School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences University of Birmingham The decline of the British high street: A case study of Sutton Coldfield Name: Steven Hannaford Registration No: 1172934 Submitted in accordance with requirements for BSc Joint Honours in Geography/Planning I confirm that the number of words is 9,864 excluding abstract, acknowledgements, table of contents, tables, figures, reference list, appendices and quotations from primary data I declare that this piece of work is all my own, and that any work by others has been acknowledged 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Transcript
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Birmingham
The decline of the British high street: A case study of Sutton Coldfield
Name: Steven Hannaford
Registration No: 1172934
Submitted in accordance with requirements for BSc Joint Honours in Geography/Planning
I confirm that the number of words is 9,864 excluding abstract, acknowledgements, table of contents, tables, figures, reference list,
appendices and quotations from primary data
I declare that this piece of work is all my own, and that any work by others has been acknowledged
Signed: ………..………………………….. Date: ………….…………………
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ABSTRACT
The research project investigates the recent decline of the British high street which
has been documented by Portas (2011), media coverage and government policy.
The emphasis of the decline is placed on traditional high street and town centre
locations, but there little focus is applied on centres with a wider function such as
sub regional centres. The project focuses on Sutton Coldfield in North Birmingham
which is a sub regional centre that is said to be underperforming in relation to the
spending power of the catchment area.
Current literature highlights the emergence of supermarkets, retail parks and out-
of-town shopping venues as the key drivers of change, competitors of the high
street and reasons behind the decline(Birkin et al, 2002; Instone and Roberts,
2006; Jones, 2010). Therefore this research will investigate whether these
challenges are the reason for the underperformance of Sutton Coldfield or whether
there are some more place specific challenges that can be attributed to the
underperformance.
The results of the study demonstrate that whilst there is evidence of the above
challenges in Sutton Coldfield, there are some more fundamental challenges, such
as competing centres, land ownership and infrastructure, specific to Sutton
Coldfield that are behind the underperformance of this centre.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My sincerest thanks go to Mike Bushell, David Hemming, Jacob
Bonehill and all of the people who took part in the interviews
and questionnaire, without your input this research project
would not have been possible.
A special mention must go to my dissertation supervisor,
Austin Barber, for his help, support and advice throughout the
entire research project.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
1.1 Contextual Background 1
1.2 Current Debates and Justification 1
1.3 Case Study: Sutton Coldfield 2
1.4 Aims and Objectives 3
1.5 Outline of Chapters 3
Chapter 2: Literature Review 4
2.1 Introduction 4
2.2 Retail in Britain 4 2.2.1 The Evolution of Retail 5
2.3 The Planning System 8 2.3.1 Planning Policy Guidance 6 & National Planning Policy
Framework 9
2.4 Land Ownership 10
2.4 Summary 12
Chapter 3: Methodology 13
3.1 Methods of Data Collection 13 3.1.1 Interviews 14
3.1.2 Questionnaire 15
3.2 Methods of Data Analysis 15
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3.2.1 Geographic Information Systems (GIS) 16
3.3 Limitations 16
Chapter 4: Context, Findings and Analysis 18
4.1 Introduction 18
4.2 Context of Sutton Coldfield 18
4.3 Research Findings 22 4.3.1 Competing Locations 29
Appendix A: Interview with Director of Burley Browne Surveyors
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONSCHAPTER 2
FIGURE 2: Meadowhall Shopping centre, Sheffield.................................7
CHAPTER 4
FIGURE 4.1: Map of Birmingham ..........................................................18
FIGURE 4.2: Map of Sutton Coldfield.....................................................19
FIGURE 4.3: Table of Birmingham centres hierarchy.............................20
FIGURE 4.4: Map of structure of Sutton Coldfield.................................21
FIGURE 4.5: Map of the current retail offering in Sutton Coldfield.......23
FIGURE 4.6: Map of retail change in Sutton Coldfield...........................24
FIGURE 4.7: Table of retailers movement in Sutton Coldfield...............25
FIGURE 4.8: Map of locations shoppers travel from..............................27
FIGURE 4.9: Downward spiral of the high street...................................28
FIGURE 4.10: Map of two competing town centres .............................29
FIGURE 4.11: Map of local neighbourhood competing centres.............31
FIGURE 4.12: Graph of shoppers from selected locations....................35
FIGURE 4.13: Map of physical layout of Sutton Coldfield ....................39
FIGURE 4.14: Map of competing centres..............................................43
FIGURE 4.15: Map of regional competing markets...............................44
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Contextual Background
This research project investigates the recent decline of the British high street and
the future implications of the results. The retail sector is very important to the UK
as in 2011 retail industries contributed £85 billion which is 8.7% of gross value
added to the economy (Rhodes, 2013). Furthermore, retail activities employed 3.1
million people as well as being the home of 291,000 businesses (Rhodes, 2013). For
local communities retail promotes physical and economic wellbeing as well as
encouraging social inclusion (Instone and Roberts, 2006; Claxton and Siora, 2008).
Since the 1970s there have been a number of changes to the retail sector and
shopping patterns in general (Jones, 2010) for example the growth of retail parks,
supermarkets and internet retailing. The more recent focus around the retail sector
is concerned with the evident decline of the British high street which has been
documented in the media and has also become a political debate. The Future of the
High Street report (Portas, 2011) is the starting point for this research project as it
highlights the performance of the high street. To illustrate, at the turn of the
millennium 49.4% of retail spending was completed on the high street, however 11
years later that figure had dropped to 42.5% (Portas, 2011) with the town centres
losing expenditure to out of town sales and non store sales.
1.2 Current debates and Justification
The research will produce some important results on a topic that is gaining
momentum in the media and is a key political debate given the recent global
recession and the subsequent economic recovery. Not only is it an important topic
for the UK but similar issues and trends are evident in other Western European
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countries (Evers, 2002 cited in Jones, 2010). Sutton Coldfield town centre has seen
changes to its retail offering with some big name brands disappearing and an
increasing number of vacant outlets becoming evident thus it is not achieving its
potential as a middle order retail centre (Birmingham City Council, 2009) and
therefore making it appropriate for this study.
The more recent planning and policy debates concern the Planning Policy Guidance
6 (PPG6) where a focus was placed on ensuring the vitality of town centres over
other retail developments, however as highlighted there has been a decline in the
quality of town centres particularly in recent years with the economic downturn
affecting many high streets. The latest policy debate concerns the National Planning
Policy Framework (NPPF) where there is a presumption in favour of sustainable
development whilst maintaining the vitality of town centres. Much of the recent
debate focuses on the traditional town centre and high street vision, however
there doesn't seem to be a focus on the 'sub-regional ' centre and its performance
in recent years which has now become the 'forgotten middle'.
1.3 Case Study: Sutton Coldfield
The research project is based around a case study of Sutton Coldfield which lies to
the north east of Birmingham. The centre is the second largest retail/business
centre in Birmingham and is a 'sub-regional' centre rather than a traditional town
centre. However, the local authority has highlighted that Sutton Coldfield is not
achieving its full potential as a 'sub regional' centre and is losing out to other
competing centres.
The main retail area in Sutton Coldfield is the parade and Gracechurch shopping
centre, home to a number of well known multiples such as House of Fraser,
Starbucks and Marks & Spencers. There are also various discount outlets on offer in
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the area such as Aldi, Wilkinsons and Poundland. The Red Rose centre is a smaller
shopping centre that is home to the library and a number of small independent
retailers such as a newsagent, a salon and a music shop.
1.4 Aims and Objectives
The project focuses on a case study of the 'sub-regional' centre of Sutton Coldfield
to answer these specific research questions as the recent debates and policy
context concern the more traditional town centres and high streets thus focusing
on Sutton Coldfield will address the gap. The research questions to be addressed
are:
1. How has Sutton Coldfield Town Centre changed and what has driven
those changes?
2. What are the current challenges facing Sutton Coldfield as a sub
regional centre?
3. How can planning help to address the challenges faced by Sutton
Coldfield as a sub regional centre?
1.5 Outline of Chapters
The next chapter will outline the literature and key concepts surrounding the topic
such as the changes to retail over recent decades and the changing nature of the
planning system which has had various implications. Chapter 3 will explain how the
research project was carried out and the methods employed in order to capture the
relevant data along with any limitations faced during the research project. Chapter
4 will analyse the findings from the various data collected and look at the themes in
greater detail in order to answer the research questions. Chapter 5 will conclude
the research project and provide some further avenues of research.
