From historical alignment to a twin-track approach: ‘urban centre’ and ‘retail centre’ planning in a struggling market town

Successful places require institutional alignments with land/property uses to which both private and public sectors contribute and respond. One such alignment resulted in the co-location of retail and urban centres in the UK. However, this institutional alignment has been increasingly challenged. This paper explores the micro experiences of institutional alignment and subsequent misalignment within a longitudinal case study of the deprived but historic market town of Bishop Auckland in North-East England. Whereas retail and urban centre co-location had been maintained for decades, a new alignment emerged in the 2010s around car-oriented out-of-centre retail/leisure growth. This public sector-supported track maintained and strengthened the retail/leisure centre status of the struggling town and its associated employment. The urban centre subsequently suffered, with its remodelling becoming the second policy track. A new visitor destination alignment, developed between a benevolent entrepreneurial organization and the local authority, led to partial regeneration of the struggling centre. While supportive local authority activities were essential, the findings highlight the importance of social or commercial productive entrepreneurship to developing innovative new urban centre uses. Situating this case study within a UK context, this paper conceptualizes the implications of planning constraint, its removal, and the resultant challenges of place remodelling.