Ministerial guidelines
Retail Planning: Guidelines for Planning Authorities
The retail hierarchy, the sequential approach that puts town centres first, and caps on the size of shops and retail warehouses.
Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government · April 2012 · 73 pages
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- 27 4 Retailing and Development Management
- 28 Key Messages The development management process must support applications for retail• development which: are in line with the role and function of the city or town in the settlement- hierarchy of the relevant development plan; and accord with the scale and type of retailing identified for that location in the- development plan and relevant retail strategy. For significant retail development proposals, early and comprehensive• engagement by applicants and planning authorities at the pre-application stage is essential. Development proposals not according with the fundamental objective to• support the vitality and viability of city and town centre sites must demonstrate compliance with the sequential approach before they can be approved. Retail impact assessment and transport impact assessments may be required• for significant retail development which due to their scale and/or location may impact on the vitality and viability of city and town centres. There should be a general presumption against large out-of-town retail centres• in particular those located adjacent or close to existing, new or planned national roads/motorways. Very large single outlet retail warehouses addressing a regional, if not national• catchment, may be considered in larger cities including the NSS Gateways of Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick/Shannon and Waterford. 4.1 Introduction The development management process is fundamental to the delivery of an effective retail strategy. Development applications for retail development which comply with the development plan policies and objectives as set out in Section 3.2 and with any relevant retail strategy (if appropriate) and which promote a viable and vital retail sector will benefit the economy as a whole and also individual retailers and consumers. The development management process should proactively support such applications. The following paragraphs set out the framework within which applications for retail development will be assessed and detail the issues to be addressed at each stage of the process. 4.2 Pre-Application Consultations The role of the development management process at the pre-application stage is to facilitate early and pro-active engagement with the applicant to ensure that any development proposal will contribute positively to the implementation of development plan objectives. This is especially relevant in the context of significant retailing proposals as such early consultation can alert applicants to the strategic context within which their proposal will be evaluated. 4 Retailing and Development Management
- 29 4 Furthermore a pre-application consultation presents the planning authority with the opportunity to advise applicants of the detailed policies and objectives with which they must align including the sequential approach. Best practice suggests that the planning authority should adopt a coordinated approach to such consultations and should arrange that all relevant sections (e.g. planning/transport/water services/heritage) within the authority attend such consultations to ensure that the applicant is aware of all relevant design/infrastructure issues which may be relevant. 4.3 Consistency with the Development Plan Where a development plan has been revised or varied in accordance with these Guidelines and/or where appropriate retail strategies including joint or multi-authority strategies have been adopted, the pre-application consultation should be relatively straightforward as the planning authority can quickly advise whether or not the proposal under consideration is consistent with the role of the city/town/district centre in the settlement hierarchy. Advice can be given on which modifications may be necessary to ensure compliance with the policies and objectives of these plans. If the project is not acceptable in the context of the development plan or related retail strategies, then this should be clearly communicated to the applicant at the earliest possible stage. If however there are no up-to-date policies or objectives in the development plan and/ or no appropriate retail strategies in place, the planning authority may need to specify what further assessments are required in support of the project and the level of detail required in accordance with the advice presented in these Guidelines. 4.4 Sequential Approach to the Location of Retail Development Planning applications for retail development proposals must comply with the criteria on location, suitability of use, size and scale and accessibility set out in the retail guidelines and development plan/joint or multi-authority retail strategy to ensure that the site chosen is the most suitable and best available site for the type of retailing proposed. Where the location of a proposed retail development submitted on a planning application has demonstrated to the satisfaction of the planning authority that it complies with the policies and objectives of a development plan and/or relevant retail strategy to support city and town centre, additional supporting background studies such as a demonstration of compliance with the sequential approach, below, or additional retail impact studies are not required. However, where the location of a proposed retail development submitted on a planning application is not consistent with the policies and objectives of the development plan and/or relevant retail strategy to support the city and town centre, then that development proposal, must be subject to the Sequential Approach and its policy principles and order of priority set out below and any departure from these principles must be justified. 4.4.1: Policy Principles of the Sequential Approach Proposals being considered under the sequential approach must demonstrate that they have addressed relevant policy principles set out below.
