Advising Medway Council - Assignment Example

Scenario A Advising Medway Council In the UK retail parks consist of a number of warehouses and shops located in one location along with parking facilities. They are located in large towns and cities and primarily target households owning a vehicle. It has been observed that retail parks have proven to be popular among shoppers in other cities and they tend to spend several hours there as there is a wide selection of products and it saves time (Luger, 1991). The availability of cheaper land on the outskirts of Medway would prove to be ideal in setting up a retail park, along with facilities for leisure activities such as children's playground, food court, bowling alley and so on. Having a retail park in the Medway area would mean that drive time to major shopping centers in the city could be avoided. Major business brands would be attracted to a retail park thus giving consumers a much wider range to choose from. A retail park can also use brown field sites, if they are small. The use of a brown field sites would mean that acquiring of land, residences and other structures for building of the retail park would not have to be done. And also new land would not have to be acquired for the building of roads and railways as the ones already could be renovated and used. Since Medway does have problems associated with low wages, a retail park would create innumerable job opportunities for the people of Medway. Also, retail parks would provide opportunity for unskilled and low-skilled people to earn, thus addressing Medway's problem of lack of skills in certain areas. Having a retail park will lead to developments in social and economical infrastructure. This in turn will increase Medway Town Council's revenue. Thus the area surrounding the retail park will develop, and more people will come and settle in the area. Figure 1: Demand for and supply of skilled labor in the Medway area after the Retail Park Wage D2 S2 D1 W2 W 0 Q Q2 Q1 Quantity First the demand for labor increases as shown by then rightward shift of the curve DI. Thus the wage rate increases from W to W1. Next the supply of labor increases in response to higher wages and a new supply curve marked S2 shifts on to the right. Ultimately the equilibrium wage rate is established at W2. However the serenity of the sub-urban country side of Medway could be lost due to the setting up of a retail park. Thus there is likely to be opposition from the environment conscious local communities. Preserving the country side should be of high priority. Due to the increase of traffic and the development of commercial infrastructure such as airports and offices there would be sound and air pollution. The Medway council would have to think of a way of disposing waste products from the retail park (Needham, 2006). These waste products could flow to the rivers and canals in the vicinity thus giving rise to water pollution. Certain species of birds and animals endemic to this area could be driven away as a result of acquiring land to set up the retail park. This could lead to protests from environmentalists. One of the major economic effects of the proposed retail park would be on the local shopping centers in Medway. The first major issue of an out-of-town retail development is the loss of business by the local shopkeepers. Acquiring land and the demolition of existing buildings would mean that the Medway council would have to pay compensation to the property owners and relocate them. The Medway council would have to bear this cost. Money will have to come from banks at high interest rates for this purpose. In order to have ample parking space, a large area of land would has to be rented. This will cost a considerable amount. Scenario A-2 Medway, which is located 30 miles East of London and 40 miles North West of Dover, is one of the largest conurbations in the South east region of London. So, a considerable population from Medway travels to London for work. As a result of the retail parks the commercial infrastructure of the area would develop. This would mean domestic airports, railway stations, bus terminals, offices would come up in the area (O'Farrell, & Markham, 2008). As a result more people would come and settle down in the Medway town council area. This has resulted in the higher demand for land and property. As a result the value of land and property has increased. The decision about the location of the house is made by several considerations. In the residential/ travel trade off theory, household will tend to substitute the cost of travel with the cost of housing (Ramsey, 2003). In this particular case, where trade bonuses have increased the demand of property in London, Medway's housing market will be directly affected. The demand for houses in Medway will go down. Recent advances in transport such as improved train services have tempted more people to come and reside in Medway area since getting to offices in the commercial capital of London is easy. So, people who buy property in Medway now have less cost in terms of time and unchanged cost in terms of money. Hence, compared to a previous situation where they spend more time getting from Medway to London, they are better off. The house prices in London will still be higher than in Medway. Even with more money in their hand, consumers in a tradeoff between residential and travel, will still find staying in Medway a more suitable option. Here we have to consider that, a trade bonus does not increase incomes to that level. So, in the context of the residential/travel tradeoff theory, the effect on Medway's housing market will be positive. With more disposable real income in their hand (taken that Medway prices have not increased as a result of the trade bonuses or the high speed train), people will look for more houses in Medway. Greater demand for residences means more lands would have to be