Big name shops seen as vital in halting decline of town centre

IF Halifax does not get more big-name shops soon it will die, a leading councillor said.

The stark warning comes on the back of an independent report showing that towns and cities where there is new shopping development are capturing shoppers from towns and cities which don’t.

The National Survey of Local Shopping Patterns is produced by leading commercial property and real estate services advisers, CB Richard Ellis.

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The report says that: “shopping destinations are likely to increase in popularity if the retail offering is improved through new development or the addition of leading brands.

“Conversely, where no improvements occur, or there is an actual decline in the quality of shopping – usually through the withdrawal of key high-volume retailers – the market share achieved tends to decline.”

“Towns with development are diverting trade from towns without; however, this is more of a diversion from old shopping stock to new, and from small space to big, rather than a diversion from town centre to out-of-town retail destinations.”

Leeds city centre, Huddersfield, Bradford and the White Rose centre in Leeds are identified in the report as the main venues attracting people away from shopping in Halifax.

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But it shows that people are even choosing smaller centres, such as Keighley, for shopping trips.

The report estimates that there are a total of just under 1.5 million people in the Halifax shopping catchment area, which is bordered by Leeds in the east and Rochdale and Oldham in the west.

It shows that Halifax attracts just over 95,000 shoppers – just 6.4 per cent of the total number living in the area.

Calderdale Council’s cabinet member for economy and environment, Coun Barry Collins said: “There is no running away from this report. It underlines the urgent need for us to develop the Northgate site, if Halifax is to remain a thriving town where people want to visit and shop.

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“Halifax is losing huge numbers of shoppers to towns and city centres close by. The future of the town is now in our hands. Unless we make it possible for big-name retailers to locate in Halifax by providing large enough sites, other towns and cities will attract shoppers away from our town.

“We have a choice. We can do all we can to maintain a vibrant and attractive town centre, or we can do nothing and watch it sink into decline with the resultant loss of businesses and jobs.

“The council is already committed to moving out of Northgate House and we have proposals which would see the site made available for retail development.

“But it is essential that we create the right conditions to attract developers and major retailers. Our proposals would see the redevelopment of the Northgate site for exciting new shopping and the relocation of the central library and archive to the site of the Square Spire, creating a cultural hub incorporating the Piece Hall, the Orangebox centre and the Square Chapel.”

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Calderdale Council recently moved to the second phase of consultation on the future of Halifax Town Centre. Coun Collins’s warning comes at a curious time, however.

After years of playing second fiddle to neighbours such as Huddersfield and Bradford, Halifax town centre is bouncing back.

Within just a few months a huge development – the Broad Street project – costing tens of millions of pounds will open featuring some of the country’s best known brands.

And the Yorkshire Post recently reported that plans costing more than £20m were in hand to develop the somewhat neglected south of the town near the railway station.

Further development is also expected to occur shortly at the town’s historic Piece Hall with millions of pounds set to be pumped into a grandiose scheme hopefully making it “the Milan of the North”.