2 June 2020 Practical steps to high street recovery
In partnership with:
Post Webinar Report Practical steps to high street recovery 2 June 2020
In partnership with: Chair: Toby Fox Managing director, 3Fox Panelists Dan Burnham
Kevin Freeman
CTO and Head of Product,
Director of counterplan and
Sook Space
director of development, City of Stuart, Florida
Anthony Shapland
Chris Twigg
Head of development
Advisor, London Borough of
advisory, Colliers
Hounslow
International
Louise Wood Service director for planning, Cornwall Council
OVERVIEW The discussion ranged widely and this report contains a sample and summary. Watch the webinar in full at thevoiceofauthority.co.uk, and subscribe to stay updated on future episodes.
Post Webinar Report DISCUSSION SUMMARY In an earlier TVoA session, hosted in partnership with Montagu Evans, the future of town centres was debated. Ultimately, the consensus was that town centres will continue to have a future after Covid-19. In the session the panel attempted to set out an agenda to follow to ensure a swift recovery of the high streets as we venture towards moving out of Covid-19.
First to explain how we might go about doing that was Anthony Shapland at Colliers International. Shapland pointed to the fact that retail infrastructure was already fragile even prior to the current crisis. Change
Our high streets serve the people, and I suspect we will all want to return to our town centres as soon as it is safe to do so.
Anthony Shapland
might be the only constant, and he rightfully pointed out that retailers have evolved throughout history. He said: “What is different now though is the state of that speed of change.” Shapland expressed his confidence in the resilience of retail, and suggested that “appetite” was still there among operators, owners and finance houses.
Speaking about how that support can be given to help feed this appetite, Chris Twigg spoke of three key components, making reference to the urgency of response, the multi-faceted nature of the challenge (and thus corporate nature of response needed), and the opportunity for councils to have an immediate impact. Twigg called on councils to supply leadership, communicate, support retailers with additional public space, consider flexibility on regulation, and to embrace the use of technology. Through his role as advisor at Hounslow Council, Twigg is already developing these plans.
Elaborating on what that flexibility on regulation looks like, Louise Woods explained how at Cornwall Council, they are easing restrictions on tables and chairs in public realm and underenforcing in terms of planning permission. She said: “Get on with it, you can do it this season,
Post Webinar Report that’s fine.” Cornwall are encouraging innovative responses by turning over public realm for temporary use by retailers. Woods described this as being “fundamental “to the authority’s response. By working with their partners and communities, learning about their local businesses and turning those into partnerships, [councils] can build stronger relationships that will have a lasting benefit for their areas.
Chris Twigg
While Cornwall might be more rural than Hounslow, the problems that its high streets face are “not particularly different to (those faced by) other high-streets around the country, but they are exacerbated by our particular circumstances”, Woods explained. Those particular challenges
include remoteness, low average wages and dependence on seasonal tourism that can see the population double in summer. While one might imagine that Cornwall would be eager for tourism to resume, that eagerness is tempered by the concern of the local community around hospital capacities and limited ICUs.
Moving from Cornwall then to give another perspective away from London, Kevin
We trust our communities to do what’s right for their areas, and we trust our businesses.
Freeman described the situation as it is in Stuart, Florida in the US. “The same but
Louise Wood
different”, in terms of how the pandemic has been approached, how lockdown has been approached, and the autonomy of local government. Speaking on high streets however, Freeman described how they are in many ways fundamentally different to high streets in the UK. While there was large-scale pedestrianisation in the UK, no such process was undergone in the US, and the car has remained the primary point of contact between the consumer and the high street retailer. Stuart has used this to its advantage, allowing businesses and restaurants to convert parking space into outdoor seating “where people can sit out and socially distance and enjoy the high street”.
Post Webinar Report [Retailers] which are ‘build it and they will come’ will find it harder and harder and harder
Dan Burnham
On the point of accessibility, Shapland raised the point that the car might become more prominent as a mode of transport, if people feel uneasy about the risk of travelling on public transport. As such, he
urged councils not to be too hasty in turning parking space over to businesses and road space to pedestrians. “Our car parks are absolutely vital in terms of accessibility into the town centre.”
It was interesting to hear from Dan Burnham of innovative retailers Sook about his experiences so far on the frontline, as it is. He explained how many landlords are currently entering into a wider variety of commercial arrangements. For example, in some cases Sook are not currently paying any rent. Instead, they are entering into revenue sharing arrangements. Measures such as these are allowing retailers to build “momentum” and “footfall”.
Speaking on trends, Burnham expects 2021 to be a good year for shoppers, as well as for more independents to return to high streets. He also expects to see more traditionally digital native brands and retailers experimenting and dipping their toes in the waters of “clicks and mortar”. Burnham does expect high streets to contract, but he stressed that high streets exist beyond being simply places to buy and shop. He said: “We describe them ourselves internally as the original social network.” The importance of analytics was also stressed. We have come to accept the ubiquitous use of analytics in the realm of the online, but are less used to their employment on the physical high street. Shapland agreed that in the past this sort of data has been neglected. The data is there to be captured by local authorities, but it is a question of resources as to how it is gathered and processed and actually made use of. Twigg stressed the importance of taking that data and turning it into “actionable intelligence, which can then be turned into intervention”.
Looking ahead, Woods believes that we can expect to see a greater diversity of use types on
Post Webinar Report We want to encourage you to get back on the street. We want to show you that the regulations are being reduced or removed. And we want to help you to continue business in terms of the lockdown that you’re facing.
our high streets. To enable this, outdated planning systems will have to be reformed – and quickly. “High-streets are not going to wait for five years while the planning system tries to get its act in order.” In order too to ensure that high streets are able to adapt to
Kevin Freeman
change, Shapland pointed out that the issue
of fragmented ownership likewise has to be addressed. With new ways of working and the way that work habits are changing, it may be the case also that trading hours need to examined. Businesses are willing to adapt to the new normal, and can even lead the way. “Giving businesses the opportunity to act for themselves is by far the best way of achieving a result. It’s very difficult to force a solution on the high street”, Freeman explained.
AUDIENCE POLLS AND INSIGHT Are you considering any changes to your high street? Yes 78%
No 7%
Unsure 15%
On a scale of 1 - 5, with 1 being the lowest and 5 the highest, to what degree should local authorities prioritize the revival of high streets within their recovery programmes? 4: High priority 64% 2: Low priority 3%
5: Highest priority 30%
3: Medium priority 3%
What item would you like to see stay on the high street after the pandemic? Car-free zones 50%
Longer opening hours 20%
Wider pavements 30%
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