utilized for building purposes. As a result REITs could get involved in helping renovate these buildings and building a housing complex. Brownfield sites already have the commodities of living such as water and gas pipes. The existing road networks and railways could be renovated, rather than having to acquire land and build new roads and railways. Acquiring land would mean that compensation would have to be paid to the residents and relocated elsewhere. This would cost a considerable sum of money that would have to be borrowed from banks. Every building reused means one less new building having to be build. That means rural areas of Medway can be more effectively preserved, providing fresh air, open space, water and quality of life for everyone, and their natural eco-systems would be preserved. In spite of these advantages of using brown field sites, a problem that builders have mentioned is that brown field sites are not available in an amount that will make housing affordable for the growing demand (Gabriel, 2006). Brownfields cover 4.7 percent of Medway's land and is located mainly along the side of the Medway River. Brownfield sites such as Rochester Riverside shows high level of hazardous substances. Medway Waterfront development is responsible for regeneration and development of the brown field sites to make them worthy for building houses. These sites require ground remediation, flood protection and an infrastructure for integrating it into mainstream house building. Conclusions The congestion at shopping centers in urban areas can be reduced by setting up a retail park in the sub urban area of Medway. Thus it would attract more shoppers as there is ample parking space and is less congested when compared to central shopping areas in the city. The retail park would mean that people would travel less often to far off shops and central shopping areas. As a result the land prices in the vicinity would increase. Recommendations As there is plenty of land available in the Medway area, ample free parking space could be provided to the shoppers. Due to the convenience of the retail park more people would be attracted to settle down in the vicinity of the retail park by offering them amenity-related incentives. REFERENCES 1. Gabriel, SA 2006, A multi objective optimization approach to smart growth in land development An article from: Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, San Diego. 2. Luger, MI 1991, Technology in the Garden: Research Parks and Regional Economic Development, The University of North Carolina Press, North Carolina. 3. Needham, B 2006, Planning, Law and Economics: The Rules We Make for Using Land (RTPI Library Series), Routledge, New York. 4. O'Farrell, PN & Markham, J 2008, Commuting Costs and Residential Location, Retrieved from, www.interscience.wiley.com/journal on February 14, 2010. 5. Ramsey, R 2003, 'The Urban Land Economics Tradition: How Heterodox Economic Theory Survives In The Real Estate Appraisal Profession', Research in the History of Thought and Methodology,vol.22, pp.347-378. Scenario B-1 Following the recession the demand for housing in the area of Medway has increased. If the Medway Council decides to adopt the Community Infrastructure Levy it would have the following impact on the house builders. Price/Rent D1 S1 S2 D2 a D1 D2 Quantity Q1 Q2 As shown in the diagram above, following the recession the new house builder coming in to the market will have an increased demand for houses. As a result the supply curve shifts on to the right as shown by the curve S2. But following the community levy imposed by the Medway council on house builders, this cost will in turn be passed on to the customers. As a result the demand for housing will shift from D1 to D2 as shown by the arrow b. As the supply of housing increases the price initially drops from P to P1. As the demand for housing decreases as a result of the levy imposed the price further reduces from P1 to P2. Thus the house builders would be under tremendous pressure, because even though the demand for housing can drop over night the house builders would have already laid the infrastructure for building the houses. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is defined as the formal processes that are utilized to foresee the environmental consequences of any development project. EIA thus facilities to identify potential draw backs at the initial planning and design stages of a project. High priority and consideration should to EIA so that the Medway council looks at the housing projects in a favorable manner (Evans, 2004). The idea is that the Medway council wants these housing projects to come up in such a way so as to cause the minimal adverse impact on the environment. For example discharges to the air, water and soil in the vicinity has to be considered. Proper drainage systems consisting of drains and culverts have to be implemented. Infrastructure facilities such as schools, nurseries, elder's homes, playgrounds and so on too have to be built along with the housing complexes. Pre construction measures such as engineering related soil erosion prevention and ground preservation and the environment preservation methods would have to be considered. The Medway council is keen on preserving the natural serenity and environment. Therefore the new housing projects would have to be developed in such a manner so as to cause minimal adverse impact on the environment. The natural eco-systems of the area would have to be preserved. An Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) has to be made before starting a housing project. Discharges to the surrounding waters, soil and air should be taken in to account. Cutting down trees would have to be carefully done so as to prevent soil erosion. Drains, culverts, should be built to prevent soil erosion and flooding in the housing area. Solid waste disposal techniques and sewage plants