34.19.1 Policy S1 of the Ponteland Local Plan has been substantially implemented through the construction of the Safeway supermarket on Main Street. The new store has had a considerable commercial impact on the Merton Way/Castle Court centre resulting in the closure of both the Co-op and Laws small supermarkets, now in alternative occupation.

34.19.2 A study undertaken by the County Council ("Shopping Patterns in Tynedale Castle Morpeth and Wansbeck") in 1988/89 indicated that over 75% of Ponteland residents did most of their convenience goods shopping locally and the Council considers that this is unlikely to change significantly in the future. For comparison goods, Ponteland residents spend very little locally, the great majority of expenditure being in Newcastle. The opening of the Newcastle Western and Woolsington bypasses will maintain this trend, particularly with the increased accessibility of the Metro Centre. Ponteland is exceptional in the extremely high car ownership of residents, with only 12.5% of households having no car and 48.8% having two or more cars.

34.19.3 In view of the above, the Council considers that while there is no significant requirement for additional A1 retail floorspace, there is a need to control the change of use of retail premises to non-retail uses if the viability of the local centres is to be maintained. It is generally accepted that when non-A1 shopping uses within a town centre shopping area reach 35% of the total shop frontage(URPI), that this is a critical level at which the overall commercial viability of the centre begins to diminish rapidly.