2013 Volume 12 Issue 3 Pages 108-113
This paper aimed to review the need and impact assessments which are development control tools for supporting town centre first policy in UK. The town cetnre first policy was introduced in the 1990s to support town centres by restricting large retail developments outside town centres. Local planning authorities should identify the needs of consumers and allocate a range of suitable sites to meet the scale and type of retail development needed in town centres. Local planning authorities should require an impact test to an application for the out-of-centre development with over 2,500 sq m. Where an application is likely to have significant adverse impact on town centre vitality and viability, it should be refused. In Japan, review reports on the Act on Improvement and Vitalization in City Centers from 2012 proposed that the local authorities can set the network of one or more city centres in their areas. The concept of town centre first policy in UK might also be useful framework for how the network of city centres is made by city planning in Japan.