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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
Retail activities are an important part of western cities and are focal points of the
urban area (Bromley and Thomas 1993) that have consequences for growth and
urban planning. The concept of retail also encourages social interaction and
inclusion (Bromley and Thomas, 1993; Claxton and Siora, 2008); some academics
believe retail activities such as shopping have become, for local communities,
popular culture (Bromley and Thomas, 1993; Instone and Roberts, 2006). According
to Birkin et al (2002) at the heart of the retail industry for many European towns
and cities is the high street which will be a major part of the industry for years to
come. Key theories and concepts that relate to the high street will be explored in
this chapter.
2.2 Retail in Britain
The British retail system, traditionally, was based on a hierarchical structure with
the focus for cities being the central business district (Bromley and Thomas, 1993)
which had the greatest concentration of goods and services. However, since the
1960s the nature of retail has changed considerably due to a variety of wide-
ranging socioeconomic factors (Instone and Roberts, 2006; Bromley and Thomas,
1993; Jones, 2010). These said socioeconomic factors include suburbanization,
counter-urbanization, increasing affluence and rising levels of car ownership
(Bromley and Thomas, 1993). Many people between the 1970s and 1990s
experienced an improved standard of living and increased affluence which has been
linked to a rise in car ownership and thus improved mobility (Adams et al, 2002;
Jones, 2010) and it is this rise in car ownership that believe stimulated the retail
changes that have occurred, particularly in Britain (Instone and Roberts, 2006;
Adams et al, 2002; Birkin et al, 2002).
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2.2.1 The evolution of retail
The changes to retail have occurred in a series of waves (Schiller, 1988), with the
first wave of decentralization involving the movement of groceries from the town
centre to new superstores/supermarkets during the 1970s which were primarily
located in out of town centres (Instone and Roberts, 2006). The
supermarkets/superstores that occurred in the first wave focused primarily on
grocery retailing and were 25,000-50,000 sq. ft. (Bromley and Thomas, 1993). The
development of these stores was at its fastest between the 1970s and 1990s to
which both Bromley & Thomas (1993) and Instone & Roberts (2006) argue was
fuelled by the rise in car ownership. The very early examples of supermarkets
carried a much narrower product range than what they do today (Alexander, 2008)
as by the early 1990s the 600 supermarkets in Britain accounted for approximately
20% of the grocery shopping in the UK (DOE 1992 cited in Bromley and Thomas,
1993).
However, supermarkets have dramatically increased their market share of grocery
sales and now dominate convenience goods shopping (Thomas et al, 2004) as the
approximate 8000 supermarket outlets now account for 97% of the UK total
grocery sales (Portas, 2011). In addition to this dominance of grocery sales,
supermarkets have also undergone change as most are multi-format, as for
example they have expanded their product range to include gardening, home ware
and stationary whilst allocating approximately more than one third of their floor
space to non-food sales (Portas, 2011). For example, Morrison supermarket in 2011
announced the acquisition of clothing retailer Kiddicare in order to sell clothing and
home ware (The Guardian Online, 2011) and in 2011 acquired Flower World in
order to provide flowers and other gardening products (Market Line, 2012).
Furthermore, as Portas (2011) highlights supermarkets are providing a range of
services for example, roughly 100 Tesco outlets are the home to opticians while
Sainsburys supermarket play host to 5 dental surgeries.
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The second wave of decentralization involved the development of retail
warehouses (Schiller, 1988) which occurred in the late 1970s (Bromley and Thomas,
1993) and continued, with the peak of these developments occurring during the
property boom of the 1980s (Jones, 2010) Many of these retail warehouses and
parks were developed outside of existing retail areas usually on unused land and
according to Guy (2007) there were 235 retail parks completed by 1993. Retail
parks and warehouse both have common car parking facilities and is dependent on
the rise in car ownership levels witnessed between the 1970s-90s and looked to
attract consumers from a greater catchment area (Adams and Tiesdell, 2013; Guy,
1998) however, the reliance on the private car user made them inaccessible to a
number of people without the use of a car or access to private transport.
Retail parks initially had the same purpose, as the retail warehouses, of selling bulky
DIY goods (Thomas et al, 2006; Schiller, 1988). However, as many retailers saw the
'commercial advantages of cheap accessible out of town locations' (Bromley and
Thomas, 1993:7) there was an expansion of product ranges at these locations.
Products such as electrical goods, furniture and carpets started to decentralize from
the high street (Bromley and Thomas, 1993; Thomas et al, 2006). The retail parks
began to attract consumers and it was this attraction that led to the
decentralization of a greater number of retail functions (Thomas et al, 2006) with
there being a shift to more comparison goods such as clothes , footwear and
computers being available at retail parks (Adams et al, 2002; Thomas et al, 2006).
The development of these retail parks and warehouses has placed the traditional
high street in direct competition with the aforementioned retail parks (Instone and
Roberts, 2006) as there is an increasing overlap of products available (CBRE, 2005
cited in Jones, 2010) thus retail parks are a constant threat to the traditional high
street and town centres (Guy, 2000; Thomas et al, 2004).
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During the mid 1980s the third wave of decentralisation became apparent and that
was the development of regional shopping centres. Reynolds and Schiller (1992)
highlight that these schemes were developed in new peripheral locations and had
roughly the same number of outlets as the shopping centres found in traditional
locations. Examples of these regional shopping centres include the Metro Centre
(Gateshead),
Merry Hill
(Dudley) and
Meadowhall
(Sheffield) (figure 2) (Ruston, 1999) which offer a range of convenience and
comparison goods in covered centres (Adams and Tiesdell, 2013). Furthermore, in
Mary Portas review into the British high street she argues that these shopping
centres are multipurpose as they have become 'urban entertainment centres' with
attraction such as dining and cinemas (Portas, 2011:10).
The contemporary retail sector places a focus on internet retailing, the emergence
of discount retailers and the small format supermarket outlets that are becoming
more visible in retail. Portas (2011) argues that the internet is one of the biggest
competitors of the high street and as there has been a continued rise in internet
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Figure 2 Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield...one of the regional shopping centres that includes a range of shops and a dining quarter along with a Vue cinema (Meadowhall, 2013)
Source: Adams and Tiesdell, (2013)
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retailing it remains a threat to the high street (Jones, 2010; Wrigley and Dolega,
2011). However, sales over the internet count for less than 10% of total retail sales
but it is the suggestion that internet retailing was responsible for approximately
half of retail sales growth in the UK 2003-2010 (Department for Business,
Innovation and Skills, 2011). Amazon is a prime example of an internet retailer that
can sell the more vulnerable items (Lawson, 2009) such as books, CDs and games at
a lower cost than traditional retailers such as HMV. In terms of grocery retailing the
change in recent years has been the development of supermarket convenience
stores (Birkin et al, 2002) such as Tesco Express and Morrisons Local, with the latter
operating 52 stores (The Grocer, 2013) which have re-emerged on the high street as
they are less expensive to build and maintain (Wrigley, 1998).
2.3 The Planning System
The planning system has played a major role amidst the changes of retail over the
last 40 years, with its role being to improve the efficiency of retailing and to protect
the environment (Guy, 2007). Retail planning according to Guy (2007) is the process
of interaction between the private sector and the public sector. The early planning
system sought to maintain the retail hierarchy of town centres (Bromley and
Thomas, 1993) with government policy in the 1960s leaning towards retail
development being restricted to town centres with the exception of some low level
retail in residential areas (Adams et al, 2002; Guy, 2007). This trend continued on
through the 1970s, albeit there being advice from central government on structure
plan policies for shopping development, as Rees (1987) argues there was a lack of
policy. Around this time the first wave of change occurred as superstores took
advantage of sites where planning permission was simple to obtain (Guy, 2007) and
were in district residential centres.
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In 1979 the Conservative Government was elected, headed by Margaret Thatcher
(Guy, 2007) who saw the planning system as a hindrance to development and the
free economy was better equipped and more efficient (Gamble, 1994). In 1980 local
government streamlined the planning system and underwent deregulation in land
use planning which paved the way for the second wave of decentralization...retail
parks and warehouses to allow and encourage innovation and competition (Thomas
et al, 2006). The changes allowed rapid expansion of retail parks and warehouses
with the private sector taking the lead and allowing the market to dictate. The key
component of policy was the statement signalling that 'there is always a
presumption in favour of allowing applications for development' (DOE, 1985: Para 3
cited in Guy, 2007) thus highlighting the attitude of central to planning.
2.3.1 Planning Policy Guidance 6 and National Planning Policy
Framework
The mid 1990s marked a change in the planning system and policy as Jackson
(2006) highlights the introduction of Planning Policy Guidance 6 (PPG6) was the
most significant change that occurred which indicated the Governments position on
focusing attention on town centre based schemes rather than out of town
development (Wood et al, 2010). Within PPG6 the Government introduced the
'sequential test' (Wood et al, 2006:23) with the purpose of ensuring that
applications for new developments had to demonstrate that there were no
'suitable and available' (Guy, 2002:321) sites within a town centre that could be
used. The new guidance included sustainability principles for town centres and
addressed the wider EU environmental policy debate (Guy, 2007; Wrigley, 1998).
