The Croydon Monitoring Report Employment (District Centres) January 2015

The Croydon Local Plan aims to… Maintain the retail vitality and viability of the borough’s District Centres

Maintaining the retail vitality and viability of the borough’s District Centres Indicator Amount of vacant Class A1 (Retail), A2 (Financial), A3 (Restaurants and Cafes), A4 (Pubs and bars not selling food) and A5 (Hot food takeaways) floor space within District Centres Target Vacancy level no greater than 12% by 2021 and no greater than 8% by 2031

Overview of the borough’s District Centres The borough’s District Centres are quite varied from the service sector orientated Coulsdon and Norbury to the more traditional shopping locations like Selsdon and Thornton Heath There is no such thing as a typical District Centre although the one that is closest to average representations of different sectors is Addiscombe

Addiscombe District Centre

Addiscombe District Centre In 2014 there were 98 Class A units in Addiscombe District Centre, unchanged from 2013 It has a range of retailing including many independent shops with around 37% of floor space being for convenience (day to day) retailers Of these units, 64 were classified as shops (Class A1), an increase of 2 compared to 2013

Addiscombe District Centre The vacancy rate in Addiscombe is 7% of Class A units and 7% of Class A floor space However, Addiscombe still continues to met both the target level of vacancy for 2021 and 2031 This is higher than in 2013 when vacancy was 4% of Class A floor space

Addiscombe District Centre Since 2008 the vacancy rate in Addiscombe has generally been decreasing The peak in 2010 was caused by the completion of a new building on the site of the Black Horse pub that was subsequently occupied by a non-retail use

Coulsdon District Centre

Coulsdon District Centre In 2014 there were 94 Class A units making it a large District Centre It has a range of retailing with an above average level of comparison goods retailers and one of the lowest proportions of convenience goods retailers of any District Centre in Croydon Of these units, 57 were classified as shops (Class A1), unchanged from 2013

The vacancy rate in Coulsdon is 13% of Class A units and 9% of Class A floor space Coulsdon only meets the target level of vacancy for 2021 and not 2031 This is lower than in 2013 when vacancy was 10% of Class A floor space Coulsdon District Centre

Since 2008 levels of vacancy have broadly stayed close to 10% of floor space Coulsdon District Centre There was a large increase in the vacancy rate between 2012 and 2013 In 2014, though, vacancy stabilised again around the 10% level

Crystal Palace District Centre

In 2014 there were 72 Class A units in Crystal Palace District Centre It has a range of retailing including many independent shops and restaurants and is similar to Coulsdon in terms of the proportions of comparison and convenience retailers and service uses in the centre Of these units, 42 were classified as shops (Class A1), unchanged from 2013 Crystal Palace District Centre

The vacancy rate in Crystal Palace is 7% of Class A units and 5% of Class A floor space Crystal Palace meets the target level of vacancy for both 2021 and 2031 This is lower than in 2013 when vacancy was 6% of Class A floor space Crystal Palace District Centre

Since 2008 levels of vacancy have been steadily decreasing Crystal Palace District Centre Vacancy in Crystal Palace in 2014 is, at 5%, at its lowest level since 2008

Addington District Centre New

New Addington District Centre A small District Centre which in 2014 had 48 Class A units The District Centre has one of only two markets in Croydon Of these units, 31 were classified as shops (Class A1), unchanged from 2013

New Addington District Centre The vacancy rate in New Addington is 2% of Class A units and 2% of Class A floor space, with both being the lowest rates of all the District Centres in Croydon New Addington District Centre continues to met both the target level of vacancy for 2021 and 2031 Vacancy rates are the slightly lower than in 2013

New Addington District Centre has had low levels of vacancy since 2010 Vacancy rates are now at their lowest level since 2008 New Addington District Centre

Norbury District Centre

Norbury District Centre A large District Centre which in 2014 had 105 Class A units The District Centre is home to a wide variety of businesses reflecting the diversity of the local population and predominantly in the convenience retail and service sectors, Of these units, 64 were classified as shops (Class A1), which is an increase from 2013

Norbury District Centre The vacancy rate in Norbury is 6% of Class A units and 5% of Class A floor space This is higher than in 2013 when vacancy was 3% of Class A floor space Even though vacancy rates have increased in 2014, Norbury District Centre continues to met both the target level of vacancy for 2021 and 2031

Norbury District Centre Since 2008 the vacancy rate in Norbury has generally been decreasing Although the level of vacancy in the centre increased in 2014 (in 2013 it was at its lowest levels since 2008), it is still low compared to other centres in the borough

