News

Cultural quarter and better shopping called for by the public

A city centre survey has revealed that shoppers and visitors to Lancaster want a more extensive range of shops to prevent them from shopping in competing towns and cities, and that the Canal Corridor North development should include a cultural quarter and better shopping facilities as well as open space.

As part of the public consultation process for its proposed development of Canal Corridor North, Centros surveyed 608 members of the public in the city centre to find out their opinions on the city and its needs. When asked about the types of uses that should be included in the development, the following was suggested.

• Leisure/cultural quarter: 54.1%*
  
• Shopping: 46.1%
  
• Open space: 25.5%
  
• Housing: 19.2%
  
• Parking: 18.9%
  
• Small workshops/industrial units: 8.2%
  
• Offices: 4.9%
  

71.7% of the people interviewed also said that Lancaster needs a more extensive range of shopping facilities, and 59.2% said that they regularly shopped elsewhere — particularly in Preston and Manchester — for their non-food shopping needs. Furthermore, when asked what, if anything, was missing from Lancaster City Centre, 26.6% of the public responded with “a department store”, and other popular suggestions included “more shopping choice” and “more variety”.

David Lewis, Associate Director of Centros, commented: “We are delighted to gain this feedback from the public as it confirms that the people of Lancaster are in agreement with both our thinking and the Council’s brief to produce a mixed-used development for the site. This survey is just one part of our initial round of consultation and we are taking on board all the results and feedback gained and using it to help prepare an initial masterplan concept that we will be able to reveal in the very near future.

“Clearly, enhancing and linking the existing cultural facilities to form a cultural quarter is an important ambition. Also, with the vast majority of the public stating that Lancaster needs greater shopping choice and so many currently feeling the need to fulfil their shopping needs with regular trips to places such as Preston and Manchester, there is an obvious environmental benefit if we can help to keep them in Lancaster by incorporating additional shopping facilities in the scheme. In fact we think that we can produce a scheme that will fulfil all the public’s main desires — including elements of public open space, housing as well as parking facilities — and we are sure that the results, once revealed, will be very pleasing to the public.”

Centros has also carried out a similar postal survey of residents living in the vicinity of the development site. This survey is delivering similar feedback but the full results will not be available for another week or more as responses are still being received.

When asked about the types of uses that should be included in the development, people suggested the following:

• Leisure/cultural quarter: 54.1%
  
• Shopping: 46.1%
  
• Open space: 25.5%
  
• Housing: 19.2%
  
• Parking: 18.9%
  
• Small workshops/industrial units: 8.2%
  
• Offices: 4.9%

NB All percentages are of the total sample of 608. Some questions were multiple-choice, so percentages do not necessarily add up to 100.

69% of the 608 people interviewed lived in the LA1 postcode area and a further 16.4% lived in postcode areas LA2, LA3 and LA4. The sample covered all age groups, though a higher than representative proportion of 16-24 year olds were included (possibly because higher numbers of young people were visiting the city centre, or there was a reluctance of those in the older age groups to be interviewed). 53.1% of interviewees were male and 46.9% female.

7th February 2006