Out of town sites and the greenfield-brownfield debate Urbanisation Out of town sites and the greenfield-brownfield debate

Today we are going to talk about … ..the rural-urban fringe, which is area between the edge of the built-up area and the surrounding countryside. The discussions that take place over what should happen between various groups – the conflicts of interest that arise. We will look at retailing briefly – the idea that you need different kinds of places to buy different types goods. Then we will look at the big regional town shopping centres and in particular Trafford Centre, outside Manchester. Then finally we will take a few minutes to look at a whole Urbanisation question to make sure that you are picking up on the clues it offers as to how to answer it – that’s homework

As we know… … there was widespread inner city development immediately post WW2. But this did not create enough housing units for all those who needed them. Others were built on the edge of towns and cities, as we discussed earlier, when talking about the suburbanisation of London. Most of the residential growth is outwards into the suburbs. Population density is lower that in the inner city and the houses are usually larger as the land is cheaper. From the 1970s, out of town shopping centres took advantage of cheaper land prices and more space. After that many companies moved their offices and factories to the edge of the urban area for similar reasons, where they could take advantage of better transport links as well.

From the late 1970s, many cities have lost population to counter-urbanisation – people leaving the cities for a variety of reasons. People want a better quality of life in quieter, cleaner rural surrounding More people are willing and able to travel further to work Relocation of businesses to places with better transport links and cheaper building costs Flexible working and new technology have increased part-time homeworking. Retired people leave the city where they once worked. This has led to the smaller towns and villages in areas with good communication links to expand – a lot of ‘in-filling’ has taken place. In-filling is building in gaps within the village or town boundary (known as the village/town envelope).

All this extra building on city margins and in villages and towns has led to a long debate. For many years, just adding a bit here and there, mostly on easy-to-develop undeveloped or Greenfield sites appeared to be the way to go. During WW2, the UK lost a lot of housing in air-raids and much of the Victorian stock was not really habitable so more houses were needed fast. This meant that the planners were keener to see any houses, rather than look at the best environmental solution, which could take up valuable time to achieve. In 1944, government legislation went through establishing a ‘Green Belt’ around London and other big cities. It meant that building was forbidden within these zones, it was the government’s attempt to stop the suburbs growing and to give the city some ‘lungs’. The only permitted development in these areas was to provide open spaces and sporting facilities for those who lived in the cities.

Once this was established, the planners saw no reason not to build everywhere else. But in the meanwhile many sites, that had been used previously – Brownfield site – were left derelict. The builders were not keen to develop them as the preparation was too expensive.

So what is the argument? It is about sustainability and not concreting over swathes of countryside. It is about making good use of services that are available – reducing the need to drive long distances, making it possible for people to walk to where they need to go or have reliable public transport if they need to go further. Greenfield sites, because they are undeveloped do not have gas, water, electricity or sewage systems put in – all these have to be installed, requiring lots of materials and a lot of disruption to the surrounding land. Brownfield sites have all these nearby. They occur where there is public transport and so cut down on the carbon footprint of those living there.

A lot of interest groups want this development to go ahead Where green fields meet built-up area. The open land – greenfield sites – in great demand for shopping centres, housing, recreation, reservoirs, sewage works. Why move out? Push factors: Houses too close together, poor air quality, not enough space for factories, offices Pull factors Land is cheaper so larger housing plots, more space for factories, parking etc Near to main roads, rings roads etc Easier to reach by car – fewer traffic jams

Not everyone happy with loss of countryside around the cities. Environmentalists want brown field sites used for reasons of sustainability Farmer fear damage from visitors. They dislike their farms being split by new roads that carry more traffic. They resent the loss land to redevelopment. Village people resent changes: more people live there, as more houses are built. This often leads to house price increases, which prevents the young people from the village buying a house there. The ethos of the village changes.

So you end up with a conflict of interest Many want suburbanisation and/or counterurbanisation to take place While there are those who believe ‘urban sprawl’ and such other developments should be stopped. What is urban sprawl? The public like out of town shops I don’t want any more townies. They trample my crops Business cut cost by being next to the motorway Urban sprawl is the spreading of a town over the RUF My farm is split in 2 by the new motorway

Retailing In MEDCs great increase in out-of-town superstores and shopping centres The number of superstores in the UK rose from 733 to 1,147 between 1990 and 19981. 29 Asda supercentres! Why? More people own cars – free car parking – easy access – bright modern surroundings – more facilities e.g. bowling , multiscreen cinema, Why not city centre? Traffic congestion, expensive parking, crowded narrow pavements.

Retailing Here is the traditional shopping hierarchy – city centre, small town centre, shopping parade, corner shop

At the bottom are everyday goods, milk news papers – convenience goods (things you buy everyday at the easiest rather than the cheapest place) These are low-order goods (because they have low threshold and a low range – see below) The threshold is the number of people you need to ensure a viable business. The range is how far these people will come to visit your shop The sphere of influence is the area from which the people will come to use the service Retailing Small corner shops have a low threshold, maybe in terms of 100s of households and people will come only a couple of streets to their nearest corner-shop, so the range is much smaller than a town centre and their sphere of influence is smaller.

