Member Article

Portas town centres presented growth tool kit

The Local Data Company have presented a new tool kit for towns, to support their Portas ‘Town Teams.’

Following the Portas Review’s underlying message to ‘adapt or die’ the tool kit aims to give town centres a range of data that will be crucial to their development and forward planning.

Statistical analysis on vacancy rates, footfall, occupancy rates, retailer demand, socioeconomics and demographics are included in the kit.

Other qualitative analysis around occupancy profiles, consumer expectations, planning activity and investment profile also feature, as a starting for town centre strategy.

Data will help to determine key drivers that investors and retailers look for in a town, in a bid to influence their decisions, and spot operators looking to move.

Understanding of clustering, short term and terminal decline in occupancy is also seen as key to moving town centres forward.

However, the research company stress there is no one-size-fits-all solution for towns.

A statement from the LDC said: “We don’t pretend to have all the answers but through our partnership with other leading data providers we believe that we can help each and every town centre identify the journey it is on and re-energise it through evidence based research that is built on facts.

“A solid understanding of the ‘Tools’ in the Town Tool Kit is fundamental to addressing the critical challenges that face every town centre up and down the country.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .