London town centres must reinvent themselves, says Assembly

The Assembly said in a report (55-page / 647KB PDF) responding to the Mayor's draft Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) consultation that town centres need to move away from their strict focus on retail and become "dynamic centres" offering a range of retail, leisure, public services and housing.

The report said that the "right planning guidance" would help this transformation and also called on the Mayor to develop "more innovative and interdisciplinary" approaches to town centre revitalisation. This can help to deliver change "where a traditional town centre policy response has failed," it said.

The report recommended that the SPG should encourage local authorities to consider concentrating on "essential town centre functions in a smaller but more vibrant core, where appropriate". It recommended that secondary parts of town centres could take on other functions including housing.

The report also recommended that the Mayor should monitor the impact of the new permitted development rights which allow change of use from offices to homes without planning permission. It said that the Mayor should revisit the SPG after a year and make necessary changes to take account of any such impacts.

The Mayor's draft SPG on town centres was published for consultation in January. The document sets out guidance on the implementation of the London Plan's town centre policies.

“London’s high streets and town centres are the heart of our communities," said Chair of the Assembly's planning committee Nicky Gavron. "In an age of out-of-town and online shopping, the Mayor must do more to help town centres make the fundamental shift they need to be distinctive and thrive.”

“The Mayor’s town centre SPG needs to offer more support to boroughs than just a couple of examples of pop-up shops and novelty markets. It’s time to stop rearranging the deckchairs and start looking at a radical reinvention of the traditional town centre," Gavron said.

“I hope the Mayor takes our recommendations on board and works with us to ensure that his planning guidance gives local authorities the tools they need to get London’s struggling town centres back on their feet,” she added.

The consultation on the SPG closed on 31 May.