- 30 City and Town Centres The centres of cities and towns are the most suitable locations for the higher order fashion and comparison goods and are the most accessible locations for the majority of the catchment population. They should be supported in maintaining and expanding their retail offer to serve that population in a sustainable way which will also help to reduce the need to travel. Critical Mass The promotion of critical mass in city and town centres through the location of appropriate retail and other complementary uses including residential, culture leisure, financial, public administration restaurants/bars, within and adjoining their prime shopping areas will contribute significantly to the vibrancy and vitality of such centres. District Centres Within the gateway cities and towns, hub towns and other larger towns (approximately 10,000 population), locations for the provision of essential local services and facilities to serve particular environs of the city or town, known as district centres, will be identified in the settlement strategy. These should also be supported in developing their retail offer to a scale which accords with the retail strategy. The sequential approach should be applied to these district centres. 4.4.2: Order of Priority City and Town Centre The order of priority for the sequential approach is to locate retail development in the city/town centre (and district centre if appropriate), and only to allow retail development in edge-of-centre or out-of-centre locations where all other options have been exhausted. Edge-of-Centre Sites Where retail development in an edge-of-centre site is being proposed, only where the applicant can demonstrate and the planning authority is satisfied that there are no sites or potential sites including vacant units within a city or town centre or within a designated district centre that are (a) suitable (b) available and (c) viable, can that edge-of-centre site be considered. Out-of-Centre Sites Where retail development on an out-of-centre site is being proposed, only in exceptional circumstances where the applicant can demonstrate and the planning authority is satisfied that there are no sites or potential sites either within the centre of a city, town or designated district centre or on the edge of the city/town/district centre that are (a) suitable (b) available and (c) viable, can that out-of-centre site be considered. In relation to whether sites can demonstrate suitability, availability and viability, the following should be taken into account in implementing the sequential approach. a) Suitability: Matters to be considered include whether or not the development is consistent with development plan objectives, in particular zoning objectives, current land use activity in the vicinity of the site, size, capacity to accommodate development, traffic and transportation issues; and/or; 4
- 31 4 b) Availability: this criterion relates to site ownership, ease of assembly and timing. Sites must be genuinely available for development at the time that site acquisition/ assembly begins or within a reasonable time-frame; and/or; c) Viability: the financial viability of a development is also a key consideration. The cost of site acquisition in the town centre may make a proposal unviable and force investors to look elsewhere in the area. Excessive development costs relative to values are also a consideration. For example, the requirement to deal with remediation for a brownfield site may have the potential to make a proposal unviable. 4.5 Application of the Sequential Approach The application of the sequential approach requires flexibility and realism on the part of both retail developers and planning authorities, to ensure that the various forms of retailing are developed in the most appropriate locations. Planning authorities must therefore carefully consider the retailing needs of their cities and towns through the polices and objectives in a development plan and relevant retail strategies if appropriate. They should address matters such as how to broaden the retail offer of the city/town centre and identification of opportunity sites of varying sizes. Planning authorities should establish implementation teams to proactively engage with landlords, tenants’ retailers, chambers of commerce etc to bring forward/ amalgamate sites for development which have been identified as suitable. In so doing planning authorities must be mindful of their role in deciding on any future application on such sites. For their part, when making planning applications, retailers should be flexible in appraising potential sites and buildings and should be prepared to make reasonable compromises and, if possible, adapt standard retail formats to accommodate retail schemes on sites which are well located in the context of the sequential approach to retail development. Retailers also must look at issues such as scale and the possibility of changing core business models and adopting more flexible retail formats in order to blend in with local character. Other options to facilitate utilising town centre locations include disaggregating proposals with large floorspace/footprint requirements onto separate sites or using innovative site or store layouts, e.g. multi-storey developments with smaller footprints to make use of existing vacant and underutilised land or premises. The relaxation of minimum parking requirement is another option where a good choice of public transport links is available. Only in cases where it is not possible, having examined in detail all the above options, to provide for the form and scale of development that is required on a site within the city/town centre, should consideration be given to a site on the edge of the city/town centre. As part of this proactive approach to facilitate the provision of an adequate supply and variety of retail facilities for the city and town, the planning authority may itself identify potential edge-of-centre sites for consideration. In this way the planning authority can guide development toward the most sequentially preferable of the edge-of-centre sites. Only in exceptional circumstances should out-of-town sites be considered and only after the sequential approach has been applied to these sites also.
