ACS

ACS Chief Executive James Lowman set out the concerns of local shops to a Committee of MPs on Monday 11th May.

Appearing as an expert witness Mr Lowman told MPs that: “Town centre policy has to deliver diverse vibrant centres. Whilst existing policy has had a positive effect, there is still much to achieve, not least because still today 60% of new development is located out of centre.”

He also expressed his concerns about proposed changes as contained in the new Planning Policy Statement 4: Planning for Prosperous Economies. He said: “We are to be convinced that the new proposed impact test will be sharper than the current need test approach. We want to see hard metrics that provide local authorities with the right tools to assess developments and, where necessary, resist harmful out of town or edge of town developments.”

He also set out his concerns about how the new policy will be applied: “The reality of the planning system is that planning officers do not have the necessary resource and expertise to match the major developers and therefore changing the policy presents a risk of loopholes that out of town developers could exploit.”

The Communities and Local Government Committee is conducting a short Inquiry into the issue of reform of Town Centre Planning Policy. Expert witnesses at the hearing included Tesco, Sainsbury, John Lewis and the British Council of Shopping Centres. A report of the Committees findings is expected before the Summer Recess.