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A Further Study, Presented In Lowe (2005), Looked At The Effect Of The West ...


A further study, presented in Lowe (2005), looked at the effect of the West Quay development on Southampton's town centre. West Quay was developed with the aim of bringing award-winning architecture to Southampton, and achieved this aim very well, but it was found that many of the concerns of retailers in Southampton town centre were not addressed in the planning process, nor subsequently, even when many businesses were forced to close, leaving much vacant retail space in secondary town centre locations. Despite this, however, Lowe (2005) found what she termed ‘significant spill-over effects' of the in-town shopping centre development, with many significant economic benefits, such as an increased number of jobs, and increased social mobility.
Successful, vibrant, town centres contribute importantly to the local economy, and the local community and society. They act as focal points of community interaction and also have a role as service centres. For this reason, many local councils are now switching the focus from out of town shopping centre developments to town centre developments. This switch in policy is part of what Schiller (1986) terms ‘the third wave' of decentralisation, during which planners realised that ‘out of town' developments were not helpful for town centres and were, amongst others things, damaging for the environment and for social equality in areas in which out-of-town shopping centres were built. Many academic research studies have shown that in-town shopping centre developments are highly successful, indeed, that towns can substantially benefit from opening such in-town shopping centres.
Essentially, this dissertation looks at the impact of new, in-town shopping centre developments on the existing retail trade in the area, and the subsequent effect of the building of these in-town shopping centres on planning policy guidelines. To this end, the dissertation begins with a Literature Review, which presents a review of the UK's planning policies with regards to retail developments, through an analysis of the Government's planning policy documents, in particular their Planning Policy Statement 6: Planning for Town Centres.


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