PROPERTY experts say the rapid growth of online shopping means the days of big retail developments are over.
Scotland has reached “peak retail floor space” and the slowdown in retail projects will impact on housebuilders, whose own developments are often made viable by big megastores opening nearby.
Experts say this lack of growth in retail will force local authorities to rethink their planning policies.
The flattening of retail development marks the end of a 40-year trend of consistent growth which has underpinned development models used by local authority planners.
• Read the Scottish Property Review in full
Mark Robertson, a partner with property agency Ryden, told a property meeting last week that there would be redevelopment of existing retail floor space once the economy has recovered. But the shift to internet shopping and more efficient use of space in major existing centres means an end to building big new shopping malls.
He said redevelopment of shopping centres such as the St James Centre in Edinburgh was not likely to begin until 2018 “at the earliest”.
Robertson said: “Because we are in the tail-end of a recession, the superstores will be building much less, and there are no shopping centres opening in Scotland this year and none planned until the end of the decade.
“Consumer expenditure has grown at more than 3 per cent every year for the last 40 years. There have been new shopping malls, retail warehouse parks and superstores as long as we all can remember.
“The pause in the market we are now seeing is because consumers are spending less, and any forecasts of growth are lower than they have been because a lot of that expenditure is migrating to the internet.
“There will be a requirement for format change – replacement retail floor space will be more leisure-orientated, but are we going to build more retail floor space?”
Robertson predicted a “second housing crash” as a result of a decline in new superstores, which housebuilders have relied on to provide upfront costs charged by councils to develop infrastructure.
Food retailers such as Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco would continue to develop smaller-format “local” stores, but he expects a decline in large supermarkets which previously competed for and paid “multimillion-pound” upfront costs on behalf of developers.
“The second wave – the first was caused by the housing market crash – is going to be more subtle but will be caused by superstores withdrawing from expansion,” said Robertson.
“In the previous boom to 2007, residential development was throwing off so much profit that it could pay for as much planning gain as the developer was willing to yield, which paid for roads, railway station upgrades, schools, health centres.
“Now, with the retailers saying they will expand much less quickly, they may pay substantially less for a site because there will be less competition.
“If that is going to fade as well, there will be a number of sites that will suddenly not be viable.”
The withdrawal of food retailers from building new large-format superstores would have a knock-on effect on a number of projects, including a new stadium being planned by Scottish Rugby Union and Edinburgh City Council for the Meadowbank Stadium site.
Ben Wilson, principal planner for the council, admitted that planners would have to “rethink our approach to planning policy”.
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Print this pageBEAUMONT: Wholesale plant nursery cited for violation - Riverside Press Enterprise
The husband of a community activist who speaks out on environmental issues and is frequently at odds with the city has been issued a notice of violation for discharging pollutants from their wholesale plant nursery in Beaumont.
The notice of violation is addressed to Edward Bingham, Judy Bingham’s husband, and was issued by the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board on May 11. Edward Bingham owns Beaumont Garden Center, Inc., which has a retail shop on Beaumont Avenue and wholesale operations on Veil Avenue. It’s a family business.
Judy Bingham said she believes the city is trying to get back at her for her activism and is trying to make her out to be the bad guy in town. She said she also thinks city officials are trying to deflect attention away from their problems.
The letter says the board and the County of Riverside inspected Bingham’s Wholesale Nursery on Jan. 25, as the result of a complaint filed with both agencies. It continues: “During the inspection, a non-storm water discharge into a tributary at Cooper’s Creek was observed. You said that the discharge was the result of a seasonal preparation for bare root plants and the discharge was not representative of year-round activity.”
The letter says a sampling of the discharge “revealed there were concentrations of ammonia that exceeded allowable limits,” which “constituted a discharge of a pollutant from your facility.”
A follow-up meeting was held in March with Judy and Jason Bingham, their son, who is also involved in the business, and the agency. According to Steve Mayville, the water board’s enforcement chief, the Binghams indicated they were going to do something about the issue and promised some information. He said they have not followed through and that’s why the board sent a notice of violation.
The business has until June 11 to provide an action plan or face fines.
