The Government has launched its new combined planning guidance on economic development and town centres against a background of continuing anger that the end of the retail needs test will be a bonanza for out-of-town shopping.
The new Planning Policy Statement 4: Planning for Sustainable Economic Growth, slipped out on 29 December, replaces PPG4, PPG5, PPS6 and parts of PPS7 and reduces 137 pages of guidance to just 32.
Gone is the retail needs test although the Government was persuaded to retain the sequential test which requires consideration of town centre before edge-of-centre and out-of-town sites.
The needs test, which the Government describes as "dysfunctional", will be replaced by a new "impact test" which includes factors like consumer choice and consumer spending.
"As the country moves towards economic recovery, the government is putting in place new protections for local shops at the heart of communities as many high streets have been hit hard by a double whammy of the downturn and out-of-town retail parks," claimed housing minister John Healey.
The new guidance requires local authorities to plan for economic growth and to make markets an integral part of their town centres.
It also implements some of the recommendations of Matthew Taylor's review of the countryside and there are changes in the planning for rural businesses.
"This is a major simplification of economic planning policy, gives strong support for traditional market town centres, and clear backing for appropriate economic developments that sustain small rural communities," said Mr Taylor.
The Government has yet to respond to the Competition Commission which had advised on freeing up competition to allow supermarkets to build new stores to compete with one another. It says it will respond shortly.
But published alongside the new guidance were a summary of responses to consultation and guidance on need, impact and the sequential approach.
