Kent County Council (Public Sector)

Problem

Kent Council wanted to ensure that new investment in retail was being targeted at those communities with the greatest un-met demand. It was also keen to ensure that there wasn’t a resultant over provision of retail and that any new developments would improve the overall flow of shoppers within the county.

In essence, the council needed to introduce a system to enable it to test new planning applications against pre-determined criteria so it could ensure retail sustainability across the county.

Solution

Kent Council was the first public sector organisation to license CACI’s Impact System, a planning and analysis tool that is widely used by private property developers. The Impact System predicts how shoppers flow to different centers within an area and takes account of changes in housing provision to determine un-met retail demand, widely referred to as “headroom”.

The impact system enables Kent Council to run “what if” scenarios so it can understand whether new developments will fit within the headroom of the proposed location and therefore meet the future needs of residents. If a particular development exceeds the headroom of its location, the model can balance this by decreasing the required headroom in neighboring regions.

Benefits

Kent Council is now able to assess the true impact of retail developments in relation to the needs of distinct communities and the county as a whole. The Council is also able to engage with private development companies at a much earlier stage in the planning process, and in doing so, is able to influence development plans and ensure that new investment in the county is directed to the most appropriate areas.

Through the strategic view of the county’s retail needs that CACI’s Spatial Modeller provides, the Council is able to make sustainable decisions in relation to not just retail, but also have the capabilities to explore changes in housing and leisure.

Rachel Tinsley at Kent, has used the model to develop the “headroom” analysis says:

“The Spatial Modeller within InSite provides a powerful tool for assessing the potential impact of proposed developments in the County. The system enables us to integrate our own population projections with a calibrated retail model and allows us to challenge the claims of applicants.”

	Property
	Retail Footprint
	Spatial Modeller