The impact of the PPG6 changed the nature of retail development process meaning
that planning permission for out of town developments was increasingly more
difficult to receive thus prioritising town centres and enabling choice and
competition in retail (Wood et al, 2010; Jackson, 2006; Wrigley, 1998). Instone and
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Roberts (2006) argue that the introduction of PPG6 led to a polarisation of retail
provision with more focus placed on higher-order established centres such as
Birmingham and Manchester at the expense of traditional local centres. In 2005 the
PPG6 was updated and changed to Planning Policy Statement 6 (PPS6): Planning for
Town Centres with the update re-affirming the town centre first policy (Guy, 2007)
but also promoting regeneration, social inclusion and sustainable development as
part of the wider policy objectives (ODPM, 2005:Para 1.5;Claxton and Siora, 2008).
The coalition Government, elected in 2010, introduced the Localism Act 2011
(Paterson, 2012) in a bid to reverse the previous trend of centralised decision
making concerning place making (Adams and Tiesdell, 2013). The Localism Act
(2011) highlights that planning decisions should be at the local authority level,
however should be used in conjunction with the National Planning Policy
Framework (NPPF) (DCLG, 2012). The NPPF means that all previous PPSs and
guidance will be removed and the planning system will now rely solely on the NPPF
(Paterson, 2012). Recently, the Government have introduced more environmentally
friendly policies and at the heart of the NPPF is the ‘Presumption in favour of
sustainable development’ (DCLG, 2012: Para 14) which some organisations such as
the National Trust, argue will lead to the previous regime of planning by appeal and
out of town developments (The Telegraph, 2011).
2.4 Land Ownership and Investment
The 1950s saw the beginnings of property investment in the UK by financial
institutions and the high street shops were the most common type of investment
(Jones, 2010) which was due to two factors; one being the rise in consumer
expenditure thus less risk (Jackson, 2006) and the second being the urban fabric
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limited the development of other shops thus benefitting existing shops (Jones,
2010). Although there was a period in the late 1980s where retail fell behind office
development under the Thatcher government, since 1994 retail has returned to
lead investment (Jackson, 2006; Jones, 2010).
According to Adams and Tiesdell (2013:167) landowners are people, groups or
organisations that have the ‘capacity to supply land for development’. Massey and
Catalano (1978 cited in Adams and Tiesdell, 2013) highlight three types of
landowner: former landed property, industrial and financial. The main landowners
are the financial institutions such as property companies, pension funds and
insurance companies who use land as a long-term asset providing a steady income
(Adams and Tiesdell, 2013).
Landowners are either passive or active in the development process as some seek
to develop their land whereas others retain land without further development and
are seen as a constraint within the development process (Adams and Tiesdell, 2013;
Jackson, 2006). Two types of estate under ownership exist: Freehold and leasehold
(Adams and Tiesdell, 2013) with the freehold meaning that the land can be
developed without restriction whereas the leasehold identifies a landlord that
allows a person or company possession of land for an agreed period.
From a retail perspective the recent trends have shown that the property
investment industry has changed as part of the wider transformation of the
financial system where investment has changed to ‘unit linked life assurance
policies and pension plans’ (Jones, 2010:282). The impact of this transformation on
the retail sector is that there is greater emphasis on short term success therefore as
high street shops only provide a small increase in investment (Lowe and Wrigley,
2000), property funds such as development companies and pension funds now turn
to shopping centres or retail parks for better returns (Jones, 2010).
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2.5 Summary
The retail sector in the UK has changed dramatically over the last 40 years and at
the same time so too has the planning system which has sought to both, facilitate
and restrict the changes through changes to guidance and policy. As described a
number of waves of change occurred with significant developments being the rise
of supermarkets from the 1970s onwards moving into the 1980s which saw the
Thatcher government relax regulation and land use planning in turn fuelling the
growth of retail parks and retail warehouses. At this time shops in town centres
were part of investment portfolios, however moving into the 1990s many portfolios
changed to retail parks and shopping centres. A significant point in the timeline is
1996 where the first real policy intervention occurred, the PPG6 which restricted
the development of retail parks and is the origin of the town centre first principle.
The contemporary retails sector focuses on the phenomenon of internet shopping,
small format supermarkets and the emergence of discount retailers. The coalition
government introduced the NPPF placing a focus on sustainable development
whilst eventually retaining the town centre first principle.
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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
The literature review highlighted the key changes to the retail structure of Britain
and the surrounding national planning policy context. The majority of recent
literature and media debate is concerned with the decline of the traditional high
street and loss of big name multiple brands. However, there exists a gap where
town centres that have a more sub regional role rather than a local role seem to be
excluded from literature and policy. The key objectives were to identify the changes
and challenges that sub regional centres face in the contemporary context. The
final objective was to highlight some of the methods in which the planning system
and policy can address the challenges that sub regional centres face. A case study
approach will be adopted as according to Baxter and Jack (2008) the approach
allows for the exploration of a phenomenon in a particular context and for multiple
issues to be observed. The research is based on a case study of Sutton Coldfield, a
very affluent area in the north east of Birmingham. The rationale for choosing
Sutton Coldfield is that it is not a traditional town centre and has been described as
not achieving its full potential as a 'sub regional' centre and is an example of the
'forgotten middle'.
3.2 Methods of Data Collection
For this project both a qualitative and quantitative methodology was used to collect
data - an approach that Jick (1979) describes as triangulation as it uses both
methods allowing for a more "holistic and contextual approach" (Jick, 1979:603).
The quantitative approach allows the researcher to identify patterns of a data set
and draw conclusions around a topic (Robinson, 1998) whereas the qualitative
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approach allows the researcher to investigate behaviour and attitudes whilst
obtaining further information (Lindsay, 1997).
A range of methods such as interviews, surveys and Geographic Information
Systems (GIS) were used in order to capture the relevant data for this project.
Secondary data was also collected as it provides contextual material for the primary
research (Clark, 2005) and to provide debates within the wider research.
3.2.1 Interviews
According to Valentine (2005) interviews allow for information to be exchanged
between people that takes a conversational and fluid form. It is either unstructured
or semi-structured allowing the researcher and interviewee to explore issues
thoroughly and raise any other issues or ideas. An ethnographic approach was used
as issues that were raised in one interview would be followed up in subsequent
interviews (Lindsay, 1997; Cook and Crang, 1995) and were conducted in a relaxed
and informal atmosphere which allows the interviewee to offer more information
(Lindsay, 1997; Hogart et al, 2002). The interviews for this research project
captured data from both the public in Sutton Coldfield and key individuals as the
latter are usually decision makers in companies or government departments
(Lindsay, 1997).
As mentioned earlier, key individuals were interviewed in order to capture
information from their organisations point of view. One of the interviews was of a
senior planning and regeneration officer for the Sutton Coldfield area at
Birmingham City Council and therefore offered the city council's perspective on the
changing nature of the high street in Sutton Coldfield. The second key individual
was the Director of Burley Browne surveyors based in Sutton Coldfield who are
responsible for many of the retail properties in the area thus it was appropriate to
capture the view of the private sector. The format was a semi-structured technique
meaning that the interviewee was able to lead the interview and to keep the
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influence of me (the researcher) to a minimum amount (Baxter and Eyles, 1997).
The third and final key individual interviewed was the Sutton Coldfield Business
Improvement District (BID) manager who is in charge of overseeing projects within
the BID and the reason for interviewing him was that the BID are currently working
through a proposal to improve Sutton Coldfield Town Centre.
Ten interviews were conducted with the footfall of Sutton Coldfield in order to
understand the day to day centre and shopping patterns. The people were selected
at random from various points around the retail areas of The Parade, Gracechurch
Centre, New Hall Walk and The Red Rose Centre in order to capture data from
people using the relevant retail areas. The interviews were conducted on weekdays
between 9:00 and 14:00, whilst at the weekend between 10:00 and 16:00 in order
to capture data from a range of people visiting the retail offering of Sutton
Coldfield.
3.2.2 Questionnaire
A questionnaire approach was also used to complement the interviews that were
carried out of the Sutton Coldfield footfall as it would enable me to make inferences
about the footfall of the centre (Lindsay, 1997; Robinson, 1998). Before the
questionnaire was administered, I briefly explained what the questionnaire was
about to the individual in order to provide them with some context as to why they
were participating. The survey consisted of eleven short questions as these are
deemed practical (Lindsay, 1997) and were designed to build up a picture of the
characteristics of footfall in Sutton Coldfield town centre. In total eighty responses
were received and were conducted throughout locations around the retail core.
