Assessment of Planning and Retail Issues - Renfrewshire Council

PROPOSED EXTENSIONS AT 30 ASSESSMENT OF PLANNING AND RETAIL ISSUES
BRAEHEAD RETAIL PARK MAY 2010
4 CONCLUSIONS
4.1 The new SPP - which is the most recent statement of planning policy in Scotland,
and more up to date than the Glasgow & The Clyde Valley Structure Plan and the
Renfrewshire Local Plan, gives support to investment to maintain and improve
commercial centres, where the centres are part of the network of centres in the
development plan and where such investment will not undermine town centres.
The Fourth Alteration to the Structure Plan confirmed Braehead as a commercial
centre, and the analysis in the previous section of this report demonstrated that
the proposed investment at Braehead Retail Park will not undermine any town
centres. Accordingly there is national policy support for the current proposals.
4.2 The proposals have been thoroughly assessed against the policies of the Structure
Plan and shown to accord with its requirements. The relevant local plan policies
R1, R2, R13 and R16 have also been examined, and it has been noted that the
proposal complies with policies R1, R2 and R16, but does not conform with the
floorspace restrictions of Policy R13. However it is considered that the departure
from Policy R13 is not significant, because (1) the additional floorspace is far less
than could be provided by way of mezzanine floors in the retail park, which in
future will be under the full control of the council because of the effect of the
proposed new legal agreement, and (2) in the light of national retail planning policy
set out in the SPP, it is no longer appropriate to impose blanket presumptions
against additional retail floorspace at the Braehead Retail Park, which is now
designated as a Commercial Centre.
4.3 A detailed retail impact analysis has been undertaken, which shows that the effect
of the proposed additional retail floorspace will be to reduce the turnover at the
existing Renfrewshire retail parks by around 7%, but that each park will still
maintain a healthy turnover-to-floorspace ratio. There are no town centres likely
to be affected by the proposals.
4.4 The proposals will allow the retail park to respond to additional external
competition from other retail destinations, restore some of the bulky goods retail
floorspace which was lost to the park following the relocation of Sainsbury’s, and
allow the park some flexibility to accommodate the future needs of its tenants, as
well as providing new opportunities. It will also result in the visual enhancement
of the park, particularly at the western end facing the main centre, improve links
between the retail park, bus station and main centre, and allow improvements to