Transforming London High Streets – How councils, communities and developers can work together to rebuild the capital’s neighbourhoods
The ‘death of the high street’ has been forewarned and then mourned for the last 20 years, but a reinvigorated planning framework and renewed investment interest in mixed use schemes create a platform to reshape the high street and revitalise communities and local economies.
The Current Situation
The landscape of the high street has been changing for many years, with customers embracing online shopping, and operators remodelling their businesses to be omnichannel. That market shift, coupled with rising business rates has had a huge effect on the physical shopping. And Covid-19 has only served for some to accelerate the permanent shift away from bricks and mortar retail.
On average, 48 chain stores have closed every day, compared to only 21 daily openings[1]. This has resulted in 15 million sq. ft. of empty stores (one in seven)[2] – with serious implications for landlords and employees.
Shuttered high streets have huge socio-economic ramifications – lower employment, less local investment, increased crime, dilapidated buildings and, overall, a worsening local economic situation with decreased social mobility.
With JLL research calculating a 25% oversupply of retail space in the UK[3] and a surge in appetite for mixed use, experience-led leisure and housing, developers, planners and investors are keen to take the initiative.
Reimagining the High Street
The challenge in redeveloping the high street is – in part — the fractured ownerships, inconsistent building lines, narrow roads, poor transport infrastructure, a lack of communal activities and place making. But — armed with compulsory purchase powers, a flexible planning framework and collaborative joint venture partners (developers and investors) — local authorities can restore order to the chaos; create a coherent curation of place, buildings and services.
The opportunity to reinvent the high street can revive local communities and local economies by creating a truly mixed-use supply of:
- Education and childcare
- fitness/well-being
- food and drink
- daytime and night time economies
- refined retail
- vibrant community space
and demand
- housing – both private and affordable
- senior living
- hotels
- office space
Such schemes can be the catalyst for long term social and economic value creation.
Collaborative Thinking
Any such redevelopment of the London’s suburban high streets requires a holistic approach, with developers having early engagement with communities, planning officers and funders to plan a scheme that speaks to local requirements, meets infrastructure needs, reduces pollution and satisfies investment metrics.
Thankfully, existing planning policies prioritise and encourage the regeneration of town centres – the National Planning Policy Framework contains the “town centre first” principle. And changes to the Use Class Order in 2020 grouped the heterogeneous town centre uses within single use classes to support flexibility, reducing the need to apply for planning.
And the office for the Mayor of London has acknowledged that high streets are ‘vital’ to London, stating its priorities are to ‘animate empty shops, disused buildings and underused outdoor spaces’ and ‘create more welcoming and attractive high streets where people want to spend time – through events, public realm improvements and investment…increasing the delivery of new housings and jobs’.
In addition, local planning authorities can draw up local strategies to provide a positive vision for the future of each area, to help shape the redevelopment of retail space, and they can use CPO powers to help developers acquire land free from development constraints efficiently.
A Bright Future
The location of the London high street in the heart of the community creates huge opportunities for repurposing; apartments, refurbished/retrofitted offices, a thoughtful blend of retail and leisure, entertainment, fitness and well-being, community support – a vital combination to breathe new life back into neighbourhoods.
In creating a diverse blend of asset classes, such mixed-use redevelopment also becomes a more attractive investment offering, delivering social and economic impact benefits for the community and dispersed risk and investment returns for the investors.
[1] ‘Over 17,500 chain stores closed in 2020 with the impact of the pandemic yet to be felt’ – PwC – 14th March 2021
[2] ‘Empty shop space mounts…’ – Daily Business – 11th February 2021
[3] Reimagining empty retail space’ – LandSec 19th February 2020