Glasgow’s new planning blueprint will impose a moratorium on new retail parks and reject expansions of some of Scotland’s biggest shopping centres such as Silverburn, The Fort and The Forge.
The move will be watched closely by local authorities across Scotland, against a backdrop of a glut of floorspace, dwindling demand for shops and the global economic downturn.
Edinburgh’s Princes Street continues to be hit by the tram works, with rents falling by more than 10%, while concerns are mounting that new developments in Aberdeen will impact negatively on the Union Street area. The development of Braehead has devastated the town centre in neighbouring Paisley.
An official report by consultants Halcrow Group for Glasgow City Council estimates that any further major shopping centres such as Braehead would have a “significant adverse impact” and reduce turnover in Glasgow city centre by 11%. It says key thoroughfares in the much lauded ‘‘Golden Z’’ of Sauchiehall, Buchanan and Argyle streets are already suffering from the effects of the recession. Take-up of retail floorspace in central Glasgow has been dropping steadily in the past five years and anecdotal evidence from property agents suggests demand for space, particularly for fashion shops, has fallen sharply.
Senior council sources said Glasgow’s future city plans, the template for development within its boundaries, are expected to formalise the ban in a move likely to be adopted by other urban areas seeking to address the slump in their town centres.
Instead, Glasgow council’s priorities are being ploughed into ensuring that the ongoing expansion of the St Enoch Centre to the south of the city centre is completed successfully and that the planned extension for the Buchanan Galleries to the north of the centre goes ahead as scheduled. The report also says that neighbourhoods such as Shawlands on the south side of the city would suffer “unacceptable levels of impact” as a result of more major retail schemes.
Glasgow city centre remains Scotland’s largest centre of employment and according to retail analysts Experian was still ranked second in the UK last year in terms of expenditure levels, ahead of Birmingham and Manchester. In its 2009 European retail ranking, Experian placed Glasgow in 18th position in the top 20 European retail centres.
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