- 32 4.6 Sequential Approach and Extension – Change of Use Applications The sequential approach should also be used to assess proposals for the extension or material change of use of existing development where they are of a scale which could have a significant impact on the role and function of the city/town centre. Such extensions will of course also have to be assessed in the context of the floorspace requirements of the development plan/relevant retail strategy where appropriate. 4.7 Edge-of-Centre Retailing Where, following the sequential approach, the consideration of an edge-of-centre site becomes necessary, the applicant and the planning authority must ensure that edgeof-centre sites are within easy walking distance of the identified primary retail area of the city or town. The distance cannot be defined precisely as different centres vary in their size and scale but should generally not be further than 300 to 400 metres. Generally edge-of-town sites should be adjacent to the boundary of the central area but consideration should also be given to the local context, including the function and the character of the site in relation to the city/town centre as well as the ease of movement between the site and the city/town centre in terms of physical linkages and barriers such as any necessity to cross major roads and car parks. A site will not be well connected to a centre where it is physically separated from it by a barrier such as a major road, railway line or river and there is no existing or proposed pedestrian route which provides safe and convenient connection between the new edge-of-centre site and the original city/town centre. Also of relevance is the appearance and perceived safety of the connection above and the strength of attraction and size of the city/town centre. As well as existing and proposed physical links between the edge-of-centre site and the city or town centre, the degree of functional linkage between the two will have a major effect on the level of linked trips. People may be more willing to walk between an edge-of-centre site and the city/town centre if they each have strong, complementary attractions and the route itself provides focus and interest. The ability to provide parking facilities on the edge that serve the centre as well as the new development thus enabling one trip to serve several purposes is also an issue to be considered. Thought should also be given to topography, visual integration, the attractiveness of the experience of accessing the site by different modes, and whether transport links allow or deter easy access to the surrounding area. A development on the edge of an existing centre may be consistent with sustaining and enhancing the vitality and viability of the centre if it is providing for additional choice and competition and diverting potential expenditure from less accessible out-of-centre locations to more accessible edge-of-centre locations. Further guidance on the above is outlined in the accompanying Retail Design Manual. 4.8 Out-of-Centre Retailing An out-of-centre site is defined as a location which is clearly not classifiable as a city or town centre location as defined in these Guidelines but which is within the urban area, including planned extensions to the urban area in a development plan. New large-scale out-of-centre developments are likely to have an adverse impact on the vitality and viability of established city/town centres. This is a consequence of the competitive environment in which retailing operates. It is not the purpose of the planning system 4
- 33 4 to prevent competition or trade diversion in itself, but rather the goal is to promote healthy urban centres, in the public interest. Where proposed new retail developments have the potential to significantly undermine and compromise the goal of maintaining the vitality and viability of established city/town centres, they should be subject to a detailed retail impact assessment where these issues, in particular the issue of significant trade diversion from the city or town centre, are addressed, in detail and mitigation of such impacts considered. Where, following the sequential approach, the planning authority has determined that no city/town centre or edge-of-centre sites are suitable, viable and available and which can provide the form and scale of development required under the development plan or relevant retail strategies, the planning authority must not approve such development unless it is satisfied that there will be no negative impact on the vitality and viability of the retail core. In assessing the suitability of an out-of-centre site, both applicants and planning authorities can utilise the headings of retail impact assessments set out in the section below. 