Assessment of Planning and Retail Issues - Renfrewshire Council

PROPOSED EXTENSIONS AT 28 ASSESSMENT OF PLANNING AND RETAIL ISSUES
BRAEHEAD RETAIL PARK MAY 2010
3.49 Some of the trade drawn to the new facilities at Braehead will have been
previously directed to other retailers in the park, so some of the diversions will be
within Braehead itself. The rest of the trade drawn to the new units and the
additional Curry’s floorspace will be diverted primarily from other retail parks in
Renfrewshire and beyond. Table 24 shows how we have estimated this
redistribution is likely to occur - the trade obtained from within Renfrewshire
being diverted almost entirely from the other retail parks in Renfrewshire, while
trade drawn from beyond the Paisley / Renfrew area is likely to be diverted
primarily from those facilities which are most directly in competition with the
Braehead retail park.
3.50 The anticipated outcome of the introduction of the additional floorspace is an 11%
increase in the turnover within the retail park, although a slight (2%) reduction in
the level of turnover per square metre, as is normally the case when the amount
of floorspace in a centre is increased. Each of the three main competing retail
parks in Renfrewshire experience a reduction of around 7% in turnover, although
the largest actual reduction in monetary terms is at Abbotsinch, which is the
largest and most popular of the three other retail parks. There are no other
predicted trade diversions of any significance.
3.51 The overall effect, therefore, is of a very self-contained redistribution of turnover
within the Renfrewshire retail parks. There are no town centres likely to be
affected by the proposals.
Conclusions
3.52 Our detailed analysis builds on the earlier analysis undertaken to examine the
implications of relocating Sainsbury’s from the main centre to the retail park, but
also takes account of the effects of the recession and the reduction in retail
expenditure growth which had not yet emerged when the 2008 analysis was
undertaken, and allows for a higher level of additional retail floorspace being
provided in Glasgow city centre.
3.53 The analysis shows that although the pace of retail growth has eased, and the
expenditure projections are lower than they were in 2008 for the same future
years, there is ample scope for redistribution of bulky goods trade to support the
modest amount of additional retail floorspace being proposed for Braehead Retail
Park, after taking account of the implementation of commitments and the recent
relocation of Sainsbury’s into the retail park - which had the effect of reducing the