Paul Sargent, chief executive, Queensberry real estate
While high street retailers may have now established the internet as an ally, complementing their store sales with more choice and improved click-and-collect and home-delivery services, the vast majority of the British public still shop on their feet, not with a keyboard.
The social interaction, direct contact with products and variety of choice on display from a good trip to the shops cannot be bettered. This raises the question of how we make our decision to find the best destination. We seek modern, inviting, well-designed buildings and public spaces with a well-selected tenant mix that fits with the catchment population’s needs and requirements.
The towns and cities that offer such destinations attract greater numbers of visitors and sustain a stronger regional dominance. Think about where you visited over the festive period. My travels took me to Belfast, Leeds and Hull. The locations with a stronger retail offer and modern provision were at capacity; the ones with weaker provision, less so.
Now consider the economic benefit that shopping centres bring to local economies. Why shouldn’t we consider the development of new centres or the refurbishment of existing ones as an infrastructure project along with schools, hospitals and care homes?
The jobs created during construction, the benefit to local supply chains, the jobs created on completion in the retail industry and all associated sectors (security, cleaning and maintenance) all contribute to create a stronger regional economic presence. General confidence is boosted and a stronger sense of community pride may be established. This can serve as a catalyst to additional inward investment.
In addition to these direct benefits, there are indirect benefits to having a qualified retail offer.
It is well documented that when looking for headquarter premises, companies look at the surrounding retail and leisure facilities for their employees’ benefit. And from our own personal experience, we know that when choosing where to live we look at the services available to us within the vicinity – the schools, the hospitals and the shops.
So as we plan our communities for the future, councils will need to become increasingly sensitive to and involved in understanding the retail provision on offer in their regions. Once it becomes accepted that this is necessary public infrastructure, council members will feel able to support plans and potentially co-invest to kick-start suitable development/refurbishment proposals to make locations more competitive.
Taking no action will result in increased socio-economic decline within its administrative area.
The difficulty, however, is that local authority budgets are coming under increasing pressure as central government withdraws sources of funding from the regions. The books have to be balanced locally, with healthcare and social service budgets dominating all chief financial officers’ agendas.
It will all come down to a question of leadership and ambition.