When asked by phone if she planned to fix the problem, Judy Bingham replied, “What do you think?” Bingham said she guessed she could move and give her business to another town, or comply.
Judy Bingham is a vocal critic of Beaumont City Hall and for years, has alleged corruption.
“This is what you get for speaking out in a corrupt city,” she said of the notice of violation.
Mayville said he did not know who filed the complaint. He said generally, the board does not tell people under investigation who filed the complaint against them and that if the board finds violations, it’s immaterial.
Mayor Roger Berg said he emailed the water board and asked them to check out the nursery for possible violations. He said he has no ax to grind with Judy Bingham.
“I have a responsibility as an elected official to do the right thing,” he said.
He noted that Judy Bingham has accused the city of dumping nitrates into Cooper’s Creek.
“She got caught, and she’s having to fix the problem,” Berg said.
At the Tuesday, May 15, Beaumont City Council meeting, as a water issue was discussed, Berg said from the dais that he understands the regional water board is studying the issue of nitrates and has found it is not coming from the city’s wastewater treatment plant but from a local business. He did not name the business.
Berg said at the time, it is “kind of sad that a business owner would do that and not care about this community.”
Judy Bingham said the next day that the city is doing “all this to deflect and spin their own problems.”
Follow Erin Waldner on Twitter: @PE_ErinWaldner
Chance to learn more about Town Team plan for Buxton - buxtonadvertiser.co.uk
THE group behind Buxton’s bid for a share of Portas funding are holding a Town Team Workshop later this month.
The Buxton Portas Group are hoping to become one of 12 “Portas Pilots” – towns which will test out recommendations made by shopping tsar Mary Portas in a government- commissioned report aimed at reviving the country’s high streets and town centres.
A Town Team is a key element of the effort to revive Buxton and this aspect of the project will go ahead whether or not the bid is successful.
The workshop will explain more about the team and give people the chance to have their say.
Voluntary groups and private businesses have been invited but the event is open to anyone who can make a contribution.
The workshop is on May 28 from 7pm to 9.30pm. The venue is not yet confirmed but space is limited so anyone wanting to attend should email their name, organisation (if any) and a contact phone number to pilotgroup@buxtontownteam.org.uk.
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Get taste of Durango downtown on Sunday - Durango Herald
Online PLR Authority The Wholesale PLR Store Expands Again. - Emailwire
Master resell rights differs from private label rights in that people are not allowed to edit the contents without the authors permission. Although this limits the user somewhat, the quality is often much higher than PLR content. In addition, MRR products are usually slightly less expensive than it PLR counterpart.
The store currently features around one hundred MRR products and continues to update daily. They are categorized by popular niches including health and fitness, internet marketing, social media, relationships, pets, cooking and much more. The prices range from one to five dollars and includes instant downloads upon purchase. Store owner Joel Dreher states, The addition of MRR content was the result of requests from our many customers. And when our customers want something, we do our best to get it for them!
The inclusion of PLR and MRR merchandise ensures that customers will find what they are seeking regardless of topic or niche due to the expanded list of products. The store has doubled in size in the last two months and continues to grow at a rapid pace. Whether people are perusing the internet for books to read for pleasure or looking to profit from instant authorship, The Wholesale PLR Store is the place for them.
About The Wholesale PLR Store:
The Wholesale PLR Store is an online store that features different types of private label rights content. It is owned and operated by Joel Dreher, an internet marketer from Ocala Florida. The store has been featured on the popular internet marketing site, The Warrior Forum, and according to media giant Alexa, is one of the 100,000 most popular websites in the world despite its youth. It can be found at http://thewholesaleplrstore.com.
Wheat, bajra down on increased supply - MSN India
New Delhi, May 19 (PTI) Weak conditions prevailed in the wholesale grains market today with wheat and other grain prices falling by up to Rs 30 per quintal on increased arrivals from producing belts against reduced offtake.
Traders said increased arrivals from producing belts against reduced offtake by stockists mainly kept pressure on wheat and other bold grain prices.
In the national capital, wheat dara (for mills) declined by Rs 5 to Rs 1,230-1,240 per quintal. Att chakki delivery followed suit and shed Rs 15 to Rs 1,235-1,240 per 90 kg and atta flour mills lost Rs 20 at Rs 650-670 per 50 kg.