At the top is city centre - a choice of clothes or furniture or electrical goods– comparison goods . Bought less often so people will travel These stores here have a high threshold (the number of people who live close enough to travel there) – they need that as otherwise they would not sell enough of these less frequently bought items to stay open. Another way to look at this, is that people come from a large area or the stores have a large sphere of influence and they come from quite a long distance so the range is greater.

What is the difference? Imagine you are outside a shop and you – politely – stop and ask the shoppers how far have they come and how often do they come? You would then have an idea of the range – you could say for example 85% come from less than so many kms However, if you went house to house (which you wouldn’t of course) and you asked them where they went to buy item A or B. Then you could map who went where to buy certain kinds of goods – so then you could map the sphere of influence. The threshold is different again – to find that out, you would need to find how many people there are in the area and then work out what % of those people would visit a particular store and how often. The store would know how many sales it needed to break even – from your figures you could work out if they would be likely to get enough visitors to pay all the bills and make a profit too!

Out of town shopping As said this the traditional model of a shopping hierarchy Out of town shopping does not quite fit! Sometimes it is a few larger stores in which case it would fit in between the city and the small town centres But some are HUGE – bigger often than the city centre itself Individual shops Small parades Centre in small town City centre

The major out of town shopping centres in the UK Prior to 1980, all new shopping centres were within the city centres, eg the Arndale in Manchester. After 1980, more out of town developments were built The map has names and shop numbers on it http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?gbv=2&hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=114294639013811556926.000475bae77cc455b6e36&ll=53.278353,0&spn=6.703442,19.621582&z=6

Where might you find them? Small out of town supermarkets and super stores and small shopping centres are found outside many towns but the really big ones are much more spaced out, as you saw from the map. Why is this? [hint: type of goods (order, comparison, convenience), range, threshold, sphere of influence] Where might you find them? Why do you think there are 2 close together in SE England? Mostly high order, comparison goods – greater range and sphere of influence, high threshold into 100’s of thousands Good transport links near large city Very high population nearby on different sides of the river so attract different parts of London to them

Their success has exceeded expectations! The shoppers love them and many are hoping to expand. Bu not everyone is in favour! The local councils and the shopkeepers in the CBD are not in favour! Both are loosing money as some shops close as they no longer have the footfall (the number of people coming through the door) that they used to have. The high street deteriorates and even fewer companies want to invest. Income from business tax fall and the council becomes concerned. This is a spiral of decline.

More opponents The planners and the environmentalists are against large greenfield sites being swallowed up, and the encouragement to increase car use that goes with the development. As a result, the owners and developers have dropped the ‘out-of-town’ label. They say that in fact they are really new towns. This view is supported by the 5000 new homes planned to be built around the Bluewater site that was built in 1999.

Manchester Trafford Centre Location: NE edge of Manchester between junctions 9 and 10 – not what it says in the book!! Opened in September 1998 Formerly a waste land that was part of the Trafford redevelopment area

Manchester Trafford Centre Location: NE edge of Manchester between junctions 9 and 10 – not what it says in the book!! Opened in September 1998 It cost £880 million Formerly a waste land that was part of the Trafford redevelopment area Contains shops restaurants and leisure facilities – see above for a restaurant in the ‘Orient’ – which has 36 restaurants and food outlets

You can see one of its 3 distinctive domes It covers about the same area as 30 football pitches It has 20 screen cinema An indoor market Parking for 10,000 cars Good for disabled users with a Shop-mobility scheme There is a play area, a crèche and entertainment for children

Restaurants and takeaways Street Market Restaurants and takeaways

Getting there It attracts people from all over North West England and even further afield Most come by car There are very reliable and frequent bus + metrolink to the city centre – but you have to change. It goes right to the main line rail service at Manchester Piccadilly. But NEWS FLASH! from Sunday 25th October an express bus service, taking just 25 minutes, will run form the centre to Trafford (and back) every half hour. There is metrolink tram service on the drawing board, but then it has been there for 10 years and they have not yet started it.

Who goes there? 27 million visitors a year Over 3,500 coaches visit annually bringing more than 100,000 people to the Centre. 95% come from within and 80km/50 mile radius Which geographical phrase would you use to describe that number – the …… of the Trafford Centre is 50 miles 7000 employees – mainly shop workers

Who goes there? The Centre has a very loyal customer base with 24% of visitors visiting the Centre once a week or more often and 38% of visitors visiting 1-2 times a month. Average spend £100

The visitors are divided up into ABC1 and C2DE

(a) Study Figure 6 which shows part of an MEDC town. (i) Give the evidence that suggests this shows the rural-urban fringe. (3) (ii) What term is used to describe the land to the west of the road in Figure 6? (1) (iii) Explain why developers might be interested in using this land. (4)

(iv) Suggest two types of development which might take place on this land. (2) (v) For one of the developments named in (iv), explain how this might bring them into conflict with local residents and environmentalists. (4) (b) Explain the challenges facing urban managers in managing change in the rural-urban fringe. (6)