Retail impact assessment
When is one required?
Applications for retail and leisure developments which exceed 2500m2 gross floor space if that development is neither located in an existing centre nor in accordance with the development plan.
What must it include?
The impact assessment must include an assessment of:
- the impact of the proposal on existing, committed and planned public and private investment in a centre or centres in the catchment area of the proposal; and
- the impact of the proposal on town centre vitality and viability, including local consumer choice and trade in the town centre and the wider retail catchment (as applicable to the scale and nature of the scheme).
The submitted assessment must enable us to test the application against Policy SD2 (Retail and City/Town Centres) of the Joint Core Strategy.