Research Programme
The
NRPF research programme is mostly generated from conclusions of the
Forum's seminar and plenary sessions or recommendations set out in
earlier research reports. Research proposals that fit the Forum's objectives
and capabilities are examined by specially convened steering groups
drawn from NRPF members, academia, key firms involved in retail planning, and associated organisations such as RICS. Many proposals are better suited to bodies such as the ESRC, universities or consultancies, to whose attention they are drawn.
Each
steering group commissions scoping papers to identify and specify what
research should be undertaken. The scoping papers are subjected to
review and consultation before research proposals are drawn up, funding
is raised and research commissions placed. Once a piece of research has
been completed, the cycle starts over again.
Current Projects
Before & after studies
A
group has been formed to look at how Retail Impact Assessments can be
made more accurate and reliable, given the likely removal of the needs
test. The group is currently working to identify available case studies
and to highlight good practice.
As part of this, IKEA
have kindly agreed to make available 'before and after' studies
commissioned for their stores which update the surveys carried out when
permission was initially applied to find out what the actual impacts of
opening have been and so giving an indication of the accuracy of the
initial studies:
Forecasting sales trends and retail floorspace needs
There
are important changes taking place in how and where people shop. It is
clear that the right kinds of floorspace are not currently in the right
places but the relationship between floorspace and sales trends appears
to be complex. Work will attempt to better understand this.
Regional and local scale planning for retail
The
new system of Regional Spatial Strategies and Local Development
Frameworks is now established. How well do the different RSSs address
retail planning and do they bridge the gap between national policy and
the detailed policies of Local Development Documents?
Consistency in retail data
Since
URPI in the mid-1990s there has been no accepted central source for
retail planning information, with differences in the definitions used
by different data suppliers, and inconsistencies within data sets even
from the same supplier.
There would be significant
advantages for retail planning, benefiting local planning authorities
and the private sector, if a new set of definitions was prepared and
widely adopted by data suppliers and users. The NRPF is ideally placed
to publish and maintain such definitions on behalf of its members and
data users generally.
A working group has been formed to develop and promulgate such a set of consistent definitions.
Independent, secondary and local retailing
The
independent retail sector is both highly disparate and little
understood. More information is needed about the sector, but also
suggested policy strategies to ensure it continues to thrive. Earlier
work by the NRPF on Secondary Shopping will help to inform this work,
which is also relevant to planning for retail in new sustainable
housing developments or eco-towns, where old models e.g. from the New
Towns programme will not work.
The dynamics of town centre retailing
This ESRC Collaborative (CASE) Studentship in collaboration with the Centre for Adavanced Spatial Analysis at Universtity College London commenced in 2005. Read the project brief here.
Previous work
Recent work has included studies of linked trips and sales density definitions. Published reports are available.
Scoping Papers
Each
scoping paper is the sole responsibility of its authors, but the
commissioning statement prepared by the Steering Group is included in
an appendix.
Contact us for more information.
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