Policy information sourced from the Islington Local Plan
R2 Primary Shopping Areas
- In order to meet retail needs and support a retail function within Primary Shopping Areas (PSA), the Council is seeking a percentage of retail use at a minimum of 60% in Angel and Nag’s Head Major Town Centres; 55% in Finsbury Park District Town Centre; and 50% in Archway District Town Centre.
- New development at ground floor in the PSA should contribute to the retail function as set out in Part A and will be appropriately conditioned to maintain this.
- Proposals for Class E uses which do not contribute to the retail function at the ground floor within the PSA must:
- prevent/mitigate any individual or cumulative impact on the objective to maintain the vitality, viability, character and vibrancy of the retail function of the Primary Shopping Area;
- provide an active main town centre use frontage at ground floor level, particularly where fronting main transport/pedestrian route(s); and
- ensure there is no harmful break in the continuity of the active frontage.
- Where ground floor retail floorspace is conditioned for that use, and a proposal is seeking a change of use to another Class E use or full Class E flexibility, the proposal must demonstrate continuous marketing evidence for a period of 6 months, to demonstrate that there is no reasonable prospect of the unit being used for continued retail use.
- Proposals for change of use on the ground floor from Class E to other main town centre uses will be required to demonstrate that the premises have been vacant for at least 12 months. Continuous marketing evidence to cover this period must be provided to demonstrate that there is no reasonable prospect of the unit being used in its current use as well as other main town centre E uses as set out in Appendix 1, to demonstrate that no main town centre E use is viable.
- Proposals for change of Class E use on the ground floor of premises in the PSA to residential, outside of the Specialist Shopping Area, will be required to demonstrate that the premises have been vacant for a continuous period of at least two years. Continuous marketing evidence to cover this period must be provided, to demonstrate that there is no reasonable prospect of the unit being used for retail, Class E or other appropriate main Town Centre uses.
For more information please see the Islington Local Plan