Town Centre Health Check
Argyll and Bute Council 2021
Introduction
The 9 th Argyll and Bute Town Centre Health Check took place in 2021, providing a snapshot of town centre appearance and performance in the midst of the global Covid-19 pandemic.
Moreover, analysis of data collected on vacancies, shopfront condition and business types for the six major town centres in Argyll and Bute allows short term patterns and long term trends to be identified, helping inform and prioritise strategies to aid development of these crucial loci.
Methodology and Limitations
The Town Centre Heath Check 2021 followed the methodology established in previous surveys, namely a physical visit to almost 1000 retail and commercial properties across the six town centre areas. The zones surveyed utilised the main town centres boundary identified in the 2015 Local Development Plan covering a combined area of 65.5 hectares.
The ground floor properties within each main town centre zone were graded on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 indicating a property in excellent condition and 5 ascribed to properties in extremely poor condition. The grading is based on a visual assessment of shopfront condition including fascia, rain goods and any obvious structural issues. Properties are also assessed for occupancy/vacancy and business type, adding further measures to track town centre retail trends and providing another angle with which to judge town centre health.
Future surveys may be expanded to include the recording of the condition and occupancy of retail and commercial premises on first and second floors, which will expand the survey significantly and provide further important town centre health data.
Vacancies
Vacancy rates within a town centre are visually indicative of general retail health and across Argyll and Bute, the trend over the past 11 years is slightly higher rates of vacancy although the rate in Rothesay has fallen slightly, albeit from a relatively high starting point.
Unit retail vacancy rates are shown here for 2021, ranging from roughly 1 in 12 shops vacant in Oban to approximately 1 in 6 shops vacant in Campbeltown.
The majority of the vacant properties in each of the six towns have been unoccupied for less than two years which suggests a relatively vibrant local economy, however there remains a stubborn core of less than 10 properties in each town which have been vacant for more than 5 years.
Condition
In 2015, the survey adopted a 5-band shopfront condition grading which has allowed more detailed trends and variations to be monitored. Given the range of factors contributing to a condition rating, the grade itself is a fairly subjective measure, however a consistent approach has been adopted using the following broad guidelines.
Condition 1: Properties in excellent or very good condition, requiring superficial repairs or no repairs at all.
Condition 2: Properties in good condition, requiring minor repairs to paintwork or small areas of damage.
Condition 3: Properties in fair condition, requiring noticeable repairs including repainting window and door frames, fascia and signage, cracked windows and wall tiles.
Condition 4: Properties in poor condition, requiring noticeable repairs to paintwork, tiling, fascia or other key element of the shop frontage.
Condition 5: Properties in very poor condition, requiring extensive repairs and including properties which are boarded up.
The top chart highlights the condition of properties by location as a percentage of the total. With the exception of Campbeltown which has a very high proportion of properties in condition 1, the towns of Argyll and Bute have similar profiles with around 80% of properties in conditions 1 and 2, and a gradual proportional decrease through conditions 3 to 5.
The two bottom charts show the proportion of vacant and occupied properties in each condition band. The overall number of vacant properties is relatively small compared to the number of occupied properties, therefore the town by town profiles for non-vacant unit condition (bottom left) matches the overall profiles for each town (top). In general terms, vacant properties in Lochgilphead are largely in good condition and those in Rothesay are predominantly in poor condition.
Business Types
Previous Town Centre Health Check surveys have identified the number of takeaways and charity shops as key town centre trend markers. The relative number of both takeaways and charity shops have remained consistent across the towns of Argyll and Bute between 2019 and 2021, with a change of one at most in either category except Helensburgh which had three more takeaways in 2021 than in 2019. The stable numbers for both categories suggest well-established businesses and continuing demand for the services provided.
The criteria for identifying a change of business in previous surveys may have allowed for some inconsistencies to arise, such as the inclusion of businesses which have changed operational focus from a café to a takeaway but have retained the same name, and the exclusion of businesses which have changed name but where the business type has stayed the same. Henceforth, a change of business will require to fulfil one of the following criteria:
- Properties which have changed operational focus, including those which have kept the same name, recorded as 'Type'
- Properties which have the same business type but which have changed name, recorded as 'Name', unless the name change is clearly a minor rebranding, e.g. from Kintyre Recycling to Kintyre Reuse Hub
Properties which have changed from being vacant to occupied, which are included in the survey for the first time or which have merged, each of which are recorded as New' in 2021, are not regarded as a change of business. Properties which have become vacant and are recorded as 'Vacant' are also not regarded as a change of business.
The table shows the changes in business over the period 2019-2021 according to the more tightly defined criteria.
Spatial Analysis
The 2021 Town Centre Health Check data have been uploaded to a GIS to create visual representation of the vacancy rates, property conditions and changes to business name or type in each of the six major towns in Argyll and Bute.
Spatial analysis of the data can help pinpoint clusters of lower quality shopfront condition such as Victoria Street in Rothesay, areas of higher vacancy rates such as the southern half of Argyll Street in Dunoon and streets where businesses have changed frequently such as Craigard Road in Oban.
Utilising the full functionality of the GIS allows further detailed spatial and statistical analyses on specific business types and the identification of longer-term town centre trends.
