Where would The Portas Review be without the British Council for Shopping Centres (BCSC)?
Dead in the water according to the body’s chief executive. “We need to keep supporting this review and pushing the initiatives on to government, otherwise it just won’t move forward,” says Michael Green. “And it will die a slow death.”
It’s quite a claim. Whether the BCSC’s involvement in the highly publicised review, spearheaded by retail expert and TV presenter Mary Portas into the future of Britain’s high streets, is paramount to its survival, remains to be seen. But as the body gears up to get behind the review with renewed vigour in the lead-up to autumn, it’s clear to see why there is a heightened sense of urgency.
Eight months after the review was published last December, industry-wide criticism is mounting as most of the 28 points set out have not yet been properly addressed by government.
While last month saw the release of the second tranche of 15 towns selected for the Portas Pilots, the £1m government-backed scheme to regenerate retail in UK towns, these have been described as the tip of the iceberg. Now there is growing concern that the review could lose momentum on most other points and sputter to an untimely halt before the year is out: “If there isn’t further impetus given to some of those other key points by late autumn, it would be a big worry that it’s got stuck,” says BCSC chairman Peter Drummond – who is also chief executive of architecture practice BDP.
This would come as a massive blow for town centres and high street retailers and, desperate not to miss out on the PR power of Mary Queen of Shops, now is the time to act.
Here, Green, Drummond and BCSC head of policy Ed Cooke join forces in their St James’s HQ to reveal their thoughts on where the Portas Review needs attention, how they intend to push these points forward and defend the importance of their role in the future of town centre survival.
Just a start
The BCSC has been a major supporter of, and a key consultant on, the Portas Review for the last year but admits that key issues such as business rates, planning policy and debt need to be properly addressed by government before it’s too late. “The PR behind the document has been great,” says Drummond. “Now, we need to move it on.”
While the BCSC will be actively involved in the Portas Pilots, offering mentoring and expert support to the chosen towns, Green says they must be seen as short-term, solutions: “The pilots might get us some quick wins in the first year but if we’re not careful they could be wallpapering over the key long-term issues. We need to ask ‘where’s the long-term plan and investment? What entices a landlord or developer to spend money in town?’ The pilots are part of a 12-month plan. The other 27 or so points are part of the five-year plan.”
Driving forward
Apart from the length of time it is taking for substantial action to be taken, the review has been criticised too for saying nothing new: “OK, so none of what Mary has said is new,” admits Green. “But that doesn’t make it any less important as the issues still desperately need addressing.
“The difference this time is that we’ve got the traction of Mary’s name. We have an opportunity over the next year to get people to buy into it. After that, I think we’ll be back on our own again.”
The key issues BCSC is highlighting to government are business rates, planning policy, debt and capital. Ed Cooke, BCSC head of policy, explains: “We do need to be careful not to imply that these points haven’t been addressed at all. Since December the government response to the review has been pretty substantial and some changes to planning have been made. I don’t think it’s fair to say they have done nothing but we don’t want government to seize on the narrative that the review has created momentum and impetus and therefore they will do no more. We need some significant and strategic solutions that go beyond what the town team will ever be able to deliver.”
“We are still disappointed that government is not moving quickly enough on business rates, an issue that has such a huge impact on occupiers and, critically, on investors in towns and cities.”
The BCSC plans to push government relentlessly until the issue is taken up and the situation where occupiers can find themselves paying higher business rates than they are rent is no longer a common state of affairs: “It’s just crazy,” says Drummond. “It will inhibit retail regeneration. We will just keep pushing it.”
And the trio hopes that work at local level will help drive this, and other, key issues forward as local authorities plan more proactively for local town retail despite limited resources: “Local authorities need to recognise issues like a lack of service in town centres,” says Drummond.
“I think this issue was one of the few that was undercooked in the review. The sort of service levels you now find in shopping centres, which is easier to manage under unified ownership, I know, has got to be extended into town centres. Because this is what the customer will be expecting. Towns need to multiply their levels of performance by about 1,000% here. There is no understanding at all of the importance of service.”
Responding to the critics
Drummond, Green and Cooke certainly have plenty to say on how uptake of the Portas Review can be improved. But they are quick to defend the report itself: “It covered a hell of a lot,” argues Green. “It brought issues that no one had taken any notice of in the past to the fore.”
“I have worked on a number of reports and not one of them got the sort of attention this one did,” says Drummond. “Not much new in it? Well, what do you expect if none of the basics have ever been addressed?”
And as for the more recent criticism of the towns picked for the Portas Pilots – some have been identified as towns already prospering through retail – Green is quick to quash complaints: “The towns were chosen to get a cross section of everything; large towns, small towns – you name it. And the thing that linked all of the chosen towns was a need. End of.”
Finally, how about questions that have been raised more specifically in relation to BCSC and its involvement in this review. Will the age-old conception – or rather misconception, according to BCSC – that shopping centres eclipse the high street ever rest? A collective sigh of frustration ricochets around the room: “We’re quite sensitive to this,” smiles Cooke. Clearly. “Twenty years ago, it would be difficult to defend but we have moved on such a long way now,” says Drummond.
“The two link in together,” adds Green. “They both bring footfall into a town centre and, ultimately, shopping centres need town centres and town centres need shopping centres.”
Much like the Portas Review needs the BCSC, perhaps?
