built sites also reduced costs while the "wider societal cost in terms of well-being of planet and people "remains unconsidered".

Prof Sparks added:"It has resulted in less active travel and created issues around the sustainability of public transport. It does nothing to tackle climate change and impacts negatively on our society too.

READ MORE: Footfall ‘nosedives’ on Scottish high streets as shoppers follow lockdown rules

"Some might view this too blunt an approach. Yet I believe it’s necessary as a starting point. Out-of-town needs to be the exception rather than the rule.

"Developments of all kinds must be focused on town centres. That means the incentives to invest must be better, with our taxes reflecting our ambitions and activities. Town centres need to be cheaper places to turn to - and they should be easier to develop and operate in, including by community and third sector organisations, and for a diversity of activities and functions.

"It’s not right that there are incentives for developing out of town which do not exist in town centres."

The government advisers also call for a review of non-domestic rates system which is "widely perceived to be operationally broken and unfair", although it acknowledges that some form of property use tax makes sense.

"It needs an overhaul... The rates system should be amended so as to reduce rates for town centre uses and increase them elsewhere including for out-of-own uses," they said.

Prof Sparks added: "Rates need to be reduced for town centres and increased elsewhere. This would help bring more businesses and people into our towns, reducing inequality of access. It needs to be cheaper to rebuild and renovate our heritage in town centers than eat up greenfield and other land.

A digital tax is called for to raise revenue from online operations, with the advisers pointing out that some firms pay limited amounts to the Exchequer.

It said the increase in online sales and home delivery during the pandemic produced a "further shift" towards digital shopping and home delivery.

"Common comments against a digital tax are that either the firms are doing nothing illegal or that a digital tax penalises innovation," the review said.

"Both comments miss the fact that we have seen a revolution in this area which has impacted existing businesses and town centres and made taxation streams less reflective of economic activity, generally and locally," ministers were advised.

"Taxation needs to reflect activities or it becomes unsustainable. We make recommendations for consideration mainly in the area of rates and taxation to make it more attractive to operate in town centres and less attractive to operate out-of-town. This will help address equitable access to various public and commercial services."

Prof Sparks added: "Taxes generally need reformed. We make clear that taxation needs to reflect the society we are now and not what we were. Various models of digital tax must be explored as a matter of urgency, ideally linked to reducing carbon emissions. We all use social goods such as the NHS; we all need to pay towards it. Because some companies are not doing anything wrong by not contributing currently, that does not make it right."

He said to make it easier to get into towns, an out-of-town car parking space levy should be brought in "to help address that".

"This would be an income stream for enhancing public transport and other forms of active travel so that they can be developed to improve town centre access," said Prof Sparks.

"Make no mistake, the task of reinventing and rebuilding town centres is not easy - and may not be as quick as we would like - but we must ignite that debate, begin the process of change and then accelerate it. To achieve that we first need to acknowledge what’s broken and take steps to put it right - however challenging that may be. The focus which we advocate, and its emphasis on local, community, fairness, wellbeing, inclusion and equality, is in the national interest," he said.