The credit crunch has hit the high street The UK love affair with shopping has proved to be a key factor in the economic prosperity and urban regeneration of the last decade. But the global economic downturn, along with a shift towards shopping online, has seen a High Street slowdown that is having a knock-on effect for the flagship shopping centres that in the past have often been centrepieces of urban regeneration. "There's far more capacity out there than ever before and demand is relatively flat," says retail sector analyst Richard Hyman of Deloitte, a consultancy, warning that retail-led urban regeneration may be over for good.
This post on skyscraper city describes the content of the programme. There is a link to the downloadable audio file in the post. It is well worth listening to.
Local authorities are desperate for the revenue they receive in business rents and the notorious Section 106 planning gain payments so they have huge incentives to grant planning permission for retail schemes, and in some cases will give away car parks and similar land owned by the council as an incentive for the developer to agree to the scheme, greatly to the advantage of the developer, and of the elected officers, but not to the advantage of the long-suffering council tax payers.
