North West has most empty shops

The North West is the worst performing region in terms of shop vacancy rate according to the latest report from The Local Data Company (LDC).

According to the report, titled 'Too Many Shops', 20.1% of shops in the North West were vacant in the first six months of 2012, compared with an average of 14.6%.

The data, derived from 506 town centres and 145,000 shops that were visited between January to June 2012, highlighted significant regional differences and a growing North-South divide.

London and the South has an average vacancy of 12.7% while Wales, the Midlands and North see an average of 18.5% vacancy and 16.7% of shops are empty in Scotland.

All regions have seen vacancy increase over the last twelve months save for London where it has fallen from 10.7% to 10.1%.

Overall, the worst performing large centre is Nottingham, with a vacancy rate above 30% but it is run a close second by Walsall at 29.6% and Stockport at 28.4%.

LDC said Britain's increasing shop vacancy rate is being driven by too many shops, a fall in consumer expenditure back to 2002 levels and online sales which are being accelerated by mobile technology and expected to reach 13.2% by the end of the year.

Almost 15,000 shops closed in town centres between 2000-2009 but a further 10,000 closed in 2010 and 2011.

The report concluded that the number of empty shops was unlikely to decrease in the near future because of "weak growth, rising costs, reduced returns for investors and a lack of growth in consumer spend" which could result in alternative uses for the space.

Matthew Hopkinson, director at the Local Data Company commented: "This report clearly shows the key economic and structural issues which are impacting town centres up and down the country. These issues still have some way to go before we see wide stability and positive change. Most importantly it shows that at the town level a widening gap in health exists between town centres depending on their location, offer and consumer profile.

"Fundamental national economic issues are being played out at a local level. An understanding of the impact of these changes, past and present, is the only way that concrete action can be taken to adapt to and plan for success. At worse it is about managing decline to enable alternative uses for a centre to take over and at best it is maintaining positive trends in the face of increasingly fierce competition and costs.

"Every town has the opportunity to attract consumers and spend. However, aspirations must be tempered with reality and reflect the needs and spend of each town's consumer."

Liz Peace, Chief Executive of the British Property Federation, added "Our towns face complex structural problems which are not going to be solved by tinkering around the edges. In many places, we need to have a complete re-think about how vacant property could be redeveloped into new uses. That will require flexibility on the part of local planning authorities, but equally an acceptance from the property industry and its investors and lenders that in many cases previous values simply cannot be maintained and new lower value uses are the only option.

"This will be challenging – and there will inevitably be some further business casualties – but the alternative is a period of steady, inexorable and irreversible decline with unacceptable social consequences."