Recommendation 103

The balance between in- and out-of-town retail and leisure spaces has shifted over the last half-century. During the 1980s and early 1990s there was a rise in approval of new out-of-town or edge-of-town shopping centres, with national planning guidance encouraging their development. 199 Subsequently, the introduction in 1996 of a strengthened Planning Policy Guidance 6, introduced a strong town-centre-first planning policy, reversed this trend and led to far greater investment in high streets that “effectively put a stop to out-of-town development”. 200