3.3 Methods of Data Analysis
Once the interviews were completed they were transcribed and kept as a hard copy
(see Appendix 1 for example). With a hard copy of the interviews I was able to code
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the interviews in order to identify patterns and themes within the data. The main
themes to emerge from the data will be carried through into the discussion and
looked at in greater detail with links being made back to the literature. The
questionnaire, once it was complete, were collated into a table in Microsoft excel in
order to identify patterns and themes from the footfall of Sutton Coldfield.
3.3.1 Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
In order to answer the first objective of the research I obtained data on previous
businesses that were located in the centre and used the computer mapping
package ArcGIS which is 'a means of capturing, storing, checking, integrating,
mapping, analysing and displaying data' (DoE, 1987: 312 cited in Lindsay, 1997), to
map how the retail provision in Sutton Coldfield town centre has evolved over the
last decade and to analyse these trends making links back to the literature. The
data for this is from both my observations from visits to the town centre where I
briefly noted down the current retail provision and the more historic data, so to
speak was made available by the Sutton Coldfield BID manager. ArcGIS was also
used to create maps to set out the context of Sutton Coldfield and its surrounding
area.
3.4 Limitations
When conducting a research project it is important to acknowledge the limitations
of the chosen methodology and techniques employed. A number of limitations are
evident from this research project, firstly when conducting interviews in and around
Sutton Coldfield of the footfall, a number of people were unwilling or too busy to
take part which reduced the total amount of responses and thus restricted the
amount of data that was available to me for analysis. Within the questionnaire a
number of respondents were unwilling to answer some of the questions with
regards to age and where they lived which left gaps in the data.
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Furthermore, when conducting a questionnaire it is always difficult to ensure the
data is representative i.e. a balanced range of demographic. Finally, the
questionnaire is only a sample of the population which as mentioned is used to
infer characteristics about a population (Lindsay, 1997) and herein lays the problem
as again the data may not fully represent the characteristics of the entire
population.
A number of key individuals were interviewed however, there were more key
individuals from various organisations who would have been useful for the project,
that I planned to interview but due to a number of reasons these were not
undertaken
A final limiting factor that applies to most people involved with the study is that of
personal bias. For example, many of the key individuals interviewed are very
involved with Sutton Coldfield and therefore may possess a personal bias towards
the area which may affect their responses to the questions. The footfall that were
interviewed may also have a personal bias and possess sentimental value as some
may have lived their entire life in the area and thus that can affect their responses. I
myself spent a number of years growing up in Sutton Coldfield and visit the town
centre often so I also have a particular opinion and outlook on the area.
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CHAPTER 4: CONTEXT, FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
4.1 Introduction
This chapter will combine the analysis and discussion of the research project and
explore the issues that arise in greater detail. Firstly, the chapter will set out the
background for the Sutton Coldfield case study, present the findings from the
research and then relate the discussion to the literature.
4.2 Context of Sutton Coldfield
Sutton Coldfield is a
town located in north
Birmingham (see figure
4.1) that has a
population of 95,107 with 48.4% male and the resulting 51.6% female according to
the 2011 census (Birmingham City Council, 2013). In terms of the age structure for
the Sutton district 20% of the population are aged 65+ which is well above the
16.9% for the West Midlands region and 16.4% for England (Birmingham City
Council, 2012b). Sutton is home to the largest urban park in Europe which holds
many events, attracts many visitors, is home to a number of businesses and is a
designated specific site of interest (SSI). The town is highlighted as a key area of
growth in the Birmingham Development Plan 2031 (2013).
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Distance (miles)
Sutton Coldfield to;
Birmingham: 7.4
Lichfield: 9.8
Tamworth: 8.4
Wolverhampton: 18.2
Solihull: 18.4
Walsall: 11.7
Figure 4.1 Sutton Coldfield in relation to the Birmingham area.
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Sutton Coldfield is a
broadly affluent area as
some of the residential
areas as can be seen in
figure 4.2 such as Four
Oaks and Walmley are
among the most
prosperous areas to live
in Birmingham as the
unemployment rate is
3.2% well below the
6.5% for the West
Midlands region and
4.4% for England
(Birmingham City
Council, 2012a). In
addition to the low
unemployment rate,
Sutton has a high home ownership level, high internet usage and 80% of
households own a car with more than 50% owning two cars (Sutton Coldfield Town
Centre Partnership, 2012). The high street and conservation area is home to many
professional businesses such as lawyers, solicitors, financial management and real
estate developers.
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Figure 4.2 Sutton Coldfield and its immediate surrounding residential areas.
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The town has
its own supplementary planning document which is the regeneration
framework as part of the Birmingham Plan which seeks to provide the planning and
development structure in order for Sutton to achieve its full potential as a sub
regional centre. Furthermore, figure 4.3 highlights Sutton Coldfield as the only town
centre in the Birmingham area, where all others are district or neighbourhood
centres. The town also has a Business Improvement District (BID) which operates in
the High Street/Conservation area, Retail Core and Birmingham Road see figure 4.4.
The BID has a proposal for creating a more competitive town centre by ensuring
sustainability, promoting Sutton Coldfield and ensuring safety and security. Sutton
Coldfield has a number of issues facing it such as the Birmingham Northern Relief
Road and the current debate of building on the greenbelt land that surrounds
Sutton and some of the adjacent suburbs.
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Figu
re
4.4
The
stru
ctur
e of
Sutt
on
Cold
field
To
wn
Cent
re
Figure 4.3
Example of the
town, district and
neighbourhood
centre hierarchy in
Birmingham
Adapted from:
Birmingham City
Council (2012c)
Town Centres Sutton Coldfield
District Centres Acocks Green
Alum Rock Road
Coventry Road
Edgbaston
Erdington
Mere Green
New Oscott
Northfield
Perry Barr
Selly Oak
Neighbourhoo
d Centres
Balsall Heath
Boldmere
Bordesley Green
Castle Vale
College Road
Cotteridge
Dudley Road
Queslett
Quinton
Robin Hood, Hall
Green
Rookery Road
Scott Arms
Shard End
Walmley
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4.3 Research Findings
The current retail offering for Sutton Coldfield is divided into three main shopping
centres and the parade which runs between the Gracechurch centre and the Red
Rose centre. The Gracechurch centre is the most successful centre and plays host to
many of the high street multiple retailers that are in Sutton Coldfield such as House
of Fraser, Next, New Look, Republic and Laura Ashley (see figure 4.5) The centre is
also home to a selection of cafes, coffee shops and a Marks and Spencer store.
The Parade shopping area is opposite the Gracechurch and similarly is occupied by
a number of high street multiples such as Burton, Waterstones and Dorothy
Perkins. Unlike the Gracechurch, there are a small number of discount retailers
namely Aldi and Poundland along with some of the main high street banks situated
along the Parade (see figure 4.5).
The Red Rose centre is home to a number of independents, the library and
Wilkinsons with some vacant outlets. New Hall Walk is a number of large
warehouse type units and is home to Apollo 2000, Halfords, TK Maxx and TGI
Friday’s with car a large surface car parking facility .A small number of vacant units
can be found in the centre with the vacancy rate of the retail core being 6.14% (BID
Manager).
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Figu
re 4
. 5 T
he c
urre
nt
reta
il off
erin
g in
Sutt
on
Cold
field
Tow
n Ce
ntre
w
hich
is h
ome
to a
nu
mbe
r of m
ultip
le,
inde
pend
ent a
nd
disc
ount
reta
ilers
.
IN OUTPandora Hanson's
Equilibrium Diamonds & PearlstReds Red London
Amplifon BarratsShakeaway Remainder Books
Remainder Books Bed WarehouseWalsall Hospice Rumours
Early Doors BSMMother of All Sins Umberto Gianinni
Salvation Army HamptonsRipples Browns' Art TeamPapa's Shakeaway
Poundland BankElvi Azuri
Shoe Zone Jane NormanJones Bootmaker Expressions
Sugacane New WaveExpressions Sutton Mobile Centre
Charlie Brown Office AngelsGo Go Eskimo Oscar's
PJ Express The CupLa Scala Vintage One Clothing
Waitrose Elite PersonnelVintage One Zicco Menswear
Chop and Wok Going PlacesZicco Menswear La Senza
Cooltrader GoldsmithsPaperchase EquilibriumCaffe Nero Charlie BrownsStormfront Pure Party
Fragrance shop Go Go EskimoBusy bees Jessops
Corefit gym Julian GravesDon Diego Gamestation
Ikon Barbers WardrobeYamaha Music Shalbon
Home store SantanderNew Moon Bon Marche
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Figu
re 4
. 6 C
hang
e in
re
tail
of S
utton
Col
dfiel
d in
the
last
few
yea
rs. T
he
offer
ing
has
rem
aine
d re
lativ
ely
sim
ilar
how
ever
som
e bi
g na
me
reta
ilers
suc
h as
HM
V,
Woo
lwor
ths,
Julia
n G
rave
s an
d M
othe
rcar
e ha
ve d
epar
ted
Sutt
on
Cold
field
rece
ntly
and
ha
ve b
een
repl
aced
by
Aldi
, Pou
ndla
nd,
Cool
trad
er a
nd
Wilk
inso
ns. T
he lo
ss o
f th
ese
high
str
eet
reta
ilers
are
par
t of a
w
ider
tren
d th
at c
an b
e se
en in
man
y to
wn
cent
res
and
citie
s re
gard
less
of t
heir
func
tion.
