Retail change of use within Town Centres SPG

This section provides information about Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) on retail change of use within town centres.

Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) is produced by the Borough Council to provide extra guidance on and the interpretation of Local Plan policies.

The Retail Change of Use within Town Centres SPG was adopted on 12th December 1996.

Its Purpose:

To deal with proposals for changes of use to either A2 (Financial and Professional Services) or A3 (Hot Food and Drink);
To outline additional issues relating to vitality and viability of town centres which need to be considered alongside the use class frontage based approach as set out in Policies Sh 7 and Sh 8;
To give specific guidance on flexibility in applying the Local Plan frontage policies, and thus help evaluate whether the benefits outweigh the harm to the core retail function of the frontage and centre. This includes the effect on the variety of retail uses, the character and attractiveness of the frontage and centre, the number of visitors and the length of the working day, and other benefits or possible planning gains; and
To provide maps of the shopping frontages of the four town centres.

The policy aim is to preserve the A1 core shopping function whilst recognising that certain A2 and A3 uses can have a positive impact on the vitality and viability of a centre.

Policies Sh 7 and Sh 8 have been updated in the Reigate & Banstead Borough Local Plan 1994 Proposed First Alteration 2000, and should be read in conjunction with this SPG.
These revisions reflect national guidance and have incorporated additional considerations of vitality and viability, in a similar way to the SPG.
Horley Town Centre has moved from Policy Sh 7 to Policy Sh 8, and has a lower class A1 street frontage requirement.
In addition, Horley has a new town centre map with a defined town centre boundary.

Last updated: 15-02-2005

Reigate & Banstead Borough Council
Town Hall
Castlefield Road
Reigate
RH2 0SH
01737 276000
customer.services@reigate-banstead.gov.uk

Make an online planning application via the Planning Portal.

Alternatively, download planning application forms and complete them by hand.

Before you submit your application, read our planning advice.
Find out if you may be liable for pre-application advice charges.

Some pages link to PDF documents. If you have trouble viewing PDFs, get help with pdfs.