Purley District Centre

Purley District Centre In 2014 there were 114 Class A units in Purley District Centre and of these units, 55 were classified as shops (Class A1), an increase from 2013 Purley has the lowest proportion (at 22%) of floor space in the convenience and comparison sectors of all the District Centres with the next lowest being Norbury with 43% of floor space being in these sectors It should be noted that Tesco is not included in the statistics as they are calculated using the Primary Shopping Area of the District Centre and Tesco lies outside of this

The vacancy rate in Purley is 14% of Class A units and 18% of Class A floor space, the highest rate for floor space of any District Centre in Croydon This is slightly higher than in 2013 Purley District Centre

Since 2008 the vacancy rate in Purley has generally been increasing although it has stabilised over the last 3 years If the trend continues the centre will not achieve the target level of vacancy (12%) by 2021 Purley District Centre Purley has the highest average levels of vacancy over the period of any District Centre

Purley District Centre The statistics for Purley do not include Tesco because it lies outside the Primary Shopping Area which is used to allow comparisons with the other District Centres If you did include Tesco in Purley then it has a dramatic impact on the statistics for the District Centre Total floor space nearly doubles Vacancy falls to 10% of floor space The proportion of floor space for convenience goods increases from 10% to 48%

Selsdon District Centre

Selsdon District Centre A small District Centre which in 2014 had 62 Class A units Selsdon has the lowest proportion of comparison goods retailing floor space of any District Centre Of these units, 37 were classified as shops (Class A1), unchanged from 2014

The vacancy rate in Selsdon is 5% of Class A units and 3% of Class A floor space The District Centre is still meeting its the target levels of vacancy for 2021 and 2031 This is unchanged from 2013 Selsdon District Centre

Selsdon has consistently low levels of vacancy With the exception of one year (2010) the vacancy rate in Selsdon has been around 3 or 4% Selsdon District Centre

South Norwood District Centre

In 2014 there were 59 Class A units in South Norwood District Centre It has a range of retailing including many independent shops and has an around average level (for the Borough’s District Centres) of convenience and comparison goods floor space Of these units, 38 were classified as shops (Class A1), a increase of 1 from 2013 South Norwood District Centre

The vacancy rate in South Norwood is 8% of Class A units and 13% of Class A floor space South Norwood District Centre now no longer meets the target levels of vacancy for 2021 and 2031 This is higher than in 2013 when vacancy was 12% of Class A floor space South Norwood District Centre

Vacancy rates in South Norwood have fluctuated more compared to the other District Centres with a high of 17% in 2010 and low of 4% in 2012 In 2014 the level of vacancy was above the average for the period since 2008 South Norwood District Centre

Thornton Heath District Centre

In 2014 there were 67 Class A units in Thornton Heath District Centre Of these units, 45 were classified as shops (Class A1), an increase of 3 compared to 2013 Thornton Heath District Centre There is a focus on convenience retailing in Thornton Heath with the highest proportion of floor space in this sector of any District Centre in Croydon (in part due to the presence of Tesco), and the smallest proportion of the Service sector

The vacancy rate in Thornton Heath is 7% of Class A units and 2% of Class A floor space, with the percentage of vacant floor space being the lowest of any District Centre in Croydon This is unchanged from 2013 The District Centre is still meeting the target levels of vacancy for 2021 and 2031 Thornton Heath District Centre

Thornton Heath has consistently very low levels of vacancy It has the lowest average vacancy rate of all the District Centres over the period Thornton Heath District Centre The presence of Tesco in the Centre distorts the statistics – if the Tesco were excluded Thornton Heath would be the 2 nd smallest District Centre in the borough (in terms of floor space) instead of the largest, and it would have a vacancy rate of 4%

What does this mean for planning in Croydon? Croydon needs to maintain the vitality and viability of its District Centres so local businesses can thrive and so residents can easily access local shops and reducing the need to travel In five District Centres the vacancy rate in 2014 is lower or unchanged from 2013, the same statistic as in 2013 but only two of the centres are have seen lower or unchanged vacancy rates in both years Continued monitoring of vacancy across all District Centres is required as new policies in the Croydon Local Plan: Detailed Policies and Proposals evolve to ensure vacancy rates achieve targets Four District Centres have met the target vacancy rate (8%) for 2031 and seven achieve the target for 2021 (12%) The two centres, Purley and South Norwood, that do not currently achieve the target for 2021 both have relatively stable levels of vacancy which suggest that either there is too much floor space to meet the needs of local communities or that a more flexible approach to change of use of existing retail units might be needed In all nine District Centres over the period from vacancy levels in the District Centres are now relatively stable with 2014 levels of vacancy around average for the period

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