Big retail complexes may appeal to developers and planners’ fantasies about what towns could be. But they need to focus on actual demand, writes John Andrews in today’s Notebook

A message for developers

My commute to and from work starts and ends at Twickenham station, which experienced a redevelopment that was completed in 2020. As is common, retail units were added on the ground floor leading into the station concourse. The largest and most prominent unit remains empty. It’s a depressing sight. This prompted me to wonder why – at a time when demand for shop space in the traditional high street is diminishing – developers continue to build developments incorporating retail units for which there is no apparent demand.

I canvassed some views on Linkedin. The responses I received varied from the obvious – Brexit, high rents, business rates, competition from online retailers – to the less so, such as the poor design of the retail units limiting their future use, or canny freeholders incorporating commercial premises under leasehold properties, creating difficulty for lessees wanting to exercise their rights to buy the freehold or manage it themselves.

Very often, in my........

© City A.M.