Im
ages
sou
rce:
The
Lo
cal D
ata
Com
pany
(2
013)
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Jacey's SonyEntertainment Exchange Temple Bar
iBar Monsoon/AccessorizeGrape Tree Bags and Luggage
Nandos BlockbustersLakeland SwintonSubway La Scala
MorrisonsIn reference to figure 4.6 above the map shows a selection of retailers that have
moved out of Sutton Coldfield and figure 4.7 shows a complete list of the
movement of retailers since January 2010. The offering has remained relatively
similar however some big name retailers such as HMV, Woolworths, Julian Graves
and Mothercare have departed Sutton Coldfield recently and have been replaced by
Aldi, Poundland, Cooltrader and Wilkinsons. The loss of these high street retailers
are part of a wider trend that can be seen in many town centres and cities
regardless of their function.
Whilst there has been a number of major high street brands such as those in figure
4.6 and a number of others such as Internacionale, Barrats, Jane Norman and
Jessops disappear from Sutton Coldfield Town Centre there has been a number of
good quality retailers move into the centre such as Stormfront, Nandos, Pandora
and Jones Bootmaker that have had a positive impact upon the town centre with an
increase in footfall:
BID Manager: 'Pandora which has been really successful'...footfall is increasing
'about 5% year on year.'
Portas (2011) and Jones (2010) found that many of the shops on British high streets
closing are multiple retailers with HMV and Woolworths the prime examples,
coupled with many independent retailers also being part of this trend as they are
unable to compete with multiple and supermarkets. This trend is seen across UK
high streets, mainland Europe and the USA and is the main reason for vacant shops
(Darwell, 2012). The UK government recognises the problem of vacancy rates and
the loss of
multiple and independent retailers in town centres increasing through the last
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Figure 4.7 The movement of retailers in Sutton Coldfield Town Centre
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decade (Department for Business Innovation and Skills, 2011) as a result of the
recession and e-commerce. However, Sutton Coldfield Town Centre as highlighted
in figure 4.7 has seen some multiples such as HMV and Julian Graves vacate the
high street and the vacant units have been replaced by a number of small
independent retailers which are performing relatively well which contradicts the
current retail trends highlighted by Jones (2010), Portas (2011) and Darwell (2012).
One of the key findings of the survey ndertaken in Sutton Coldfield Town Centre is
that the shoppers use the centre as a onvenience shopping location rather than the
major shop with many people stating that their major shop is usually done at a
supermarket commenting that it is easy and everything is there which is highlighted
in the literature that supermarkets are able to provide a wider range of goods and
service (Portas, 2011; Birkin et al, 2002; Bromley et al, 1993). Another key finding of
25
Figure 4.8 Location of the areas that Sutton shoppers travel from.
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the survey is that many of the people using Sutton Coldfield Town Centre travel
from areas such as Castle Vale, Kingstanding and Erdington (see figure 4.8) being
the most common responses which could be attributed to the recent decline of
Erdington:
Director Burley Browne Surveyors: ' Erdington...which has declined substantially
and so what we are seeing is that...retailers have left Erdington high street and
moved into Sutton.'
The impact of this decline elsewhere means that as retailers move to an area the
customers of those businesses may follow suit and the results of the survey show
that this trend has occurred.
Portas (2011) and
Department for
Business,
Innovation and
Skills (2011)
highlight a
downward spiral
(figure 4.9) by
where a retail
store closes and
there is then a
knock on effect by where footfall reduces and weakens the performance of stores
and the whole retail centre which is said to be evident across high streets across
Britain. The findings show that in Sutton Coldfield the story is quite different, whilst
a number of high street multiple retailers have closed down in the centre, the
footfall has been increasing year on year as highlighted by the BID manager in the
interview. Through the recession footfall remained steady whereas many other high
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Figure 4.9 The downward spiral of the high street. Source: Portas (2011)
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streets experienced a decline thus the downward spiral (Portas,2011; Department
for Business, Innovation and Skills, 2011). Erdington high street see figure 4.8 is an
example of where figure 4.9 is in action rather than Sutton Coldfield due to its more
local function.
4.3.1 Competing locations
One of the key
findings of the
research in particular
the interviews of the
key individuals is that
Sutton Coldfield faces
competition from both
other town centres
and also local
neighbourhood
centres. A recurring
theme was that the
town of Solihull
located south east of
Birmingham see figure
4.10 is the major
competitor for Sutton Coldfield as they both have a similar affluent catchment area
and thus are comparable. It is recognised that Solihull has a far greater retail
offering than Sutton Coldfield with the Touchwood shopping centre housing a
cinema, food outlets and other leisure activities:
27
Director Burley Browne Surveyors: 'At the moment the competition is from Solihull...they
both have a similar affluent catchment area. Solihull is in the top 100...actually I would
probably say it's now in the... top 50 town centres nationally.'
Figure 4.10 The two competing town centres
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Senior Development Planning Officer Birmingham City Council: 'the trend is that
the affluent are travelling to touchwood in Solihull...at the moment there is a better
offer in Solihull .'
The fundamental challenge of competition is one that Sutton Coldfield faces from a
number of angles in particular from other town centres such as Solihull. Competing
town centres are highlighted in the literature by Jackson (2006) as part of the new
policy agenda towards the future of town centres, however isn't deemed a major
challenge to town centres. The findings of this research project indicate that for a
sub-regional centre like Sutton Coldfield the more fundamental challenge is the
threat of competition from other retail centres of a similar nature which in this case
attracts comparison and leisure spending away from Sutton Coldfield and towards
Solihull and Lichfield. Solihull is an example of a sub regional centre performing well
and an urban entertainment centre that Portas (2011) highlights as part of the new
age of consumerism.
The theme of competition was also evident in the interviews of the footfall in
Sutton Coldfield Town Centre as some people commented that they travel to
Solihull or Lichfield for their retail and leisure purposes as there is more on offer:
Woman in mid 30s: 'Solihull has a greater range of shops for the whole family...we
can also go to the cinema and then somewhere for food like...TGI's or Pizza Hut.'
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Woman in mid 40s: 'I only use Sutton when I have to visit the bank as its close to where I live
in Four Oaks...but other than that I visit Lichfield for shopping and socialising... The thing
that attracts me to Lichfield is... the shopping is better, the park is great and you have the
theatre all within walking distance and well... Sutton doesn't really have that aspect to it.'
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Director Burley
Browne Surveyors
Sutton is quite
unique...in that in
close proximity you
have some nice
neighbourhood
centres such as
Boldmere, Wylde
Green."
Business
Improvement
District Manager:
'your greengrocers
and butchers have
disappeared over the
years...footfall
doesn't come here as
you have a couple of
local active centres
such as Wylde Green
and Boldmere which
have the Sainsbury's,
Asda, Tesco and
Waitrose.'
Figure 4.11 Local neighbourhood centres which are said to be in competition with Sutton Coldfield and attracting the casual spend away from retailers. The centres have a range of retailers that provide the convenience shop and this draws that spend away from retailers in Sutton Coldfield.
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In addition there is competition from local neighbourhood centres see figure 4.11
which are relatively affluent and capture the casual and convenience spend of the
districts. The competitive nature of local centres is overlooked in the literature as
many traditional high streets in the focus of the media and policy are a hub for both
the convenience and comparison shop whereas Sutton Coldfield, different in its size
and function, has these local centres in the surrounding areas performing that
convenience function which attracts the spend away from retailers in Sutton
Coldfield Town Centre.
Sutton Coldfield suffers from a lack of recognised supermarkets in the centre which
is a key trend across many high streets (Portas, 2011; Birkin et al, 2002) with the
only real outlet being a small format Morrisons on the Birmingham Road which is
out of the retail core. There was previously a Sainsburys in the Red Rose Centre
however that was subsequently replaced by Wilkinsons when the lease ran out. The
Sutton area is served by supermarkets in the competing local centres notably
Sainsburys in Mere Green, Asda in Minworth, Waitrose in Mere Green and Tesco at
Princess Alice New Oscott. The Princess Alice retail park in New Oscott provides
further competition as that previously used to be a typical retail park however, the
last 10 years have seen a change as there is a Marks and Spencer food store and a
large Next. Historically M&S have been strong in Sutton Coldfield however now one
is at Princess Alice there has been a negative effect on Sutton:
Director Burley Browne Surveyors ' a lot of people just go to there [Solihull], so...
