Secretary of State sign off for all new out of town developments would be “extremely problematic” if it was agreed by the Government, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) is set to say when it responds to the Portas Review next week.

Broadly welcoming the 28 recommendations made in the Review by self-styled retail guru Mary Portas, the BRC said it disagreed with the suggestion Government should introduce an “exceptional sign off”.

BRC director of business Tom Ironside said: “If the National Planning Policy Framework keeps its town centre first approach, we are unconvinced there’s a need for Secretary of State sign off.

“It would add a lot of complexities to the planning process and distances itself from the localist approach. In addition, the Secretary of State already has the ability to intervene if necessary.”

“Overall, we are positive about the recommendations and believe a lot of them are extremely sensible, such as the call to change business rates calculations from RPI to CPI, and offering local authorities incentives to offer free parking on the high street,” said Ironside.

On Saturday, the Government launched a £1m competition for local authorities to become one of the 12 to pilot some of the recommendations. Referring to the competition Ironside said: “It’s great to see action being taken to start making some of her recommendations a reality. Town centres do need to be actively managed and Government is right to recognise investment is often needed, although £1 million will not go far.”

Topics