London and the East Midlands are the only two regions in the country not to have been affected by delays to the shopping centre development pipeline, according to researcher CACI.
CACI found that across the country, 10 million sq ft of development space has been either cancelled or indefinitely put on hold in the last year. Only in the East Midlands and London have the entire planned shopping centre pipelines been successfully rolled out.
The hardest hit regions are the South East and the east of England. In the South East, 34 per cent of planned developments have stalled, including the indefinite shelving by Capital Shopping Centres of the Westgate Scheme in Oxford.
Construction is yet to begin on the 1 million sq ft Northern Quarter scheme in Portsmouth, owned by Centros.
CACI principal consultant for local strategy Nielsen Harrap said: “These are schemes which were going to have a substantial effect on those places. The danger is that in the long term those particular towns are only going to go one way.
In the east of England, 36 per cent of the pipeline space has been cancelled in the last year.
But Harrap added that there were positive signs that the right schemes would proceed despite the difficult climate, provided they were “hitting the mark in terms of convenience and offer.”
No comments yet