Sutton then loses a proportion of those people doing that everyday shopping.'
Supermarkets have become the major player in the grocery market in the United
Kingdom since their introduction in the early 1970s and are a key competitor for
town centres. The research highlights that Sutton Coldfield lacks a major
supermarket in its centre but is served by supermarkets in out-of-town locations, a
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key trend in the development of the UK grocery sector (Instone and Roberts, 2006;
Birkin et al, 2002; Portas, 2011) fuelled by the relaxation of land use planning in the
1980s (Thomas et al, 2006). Sutton Coldfield exhibits evidence of the dominant
consumer behaviour that Griffith and Harmgart (2012) highlight where consumers
use on location for the bulk of groceries such as Asda Minworth and another
location for the top up (Griffith and Harmgart, 2012) such as the local centres of
Boldmere and New Oscott.
The town centre also faces competition from the more recent trend of convenience
stores (Birkin et al, 2002) located in the neighbourhood centres that are in the
surrounding residential areas. The trend of recolonisation of the high streets by
convenience stores (Birkin et al, 2002; Wood et al, 2010) as a response to the
tightening of land use planning regulation, in particular the introduction of PPG6
and the update of PPS6 is documented across British high streets, however, Sutton
Coldfield is an exception to this trend as the retail core does not have an example of
these convenience stores thus shows the unique character of Sutton Coldfield as a
sub regional centre rather than a traditional high street retail area.
The second wave of decentralization in the British retail system was the growth of
retail parks fuelled by deregulation of the planning system. These retail parks
according to many (Guy, 2000; Thomas et al, 2004; Instone and Roberts, 2006) are
the direct and constant threat to the high street and town centre retail system.
Sutton Coldfield town centre faces competition from two retail parks, one the
Princess Alice retail park in New Oscott and the other being Ventura Park in
Tamworth. The Princess Alice, as mentioned previously, has a range of retailers and
also a number of food outlets. Ventura Park is a typical example of the retail park
with large units and surface parking that has a number of multiple and independent
retailers.
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The competing centres of Mere Green, Solihull and Lichfield have plans for new
retail development in the pipeline thus there are external factors that will have an
impact upon Sutton Coldfield. The new developments in these competing centres
will attract retailers to the area and as Lichfield and Mere Green have similar
catchment areas to Sutton it will have a major impact upon the performance of the
centre:
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Senior Development Planning Officer: 'Lichfield could be more of a problem because
it's got more of a critical mass to support a range of stores... Lichfield has a wider
catchment and the city is looking to expand quite significantly e.g. the council are
proposing 9000 homes in the greenbelt around Lichfield so you are looking at quite a
large potential population increase in the area.'
Director Burley Browne Surveyors: 'what happens in Mere Green in terms of the
retailers that are brought in to the scheme will have an impact upon Sutton's future
performance. There is to be a food store and also successful coffee chains plus
restaurant operators and if that happens...a lot of the...casual spend that comes into
Sutton from places like Mere Green, Four Oaks and Lichfield, which I will add are the
most affluent areas, will possibly be lost to Mere Green thus could prove very
negative for Sutton.'
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Throughout the study it has been made clear that Sutton Coldfield, whilst not
achieving its full potential as a sub regional centre serving the wider population, is
performing relatively well against other town centres. However, the
underperformance is in relation to the catchment area which is very affluent and
are travelling to other centres. The result of this loss of spend means that Sutton
Coldfield doesn't have the same quality offer of other centres thus lower quality
retailers are locating in Sutton. Consequently, the affluent catchment of Sutton, as
described by the Director Burley Browne Surveyors, are 'confronted with discount
retailers such as poundland and cooltrader.'
The effect of this retail offering is that from the survey of the footfall a large
number of people as can be seen in figure 4.12 are visiting Sutton Coldfield are from
Erdington, Kingstanding and Castle Vale as these areas are said to be of a lower
demographic which continues with the previous trend as the affluent catchment
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Figure 1. 12 The location that a large number of the Sutton shoppers have travelled from
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are faced with discount and lower quality retailers. This trend can also be attributed
to the decline of the Erdington high street and the knock on effect is that the
retailers move out to Sutton and so does the customer. Erdington is an example of
the traditional high street decline that Portas (2011) highlights where an area loses
spend and the surrounding area gets weaker.
4.3.2 Land Ownership
Sutton Coldfield Town Centre, from the research has a number of land ownership
issues with the various shopping centres being owned by various different
institutions such as pension funds and private companies. The land ownership of
other competing centres, in particular Solihull, will also have an impact upon how
Sutton performs in future years:
Director Burley Browne 'Gracechurch, Red Rose Centre and New Hall Walk are all
separately owned by pension funds and so everyone has their own objectives'
Senior Development Planning Officer ' The major retail sites in the centre are all
owned by pension funds...pension funds are notoriously risk averse and are happy
just to have their income from leases.'
The literature review highlights a key trend in investment in the retail sector with
many investors turning to shopping centres (Jones, 2010) and as Jackson (2006)
argues this can lead to fragmented ownership. This is clearly evident in Sutton
Coldfield as there are multiple landowners (Gracechurch, Red Rose, New Hall Walk
and Birmingham City Council) that are responsible for different parts of the centre.
As the centre was built in the 1970s over the years it has become tired and is in
need of redevelopment which is recognised by the key individuals involved in
Sutton Coldfield. However, as the centre suffers from multiple ownership it is very
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problematic for all landowners to have similar objectives and interests (Adams et al,
2002).
In the literature review landowners were described as either active or passive and
the main landowners were financial institutions such as pension funds. The type of
passive landowner evident in Sutton Coldfield are a hindrance within the
development process (Adams and Tiesdell, 2013; Jackson, 2006) with the
consequence being that the area suffers from fragmented ownership (Jackson,
2006). The fragmented ownership means that no development can proceed until
land is under united ownership (Adams et al, 2002).
The implications for Sutton Coldfield are that the town centre will be facing
increased competition from expanding centres without constraints (Jackson, 2006)
namely in this case Solihull. The town has been able to introduce a large scale retail
development and as mentioned in the findings this is where the affluent catchment
of Sutton Coldfield are travelling to for retail and leisure purposes. The national
planning policy framework strives to promote competitive town centres, however,
due to the multiple ownership in Sutton Coldfield it is difficult to reconcile the
various interests in order to create and deliver a competitive centre thus the NPPF
to a degree overlooks the key challenges that face sub-regional centre like Sutton
Coldfield faces. The proposed development of the other half of Solihull is also more
competition for Sutton Coldfield:
Furthermore, the Gracechurch centre which is said to be the most successful centre
has been recently sold to new investors. The consequence of this is that the
previous landowners The Mall were said to have a good relationship with the
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Senior Development Planning Officer: ‘Solihull council have announced plans to
redevelop the other half of Solihull shopping centre which is even more
competition… because the land at freehold level is owned by Solihull council.’
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council and BID, however with a new owner there is an element of uncertainty
around the objectives and the direction it plans to go:
The land ownership issues will therefore make it difficult in order to address the
challenges that Sutton faces as a sub regional centre and will make it difficult for
future development to go ahead in particular any sort of regeneration of the
current centres to provide a better retail offering for the Sutton Coldfield consumer.
4.3.3 Physicality and Infrastructure
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BID Manager: ' We are in a funny position because there has been some change as
when the Gracechurch was The Mall, there was a good relationship there and we
just don't know what the new owners direction is.'
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The town centre of Sutton Coldfield has some critical physical and infrastructure
related challenges that act as a hindrance to the centre. A number of the challenges
faced by Sutton Coldfield are addressed in the Sutton Coldfield SPD, however for a
number of reasons, in particular the recession and cost, these have not been taken
forward. Furthermore, the Birmingham Development Plan 2031 (2013) has
proposals for the sustainable urban extension to the north of Sutton Coldfield with
6,000 new homes in the green belt. With these new homes there will be a
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Figure 4.13 The physical layout of Sutton Coldfield
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significant population increase and inevitably an impact on the centre and
infrastructure surrounding it will be put under increasing pressure.
Firstly, in reference to figure 4.13 Sutton town centre is very constrained by a
number of infrastructure and physical features as on one side of the centre is the
cross city railway line between Birmingham and Lichfield. On the other side towards
Maney Hill there is the freight line between Water Orton and Walsall. In addition to
the east of the centre is Sutton Park and to the north is the conservation which
restricts development. The centre is further constrained by the road network which
acts as a concrete collar and is very congested due to the amount of traffic heading
in and out of Sutton Coldfield towards both Four Oaks and along the main Lichfield
Road towards Birmingham which Jackson (2006) highlights as an issue for town
centres.
