Today, the Courier printed this letter from me explaining that the plan to build Clarendon Arcade is based on ridiculous projections:
Numerous letters in the Courier have been from local residents saying there is no need for Clarendon Arcade, a proposed shopping precinct three times bigger than the Chandos St car park. So, why does the council think we need this arcade when there are so many empty shops?
The answer is buried in a Retail and Leisure Study by Strategic Perspecti>es LLP that the council commissioned. Published in 2009, it tried to predict whetherLeamingtonwould need more shops by 2016. It assumed that population would rise by 10.3%, demand for comparison (luxury) goods would rise each year, beginning slowly then at 3% per year by 2016. Surprisingly, it also assumed that there would be very little impact from online shopping, changing by only 1.7% over these 7 years. In addition, it assumed that there were no large development sites withinLeamingtonso it ignored potential areas like the Ford Site.
In short, it assumed that there would be more people, all spending more money and so concluded that we need more shops!? It may have been possible to accept these assumptions at the time; but with other developments happening withinLeamington and continued economic problems, the council’s insistence that we need Clarendon Arcade is simply not credible.
