Sweeping changes have been made to plans to transform one of Perth’s main shopping outlets in a move which, it is claimed, will “help reduce” the number of shoppers going to Dundee and Stirling.
Perth and Kinross Council granted planning permission for the regeneration of St Catherine’s Retail Park in October last year in a move that would see a new retail unit and a new caf unit at a site described as “outdated”.
St Catherine’s Perth (Moorgath Properties) are aiming to offer a wide range of goods for sale, including clothes and shoes, and have now submitted modified plans to allow this to happen.
These modifications relate to the size of units and it is hoped the regeneration of the site will bring much-needed money for the retail park, which was built in the 1980s.
The proposals have met some opposition, however, with owners of the St John’s Shopping Centre, Universities Superannuation Scheme Ltd (USS Ltd), claiming the retail park would be a “direct threat” to the High Street and would “draw retailers away”.
Nick Brian, Perth and Kinross Council’s development quality manager, has claimed that the St Catherine’s Retail Park redevelopment would “assist in the much -needed regeneration” and “improve the future economic competitiveness” of Perth.
In a report to come before the council’s development management committee on Wednesday, he said the design of the St Catherine’s Retail Park units is “typical of that era” and “outdated”.
In the report, he says: “There are a number of historic planning agreements relative to this site, with some also being applicable to the wider St Catherine’s Retail Park site. The applicant is currently seeking a modification to the existing planning obligations to revise the types of goods able to be sold.”
Mr Brian claims that St Catherine’s Retail Park plays a “significant” role in the “vitality and viability” of the city centre.
“It is accepted that the introduction of additional retail floorspace on sites that are outwith the city centre could potentially directly impact on the retail operation of the core retail area,” he says in the report.
“However, St Catherine’s Retail Park is considered to be an edge-of-centre site due to close proximity to the city centre. The proposed Local Development Plan also seeks that proposals for retail units should be promoted within the commercial centres, such as St Catherine’s Retail Park.
“The creation of additional retail floorspace is not under consideration as part of this application, but was considered under the associated planning application, which was subsequently granted. The applicant is proposing floorspace for clothing and footwear that is unlikely to be met by any existing city centre units because of the lack of large floorspace units. They are aiming to meet an identified demand that the city centre appears unable to provide.”
Mr Brian also claims that the St Catherine’s Retail Park proposal does not “remove the need” to continue with city centre improvements and promote it as the “first destination” for retail, leisure and commercial uses.
“If a city centre can’t meet the demand, then edge-of-centre locations are next in terms of the sequential process,” he says in the report, which recommends approval of the modifications.
“This proposal, along with the approval of the north side of the retail park and continued improvements in the city centre, will help reduce some of the current leakage to Dundee and Stirling.”