As Sutton Coldfield Town Centre is constrained by a number of factors and limited
availability of land for development it will struggle to address what is set out in the
NPPF of allocating sites for enhancing markets. One of the potential development
sites is the well-known Brassington Avenue site as shown in figure 4.13, located
towards the south west corner of the retail core, which is a brownfield site,
however has a number of problems such as underground streams, sewers and is
separated from the core by the main road making it less accessible to footfall.
The major retail and leisure attractions in Sutton Coldfield are also fragmented
across the town centre core with the main shopping precincts separated by the bus
interchange which acts as a barrier between the shopping areas. There is a cinema
in the town centre, located at the top of Lichfield Road see figure 4.13, however it is
a ten minute walk away from the main retail core and footfall have to negotiate the
main Birmingham Road. Sutton Park is a major attraction for Sutton Coldfield but is
also a walk away from the retail core and again is cut off by a major road which
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reduces the accessibility and as Jackson (2006) argues an accessible core is
important. In comparison the city of Lichfield has greater walkability between retail
and leisure facilities thus has a more attractive core.
4.4 Planning to overcome the key challenges
The key individuals interviewed during the research recognised that Sutton
Coldfield needs development in order for it to compete with other centres and
provide a more appealing offer. In the development process there are significant
individuals and organisations that matter in determining the outcome of a potential
development (Adams and Tiesdell, 2013). This is evident in Sutton Coldfield as
highlighted earlier the key actors are the private owners of the shopping centres
and Birmingham City Council who need to work in co-operation as this argues
Adams and Tiesdell (2013) is a method to achieve successful development and
overcome key conflicts . In the context of Sutton Coldfield that would be to address
the key land ownership and infrastructural challenges in order to provide an
improved centre that can compete with Solihull and Lichfield.
As highlighted in the findings, the infrastructure of Sutton Coldfield is a key
challenge that must be addressed in order for the centre to be more competitive.
Adams and Tiesdell (2013) identify infrastructure providers as an important actor in
the development process providing roads and public realm improvements. Firstly,
the town centre is a very congested area and is encircled by main roads which
means that walkability between the town centre and surroundings is very difficult
as highlighted by the BID Manager:
"crossing from the Parade onto Birmingham New road is just terrible whichever
side you go round."
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One of the solutions to the congestion and walkability challenge is the relief road
that is proposed for the town centre as this would make current roads one way
enabling the current walking routes to be improved. However, the cost of the relief
road is a stumbling block with the cost a projected £10 million (BID Manager). There
is a conflict between the council and developers as to who should pay for the
infrastructure and with the austerity measures in place the local council do not
have the funding to provide the infrastructure:
Senior Development Planning Officer: "problem is we have no money to do the
infrastructure on our own."
The role of planning here would be too develop a partnership between both the
public and private sector in order to develop the infrastructure through a
collaborative approach (Adams and Tiesdell, 2013; Rydin, 2011). Through that
collaborative approach some of the key plans and initiatives in the Sutton Coldfield
2009 planning document can be achieved in order to make the town more
competitive and sustainable. Furthermore, the planning system can use the
Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) as leverage to raise funds in order to provide
the necessary infrastructure that will encourage private investment. However, this
approach requires private investment of some degree to take place first in order to
raise the funds.
The challenge of multiple land ownership is a more difficult task for the various
stakeholders, in particular Birmingham City Council, to re-develop the centre and
make it more appealing. As mentioned in the interviews the opportunities for re-
development lie with the red rose centre and new hall walk however the owners of
these centres do not wish to develop their land further. The planning system here
could use the Compulsory Purchase Act (2004) in order to buy the land and then re-
develop, however this is only a last resort as it is costly and a lengthy process
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(Adams and Tiesdell, 2013). A more collaborative and co-operative approach would
be the best way forward in order to improve the town centre and address the key
challenges that have been highlighted in the findings.
4.5 Summary
Sutton Coldfield Town Centre faces a number of challenges as a sub regional centre.
The literature highlighted the major threats to town centre as supermarkets,
growth of retail parks, out-of-town shopping centres and the internet. Whilst
Sutton has lost a number of big name retailers, attracted some lower quality
retailers and illustrates evidence of the above threats, there are some greater
fundamental challenges that the centre faces.
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Figure 4.14 Type of market drawing spend away from Sutton Coldfield
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Firstly, there exists a multiple competitive threat from both local centres, as these
attract the casual and grocery market away from Sutton see figure 4.14, and the
more regional centres that can be seen in figure 4.15 as these attract the retail and
leisure market away from Sutton Coldfield.
The second key challenge is that of multiple land ownership within the centre
where all major retail sites are separately owned, therefore hinders any further
development and its ability to compete with regional centres and capture the
affluent catchment spending power. Finally, the town is constrained by both its
physical structure and infrastructure as the town is heavily congested, compact and
sits in a conservation area, ultimately meaning little room for development and
expansion of the centre itself.
Much of the emphasis of the literature review is on the negative impact that retail
parks and supermarkets have on town centre locations as they are said to be the
direct competitor (Instone and Roberts, 2006; Guy, 1998; Adams et al, 2002) in the
contemporary retail environment. Whilst there is evidence of Sutton Coldfield
facing some of the issues in the literature, media and policy debates the findings of
the research show that it isn't the uniform challenges affecting high streets across
Britain but some more fundamental challenges that the town centre faces which
are mentioned in retail literature such as Jackson (2006) but not in any great depth
and also isn't a focus for planning policy. The findings reflect the unique
circumstances that Sutton Coldfield as 'the forgotten middle' must face in the
contemporary retail environment and highlight some challenges that are perhaps
overlooked by the literature and by government policy.
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Figure 4.15 Regional markets competing with Sutton Coldfield
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CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION
5.1 Summary of findings
The research project set out to investigate the decline of the high street in Britain
through a case study of a sub regional centre, Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham. The
starting point for the project was the Portas review (2011) which documented the
decline across British high streets and town centres. Subsequent literature
illustrated the key structural changes in retail, planning policy and the importance
of retail outlets as a financial investment. Birkin et al (2002, Instone and Roberts
(2006) and Jones (2010) argued that supermarkets and retail parks were the key
threats to town centres, however the literature covers the more traditional town
centre and somewhat neglects centres that have a sub regional function.
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The overall findings of the research project parallel some of those highlighted by
various literature. Supermarkets and retail parks that are in close vicinity to Sutton
Coldfield do compete with the centre. Furthermore, a number of big name multiple
brands have disappeared and subsequently been replaced by discount retailers but
some more fundamental challenges specific to Sutton Coldfield have been
identified as the reasons for its underperformance. Three key challenges face
Sutton Coldfield; The first is that of a multiple competitive threat from local
neighbourhood centres that attract the convenience market away from the centre.
In addition, the centres of Solihull and Lichfield attract the retail and leisure market
away from Sutton Coldfield as they have a far superior offer. It is recognised that
the centre needs development in order for it to provide a competitive offer,
however the research reveals two critical challenges that are preventing the centre
from re-development. Multiple land ownership is evident in the centre as all of the
major retail sites are owned by pension funds and have differing goals to achieve
and therefore the town is unable to develop until the interests of the stakeholders
are unified. Finally, a number of physical and infrastructure based challenges are
evident from the research as the town is constrained by the road network, is very
congested and is physically constrained by two railway lines, housing and a
conservation area meaning there is little room from expansion.
5.2 Avenues of further research
The project had a number of limitations such as time, as this prevented a more in
depth study from being undertaken. Another limitation of the project was having
access to the resources necessary to answer the objectives set out in the
introduction. As for example it was difficult to obtain comprehensive data to
highlight the movement of retailers in and out of Sutton Coldfield, mainly due to
confidentiality. The survey method used to capture the data from the shoppers has
a limitation as it is reliant on participants to provide the information and inevitably
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there will be some gaps due to participants not willing to answer some of the
questions.
The project provides a snapshot of the challenges Sutton Coldfield faces, therefore
if I had more time there are a number of further research methods such as tracking
the case study over a period of years in order to monitor the changes to the centre
and its performance. In addition, a case study approach was adopted and based on
Sutton Coldfield, thus it would be useful to undertake a comparative study of
another sub regional centre. This approach would help to determine whether the
challenges identified are an example of extreme circumstances specific to Sutton
Coldfield, or exist as part of a uniform trend affecting centres alike. Furthermore,
due to the time constraint the depth of the study is not as great as it could be and
with more time a larger number of interviews and surveys would be added to
provide a greater range of data to analyse and draw conclusions from.
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Could you give me a background to Sutton Coldfield position in the retail hierarchy?
