30.24.1 Within the town centre there is a definable boundary between mainly commercial frontages and mainly residential frontages without any significant intervening areas of mixed use. This boundary takes in properties which have frontages onto Bridge street, Market Place, Newgate Street up to Copper Chare, Oldgate, and New Market. The main shopping frontages are supplemented by two additional areas - Back Riggs and the Safeway supermarket which lie to the north and east of the main Bridge Street/Newgate Street shopping axis. These also form part of the commercial area which now include the recent development south of Bridge Street.

30.24.1 Within the town centre there is a definable boundary between mainly commercial frontages and mainly residential frontages without any significant intervening areas of mixed use. This boundary takes in properties which have frontages onto Bridge street, Market Place, Newgate Street up to Copper Chare, Oldgate, and New Market. The main shopping frontages are supplemented by two additional areas - Back Riggs and the Safeway supermarket which lie to the north and east of the main Bridge Street/Newgate Street shopping axis. These also form part of the commercial area which now include the recent development south of Bridge Street.

30.24.2 Over a number of years a variety of non-retail uses have become established in the main shopping streets. The Council is particularly concerned that, should this trend continue, it will have a significant adverse effect on the character and economic viability of the primary shopping streets in the heart of the town's commercial centre. Uses such as offices, financial and professional services and hot food outlets tend to interrupt the retail continuity of the street with a consequent loss of commercial vitality and attractiveness. It is generally accepted that when non-A1 shopping uses within a town centre shopping area reach 35% of the total retail frontage, that this is a critical level at which the overall commercial viability of the centre begins to diminish rapidly. The Council has successfully implemented a similar policy since its inclusion in the Morpeth Town Centre Local Plan. (URPI, 1979 - Service Outlets in Shopping Centres : Report of an URPI Workshop.)

30.24.3 The Council is concerned that the shopping frontages to traditional retail streets and the continued expansion of shopping uses into predominantly residential areas of the town in an ad-hoc manner would weaken the compact character of the shopping centre and be detrimental to existing residential amenity.