Bajra and maize also moved down by Rs 10 and Rs 30 to Rs 1,050-1,055 and Rs 1,120-1,130 per quintal, respectively.
The following are today''s quotations per quintal:
Wheat MP (deshi) 1,605-1,825, Wheat dara (for mills) 1,230-1,240, Chakki atta (delivery) 1,235-1,240, Atta Rajdhani (10 kg) 190, Shakti bhog (10 kg) 190, Roller flour mill 650-670 (50 kg), Maida 670-700 (50 kg) and Sooji 770-800 (50kg).
Basmati rice (Lal Quila) 9,500, Shri Lal Mahal 9,500, Super Basmati Rice, 9,000, Basmati common new 6,000-6,200, Rice Pusa-(1121) new 5,400-6,000, Permal raw 2,100-2150, Permal wand 2,280-2,330, Sela 2,580-2,680 and Rice IR-8 1,600-1,650, Bajra 1,050-1,055, Jowar yellow 1,200-1,250, white 2,000-2,150, Maize 1,120-1,130, Barley 1,410-1,440, Rajasthan 1,080-1,090.
Banks stump up better deals - New Zealand Herald
Homeowners are flocking to their banks to demand better interest rates on mortgages.
It comes after Bernard Hickey's column last week, which pointed out that a drop in wholesale rates had given banks more leeway to drop interest rates. Slower growth in the property market made them keen to compete for each other's business. His advice that borrowers ask their banks for a better deal has been followed.
BNZ had seen a 20 per cent increase in inquiries. ASB also reported a lift.
Hickey said traffic surged to record levels on Interest.co.nz, where people looked at mortgage rate comparisons, calculators and articles about rates. "Over 50,000 readers came to our site this week, almost double a regular week."
On Twitter, readers said they had negotiated loans to as low as 4.9 per cent. Others had their rates reduced by half a percentage point or more to rates such as 5.15 per cent, fixed for two years.
A typical advertised rate is 5.79 per cent, although Westpac, Kiwibank and ASB this week cut their two-year rates to 5.55 per cent. On Friday that was the cheapest two-year rate offered, although BNZ had a 5.1 per cent 18-month rate and KiwiBank was advertising a 4.99 per cent one-year rate for people with 30per cent equity.
Colin Jackson said Hickey's column prompted him to ask for a discount. "I just emailed the person I usually deal with, referred to Hickey's article and said I'd like a 0.5 per cent reduction. I still can't believe I did this."
Jackson had two loans, one floating at 5.75 per cent and the other fixed at 5.8. "They offered to cut my floating to 5.25 per cent, and to break my fixed and put that on floating at 5.25 per cent as well. They actually gave me more than I asked for."
Jackson will save thousands of dollars a year. "It was just a matter of asking nicely."
But Marie Patel found it harder to get a deal from TSB. "When I first asked I was turned down."
One of her friends contacted his bank and had half a percentage point knocked off his mortgage. Patel went back to her bank and asked again, and was offered a 0.25 discount. Threatening to change banks, she was offered a 0.5 per cent drop. She estimated it would save her $1000 a year.
Broker John Bolton, of Squirrel, said most banks would discount about half a percentage point off their advertised rates. "The best four-year rate I've got for a client is 5.7 per cent." He had negotiated two-year rates of 5.29 per cent and three-year rates of 5.55 per cent, compared with advertised rates of 5.55 per cent and 5.75 per cent.
The bigger the loan the more clout a borrower had, he said. An investor with several loans would be able to get help with costs such as break fees and legal fees. "Banks are prepared to stump up as much as $4500 to cover refinancing costs."
ASB spokesman Shaun Drylie said the bank had always been willing to help customers find the best banking package.
Realestate.co.nz chief executive Alistair Helm said the low interest rates would likely create a shortage of property listings this winter because they were keeping sales figures high.
During colder months the number of listings tended to drop off more than sales. House sales exceeded listings between June and August last year. "With banks becoming even more competitive, that's only going to exacerbate the difference between listings and sales."
By Susan Edmunds | Email Susan
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