Contact Officer: Pat Jones (Principal Scrutiny Officer), Tel 01865 252191, phjones@oxford.gov.uk; Lois Stock (Democratic and Electoral Services Officer); Tel 01865 252275, lstock@oxford.gov.uk

The Head of Law and Governance submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended), providing an update to the Committee on the work carried out by the Panel that was investigating issues around the health of Oxford’s shopping areas.

Councillors Clack, Wolff and Wilkinson were the three Panel members. Councillor Wilkinson presented the report to the Committee and explained the background to it. The Committee noted that the Panel had decided to focus on the district shopping areas as defined by the Core Strategy. These were Headington, Summertown, Blackbird Leys and Cowley Road.

Introduction

The Panel members explained that, although a lot of initial work had been carried out, there were still further areas to explore, including:-

• Exploration of the balance of planning use classes;
• Community use of empty shops – district shopping areas should not be just about shopping, they should involve and include the community too;
• Council powers regarding community use of empty shops;
• Access to district centres by walking, cycling and public transport;
• Holistic ideas for shopping areas as laid out in the Portas Review;

The Panel wished to continue its work, and invited comments from the Committee regarding its future direction.

Comments from the Committee

In response, the Committee made the following observations:-

• The work carried out so far is useful, but the economic context needs to be woven into any future work as this affects shopping patterns;
• The Council is a landlord for many retail units and it has a duty to maximise its income – how can this be balanced with the desire to put empty shops into community use?
• There are issues too with major retailers (big multi nationals) and small independent shops competing in the same market;
• Need to ensure equality of access for all groups and need to think about how we could use district centres to create hubs for voluntary and community groups;
• It is noteworthy that our vacancy rate (for properties let out by the Council) is very low;
• Would be useful to know the number of independent traders in an area and if this had changed significantly over time. It would be useful to measure the number of charity shops;
• Vitality is often measured by “dead” frontages (that is, shops given over to estate agents, insurance brokers etc), so it would be useful to look at the percentage of shops that fall into this category;

Executive Board Member comments

The Committee welcomed Councillor Colin Cook to the meeting.

Councillor Cook observed that Oxford was the most desired retail location in the UK, and that the City had very low vacancy rates. A monitoring report to CEB had revealed that there had been a decrease in vacancy rates in the previous three years

He did not feel that the Council could have much impact on shopping cycles.  Studies showed that shopping trends were cyclical. In modern days there was huge competition from the internet for shopping that would be delivered straight to your door – almost a throwback to the Victorian period when shopping was delivered to households.

It would be very difficult for the City to buck the national and international trend.

Committee response

The Committee acknowledged Councillor Cook’s points, but did not agree that current shopping trends should be accepted as inevitable, and as something about which nothing could be done.

There is a need to think about district shopping centres more critically – what are they there for, and how can they be used to add to the individuality of Oxford, and, indeed, create a sense of “what is Oxford?”. District Centres all have different personalities and we should seek to nurture that. There are retail businesses that do buck the trend – we should ask ourselves what is special about them and what do they do differently?

Next steps

The Committee was happy to see this work continue further. It felt that it would be valuable to look at one, or perhaps two, of the District Centres in more detail rather than trying to examine all of them. One aspect for consideration is their vitality – does this reflect the definition of “vitality” in the Core Strategy?

The Panel should also consider the impact of large chains on our district centres, and examine specific proposals to help independents and small retail shops. It is important to see how shop use in areas has changed.

Resolved:-

(1)   The Panel should return to the next meeting with a proposal for the way forwards; focussing on 1 or 2 district centres and including some exploration of issues around small and independent shops;

(2)   Panel members will decide which and how many district centres to examine