May 2011 Archives

Private Sector Leads the Way

By Edward Cooke on May 27, 2011 4:58 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
For almost 2 years we've been banging the drum for a private sector led Tax Increment Financing (TIF) option. In short TIF allows the projected increase in business rate income from new development (more floorspace coupled with higher rents) to be used to leverage debt to pay for the upfront infrastructure costs of development. The public sector led campaign has been well constructed and supported, and indeed we are big fans. However with Government's ambition to see the private sector take the lead in driving economic growth we have always felt there was space for a complimentary developer led scheme. 

Today's meeting with Treasury and CLG gives me hope that our, and in particular Alistair Parker of Cushman's, efforts may reap rewards.

Government wants feedback and evidence (doesn't it always) of developer / investor appetite for such a scheme. Your thoughts are therefore very welcome...

The good, the bad and the ugly

By Edward Cooke on May 26, 2011 8:40 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
Another week of conflicting news stories adds weight to the well-rehearsed debate about this, what seems like eternal, recession separating the haves from the have nots.

Great results from Land Sec and British Land, who both got their houses in order pretty quickly post Lehman, shows armageddon can be voided, whilst this story from City AM paints a pretty depressing story for JJB.

The ugly? Britain's high streets apparently. Homogenous....? Maybe not, mature and complex certainly. The Queen's campaign (not the well-heeled octogenarian, the real one, has continued to attract lots of attention and debate this week. In my job debate is good, so this is welcome. But I like this article from Chris Blackhurst which, despite the deliberate mistake in relation to landlords and rates, is a good summary of the challenges she faces, especially in those town centres where responsible landlords, REIT or otherwise, are the exception rather than the rule.

We're here to help your highness, feel free to pick up the phone.

The Portas show

By Edward Cooke on May 17, 2011 4:38 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
I was lucky enough to be present at today's Government hosted event on saving the UK's ailing high streets. In fact that should be towns, as we heard the term high street is misleading and sets the debate off in the wrong direction. Focussing on the success of failure of trade on one or two main streets itself fails to recognise the externality of business success; without consumer demand feeding enterprise, supported by business advice, local partnership working (public / private or landlord / tenant) and the right fiscal and regulatory framework, then local businesses will not succeed. 
 
The highlight of the day? Definitely not the lunch, although given recent visits to BIS and CLG the fact that lunch hadn't been cut was a nice surprise. No, the highlight was undoubtedly an audience with Mary Portas, the formidable lady tasked with saving the day. Actually I think the Minister's (Edward Davey MP) introduction was the most interesting in terms of articulating Government's commitment to this subject.  Geoff Nicholson, of the Retail Planning Forum, also gave an eloquent dismissal of the concept of 'clone towns'.
 
I agree that too much focus on what is meant by clone towns, whether they exist and whether consumers want to shop in the same shops, will distract Mary from what she needs to focus on. What do consumers want from their town centres and how can Government enable the delivery of whatever that is? Clearly there is no one size fits all approach, and this is recognised by our retail guru and her team. The solution isn't necessarily more independent shops, fewer multiples, more restrictions on grocery retailing, free car parking or indeed more development, and I shouldn't be saying that! It could be anyone of these, or more likely a combination of all of them depending on the specific needs and attributes of a local area.

The important point is that all local areas should have a clear town centre vision for their local areas, be transparent, and realistic, about how that vision is going to be delivered and ensure the involvement of private, public, consumer, voluntary and other local groups or sectors in its development and delivery.   
 
There is no doubt about the complexity of the task. One thing I took away from this morning was Mary's commitment delivering more than just another report in the autumn. We will certainly be engaging with Mary and her team, and suggest you do too www.bis.gov.uk/highstreet

Campaigns on all fronts

By Edward Cooke on May 6, 2011 4:42 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

The diversity of our business which reflects our industry couldn't be summed up better than by reflecting on what we've been doing this week.


Back from too many short weeks (we could all get used to 4 day weeks I'm sure, perhaps BCSC's next campaign....!?) we jumped straight into the launch of our opinion on shopping centre valuation, and the importance of encouraging greater consistency and transparency in our sector's advice to investors and lenders.


Thanks to Freshfields, and to our stellar panel of Richard Akers, David Atkins, Max Sinclair, Mark Williams and Neil Saunders for a hugely informative evening.


Not long after Freshfield's hospitality had worn off were we waking up to the salivating prospect of a debate on the application of EU procurement rules for development agreements (ok, maybe the only salivation came from the thought of bacon sandwiches provided by our hosts Nabarro, but some of get our kicks from this stuff!)


Another fabulous, and sometimes controversial, panel, gave advice and inspiration, as well as hope that some clarity will emerge shortly on the relevance of public procurement rules for retail development agreements - badly needed if we're to confidently kick start many of the UK's stalled schemes.


Whoever said variety was the spice of life was spot on.

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Edward Cooke is executive director of the British Council of Shopping Centres

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