would also have to be built. The selection of the site for the development of the housing scheme will largely determine the environmental and social impact of the project (Stephan, 1989). When selecting a potential site engineering, economic, geology and environmental aspects will have to be taken in to consideration. Usually the consideration of all these aspects would mean that the potential sites for new housing projects at Medway are limited. That would be chosen on the principle of creating positive pressure environments to employees, customers and other related parties. The prototype experimentation would be successfully avoiding cost overruns in the implementation phase. Scenario B-2 Development proposals based on Cost Benefit Analysis and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) While the ground preparation and foundation laying can be inhibited by frequent meetings with the small and large construction companies, these review meetings would help the Medway Council team to achieve some of the best combine results in design of new retail park concept in the Medway area. In fact one of the functional requirements is the design and implementation requires an extraordinary capacity on the part of the design team of the Medway Council. Assuming that a separate architect was hired to carry out design and planning of the interior and the exterior of the retail park, still there should be much more coordination between the construction firm and the architect. Thus this might not lead to any system delays and bad project outcomes. Retail park design and planning specificities are integrated in to the functional domain of the project with a view to achieving positive end results such as maximum space utilization and cutting down on cost concerning building design and planning parameters. Even though the retail park project is considered to be a larger one some of the design and planning features required a very high level of coordination because the project was to be completed within the limits of social, environmental and economic constraints. In fact a collection of super stores and warehouses require internal space design parameters to be worked out in conformance with exact measurements because the process of matriculation and calibration involves a lot of pre planning. The information available on a soil type and the water bed can be very important during this phase. Overall the increasing requirements for extra floor area in Retail Park have to be met with additional provisions of finance and resources (Buitelaar, 2007). In addition to this there is also the need for an environmental impact assessment. An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is undertaken in order to evaluate the impact of the retail park project on the immediate environment. For example the construction of a retail park project in Medway area might have unanticipated outcomes concerning ventilation design and equipment mobility. Creating a prototype before moving in to full implementation is much more desirable because losses in the form of excesses can be incurred in the absence of a prototype. Launching a prototype of the project after the design and planning phases were completed, would be much more desirable in case the retail park project involved many complexities. The whole program is intended to enable the operational aspects to run smoothly. In other words a comprehensive feasibility study including a Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) is desirable. The project would be successfully test in the prototype environment due to the Medway Council's rich research environment. Its industrial research strength has been made use of to initiate similar projects elsewhere. Finally the project management structure at the implementation level in the Medway project has to be designed with a degree of flexibility required for such diverse environments and therefore the replacement process required some individual arrangements. For example the dismantling of the existing facilities necessitate some structural changes to the existing dispensation and as a result the design and planning process at the depot level in board a lot of pre-execution practice. Conclusions Community projects tend to be budgeted within preplanned limits public projects are constantly reviewed for cost overruns. Cost overruns might preclude information flow from the biased and prejudiced. As a result public projects have a greater capacity to accommodate cost overruns. An EIA is meant to assess the possible impact, either positive or negative that a project may have on the environment consisting of social, natural and economic factors. Depending on this a decision will be made whether to go ahead with the proposed project or not. Recommendations The retail park project would leads to highly successful manner with the customer's requirements are met and the project is delivered on time. Despite this success costs had to be reviewed upward at every phase because material costs and labor costs began to rise with marked volatility. Functional requirements also include structural redesign and planning. REFERENCES 01. Buitelaar, E 2007, The Cost of Land Use Decisions: Applying Transaction Cost Economics to Planning and Development (Real Estate Issues), Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford. 02. Evans, A 2004, Economics and Land Use Planning, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford. 03. Stephan, B 1989, 'Retail parks: Teething troubles or generation gap', International Journal of Distribution Mnagement,vol,17, no.5, pp.24-27. 04. Stephan, B 1990, 'The Retail Park: Customer Usage and Perceptions of a Retailing Innovation,' The Service Industrial Journal, vol.10, no.2, pp.364-376. 05. Vuchic, V 2005, Urban Transit: Operations, Planning and Economics, John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey. Read More