4.9 Retail Impact Assessment As set out in Chapter 3, the development plan will set out the most appropriate locations for the level of retailing appropriate to any particular city or town and in some cases will include the quantum of floorspace required. However, where a planning authority considers an application for planning permission to develop a new retail development to be particularly large in scale compared to the existing city/town/district centre, or where a retail strategy or development plan has allocated a specific type and quantum of retail floorspace to a particular settlement and a proposed development absorbs on one site the bulk of that potential retail floorspace, the planning authority may request the applicant, by way of a Retail Impact Assessment (RIA) as set out in Annex 5, to demonstrate compliance with the development plan and that there will not be a material and unacceptable adverse impact on the vitality and viability of any existing centre. This is a matter for careful technical assessment and professional judgement. The threshold at which an RIA will be required will be determined in the context of the development plan policies and objectives for retailing or may be raised by the planning authority in pre-application discussions or in the course of determining the planning application. Through the RIA, the applicant must address the following criteria and demonstrate whether or not the proposal would: support the long-term strategy for city/town centres as established in theretail strategy/development plan, and not materially diminish the prospect of attracting private sector investment into one or more such centres; have the potential to Increase employment opportunities and promote economicregeneration; have the potential to increase competition within the area and thereby attractfurther consumers to the area; respond to consumer demand for its retail offering and not diminish the range ofactivities and services that an urban centre can support;
- 34 cause an adverse impact on one or more city/town centres, either singlyor cumulatively with recent developments or other outstanding planning permissions (which have a realistic prospect of implementation) sufficient to undermine the quality of the centre or its wider function in the promotion and encouragement of the arts, culture, leisure, public realm function of the town centre critical to the economic and social life of the community; cause an increase in the number of vacant properties in the primary retail areathat is likely to persist in the long term; ensure a high standard of access both by public transport, foot and private car sothat the proposal is easily accessible by all sections of society; and/or link effectively with an existing city/town centre so that there is likely to becommercial synergy. Planning applications should be formulated in accordance with the framework of the specified criteria outlined above to enable the planning authority make a thorough and balanced assessment of the development proposal. Where a development proposal fails to satisfy the sequential approach or is likely to have a significant adverse impact as demonstrated by an assessment of the above criteria, planning permission should be refused. 4.10 Transport Impact Assessment Impacts on the transport networks serving a proposed retail development proposal are very important to determine in the course of considering planning applications. A Traffic and Transport Assessment (TTA) may be required for retail developments over a particular threshold (1,000 M2 gross floorspace for retail/leisure) as set out in the Traffic Management Guidelines 20036 the Traffic and Transport Assessment Guidelines 20077. The Planning Guidelines on Spatial Planning and National Roads8 set out additional advice and requirements in relation to transport matters. A TTA must examine the transport impacts of a proposed development, incorporating any subsequent measures necessary to ensure roads and junctions and other transport infrastructure in the vicinity of the development are adequate to accommodate the proposed development without causing additional delays to existing and future road based traffic. More importantly, TTA is important in demonstrating how to encourage a shift towards sustainable travel modes by those using the retail development in question. Applicants for retail development which exceed these thresholds should consult the guidelines above prior to lodging a planning application. Where traffic and transport volumes from proposed retail developments are under the thresholds for TTA outlined above, the guidelines should be consulted in regard to the criteria for sub threshold TTA. The TTA should also address urban design impacts of proposed public and private transport proposals and also deal with delivery and monitoring regimes for the various options. If the proposed development warrants an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), the transport assessment should form part of the EIA. 6 Traffic Management Guidelines 2003 (DECLG, DoELG, DoT and DTO) 7 Traffic and Transport Assessment Guidelines (2007) National Roads Authority 8 DECLG 2012. 4
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