Yes of course... I suppose...Sutton Coldfield as a retail centre has been comparable to Solihull and there have been a number of developments in both Sutton Coldfield and Solihull which have impacted upon where the towns are now in the hierarchy... do you have the data in terms of where Sutton is in the town centre hierarchy?
Erm....Yeah I've got the framework...the Sutton Coldfield Town Centre planning and regeneration document which highlights where Sutton is.... from a regional perspective.
Ok that's good...erm continuing with the retail hierarchy... Sutton...the Gracechurch centre was redeveloped in the 70s...in the 80s there were plans to have a retail park....recession hit thus that didn't happen, then planning policy allowed in town retail parks to be built. At...or around the same time in Solihull... because of the local authority owning the land and the size...or how the town is built they were able to introduce a large scale retail development. For Sutton Coldfield, on the other hand its...I guess, been restricted to what it can do and how much it can offer. One of the problems in Sutton is the size of units really in the sense that...erm...requirements over the last 20-30 years have changed.
(Pause)
I'm just trying to think of an example for you... ah yes...retailers like H&M etc are looking for units of...mmm...10,000 sq ft-15,000 sq ft and really Sutton just can't offer or should I say provide this. Also if you look at the neighbouring centres to Sutton, a prime example would be Erdington...which has declined substantially and so what we are seeing is that...retailers have left Erdington high street and moved into Sutton. What happens then is...well as Erdington declines, the consumers of Erdington, Kingstanding and Castle Vale come to Sutton and therefore from being an affluent centre...it begins...well already is serving a wider community but with a lower demographic.
Is that a bad thing for Sutton that they are serving a wider community, albeit with a lower demographic?
It's not a bad thing...but...you have to think of the flip side of this...which...well the affluent customers that Sutton Coldfield should be serving, basically, isn't. When they come to do their so called... big shop they are confronted with discount retailers such as poundland and cooltrader. The effect of this is that...the Sutton consumer base will travel to the likes of Birmingham and Lichfield... and also Solihull so, it becomes a vicious circle.
Sticking with the aforementioned...discount retailers...do you think that trend will continue where big names such as HMV and Woolworths disappear and are replaced by discount stores?
I think that...the trend will continue...I mean places like House of Fraser and Boots are struggling because the format doesn't quite work. What happens is that...a lot of retailers look at Sutton and see the demographics thinking that we should be here but a lot of people in that demographic...don't do their everyday shop in Sutton. I guess another thing related to what I've just said is that...Sutton is quite unique...in that in close proximity you have some nice neighbourhood centres such as Boldmere, Wylde Green and er...Mere Green....Mere Green is a completely different story and I'll talk about that later. Do you know the Princess Alice retail park?
APPENDIX 2: Interview with Director of Burley Browne Surveyors
Yes that's it...that has changed in the last 10 years...from being a proper retail park to now having an M&S food store and a next. The significance of that is that M&S is...historically have been very strong in Sutton but now one has opened at Princess Alice...a lot of people just go to there, so... Sutton then loses a proportion of those people doing that everyday shopping.
Would it be fair to say then...that Sutton has now become a location for convenience shopping rather than the major shopping destination?
Hmm...I think it probably is and the other thing is that a lot of the consumer base for Sutton will come from outside the B72, B73 and is it B74 postcodes I think. A lot is Erdington and Kingstanding...that is ok but they don't have the same spending power as the affluent people in the catchment area for Sutton Coldfield. The Mall shopping centre has just been sold to new investors...M&G I think they are called; anyway they can see that Sutton should be serving more of the local consumer. Stormfront, the apple retailer, are trading well as is Laura Ashley... thus it's about trying to get more of those type of retailer into Sutton Coldfield.
If the Sutton's role has changed to a...location for convenience shopping, has footfall increased, decreased or remained the same?
For me it's difficult to say really... erm it's started to improve...but that's down to the nature of the market which is slowly recovering.
Would a flagship brand need to be introduced to improve Sutton?
I think it's a combination of things...retailers...how can I put this...retailers are a fickle bunch, they follow each other. For example... retailers will look at Stormfront as a high spend retailer and see that they are trading well thus the chances are we will. Another example...is the introduction of Nandos and so retailers and food outlets will be monitoring that quite closely to see how they are performing. The particular unit that Nandos have, from our point of view as surveyors has never fared that well really...cafe rouge had it before and didn't make it work, plus there were a couple of bar type operators that also didn't work. The recent trend is that landlords are looking to leisure activities to support their scheme and restaurant operators are quite acquisitive...they will pay good rents. If you can get a cluster of restaurants into a scheme...Have you come across the term dwell time?
I haven't no.
Dwell time will be increased as a result of those restaurants and there are currently plans to encourage restaurants to the town centre.
What do you think is the future outlook for Sutton?
It's very difficult really to say because it's market controlled but I what would say...the key is...attracting restaurants and better quality retailers. It also depends on what happens in other competing retail centres.
Could you explain in more detail about the effect other centres will have on Sutton?
Yes...I mentioned Mere Green earlier...and what happens in Mere Green in terms of the retailers that are brought in to the scheme will have an impact upon Sutton's future performance. There is to be a food store and also successful coffee chains plus restaurant operators and if that happens...a lot of the...casual spend that comes into Sutton from places like Mere Green, Four Oaks and Lichfield, which I will add are the most affluent areas, will possibly be lost to Mere Green thus could prove very negative for Sutton. The other problem, as I mentioned earlier is that...retail space...it's better for me to explain with an example so...Next in Sutton have approx 5,000-7,500 sq ft whereas in Mere Green the floor space is between 15,000-20,000 sq ft and as a result Sutton struggles to attract the bigger retailers.
How much competition does Sutton face from other centres?
At the moment the competition is from Solihull...they both have a similar affluent catchment area. Solihull is in the top 100...actually I would probably say it's now in the... top 50 town centres nationally. Lichfield will also be competing because there is a large scheme in the pipeline at... I think its Friars Gate...although not as big as Solihull it will still attract a very affluent consumer. Going back to Solihull...there is a choice of restaurants, shops and a cinema under one roof and that is a place that shoppers tend to go for...I mean I live in Sutton but I take my wife and kids to Solihull for the exact reason I have just mentioned. Really you...have to think in terms of what Sutton and Solihull offer to the 20-25, 35-45 and 55-65 year old and the spending power that those groups have. Solihull have a cinema on its doorstep, Lichfield has a park which is perfect for families. Whilst Sutton has those...they are very...erm fragmented and not ideally located.
Are there any land ownership issues which have an impact on Sutton's retail offering?
Yes there are quite a few...Sutton is very fragmented which is due to when it was built in the 1970s but the market has changed and moved on. Gracechurch, Red Rose Centre and New Hall Walk are all separately owned by pension funds and so everyone has their own objectives. This fragmentation of ownership is the reason I guess...for bringing in a town centre manager and a Business Improvement District team who are attempting to promote Sutton better and get everyone on the same page so to speak.
How long do you think it would be before there is an improvement in Sutton's performance?
It's a slow process and of course it's market dictated which means retailers are very nervous at the moment but in saying that the market is improving. It takes landlords to offer incentives for retailers for them to move in e.g. Stormfront will have had a great deal from the gracechurch centre to move into Sutton. Timescale wise...mmm... you are looking at a 3-4 year plan to improve the centre.
(Pause)
Just to add to that...there are various external factors which will impact upon Sutton and its performance such as the Mere Green development as retailers will see other large retailers moving in there...whilst Mere Green may not be as busy as Sutton... retailers will be
focusing on the spending power of the catchment area. If the Lichfield plan does go ahead it will be attracting the same customers as Sutton but will have more to offer e.g. a large Next and Debenhams etc etc. In short, the external factors will have as much...if not more of an impact upon Sutton as Sutton itself can have.
Is there a problem with vacant outlets that is well documented in other centres?
To be fair Sutton has probably... fared better than a lot of centres because it's a popular town centre and the vacancy rates are much lower than in other centres. There are only a few short term lease units compared to other high streets that is very low. As a surveying company I myself deal with a lot of the retail units and there aren't many on our website that are vacant...even when they are they are usually taken very quickly.
Is there anything that Sutton could do more to improve its own performance?
Erm
(Pause)
The problem is that... Sutton is city council run and Birmingham doesn't really market the town well enough and don't invest as much in Sutton as they do other areas such as Harborne or Edgbaston. Sutton needs to be not only a retail location but a place for businesses as a lot of business people from the surrounding area come into the town centre. Also, no new business premises have been built and that's partly down to Sutton being a very tight town and there is no potential development in the pipeline. As you're not attracting new businesses and residents it becomes that vicious circle and stagnates.
I think that is all of my questions...Thank you for your time.
