Seaton Regeneration Area Plan :: The Outline Planning Proposal

What are the proposals and how will Seaton benefit?

Economic Benefits

The economic benefits to Seaton from the scheme are as follows:-

a) Job creation

A minimum of 340 new jobs could be created from the entire regeneration area, primarily from the new retail development, which significantly exceeds those being lost through the closure of the holiday village.

b) Investment in Seaton

New retail development through large well-known occupiers will provide Seaton with more of a retail attraction than currently exists. Presently, over 60% of residents shop outside Seaton for their main food retailing and 76% travel outside the town for non-food retailing. The new retail development will aim to stop expenditure leaving Seaton and will encourage people to not only shop in new stores on the site, but use existing town centre shops too. Over £18.67 million of local consumer spending is estimated to be ‘leaking’ from Seaton each year. New retail stores on the site will help reverse this economic drain.

c) Enhanced shopping environment

A quality shopping environment will be created on the site with excellent pedestrian access to The Underfleet and existing stores in the town centre to encourage linked trips. Additional public car parking will be created, and a new car park will be created for the retail stores. This parking will supplement short term public parking by providing free parking for up to three hours, further facilitating trips to the town and increasing public spend.

d) New consumers

New residents in Seaton following completion of the development will also generate income to spend in the local economy. An extra £3.4 million is expected to be available to be spent in the local economy on goods and services that will support existing local businesses. It is estimated that the population of Seaton will rise from its current level of around 7,000 to 7,800 as a result of the development.

e) Tourism Expenditure

Increased numbers of visitors with greater spending power will be attracted by the new tourism facilities to inject further expenditure into the local economy.