Alyth Town Centre Overview

4.91 Alyth is a small town located 18 miles (34 minutes’ drive) to the north west of Dundee, and 22 miles (42 minutes’ drive) to the north east of Perth, while it is only 15 minutes’ drive to Blairgowrie. The estimated population, as detailed in the latest CAP, is circa 3,000 residents.

4.92 Alyth historically has performed the role of a staging post and market town, plus centre of textile manufacturing in the 18 and 19 centuries. More recently it has become a commuter town for Dundee and Perth, plus a centre of commerce for local residents as well as satisfying the needs of tourists and visitors to the area.

4.93 In regards the primary research data captured for Alyth, 5 surveys were received from businesses either in or near the town centre (4 via face-to-face survey and 1 online) and of the 1,013 respondents to the household survey, only 5 residents said they use it most often for their shopping and service needs

4.94 The study has had the opportunity to look at the current and recently produced Alyth CAP. It is based on extensive community engagement with all members and groups in the local area. It is designed to be a road map to make Alyth a better place to live, work and visit. The CAP identifies many aspects that are strengths and liked about the town, including the appearance, the burn, flowers and planters, the community spirit and excellent surrounding outdoor recreation facilities, to mention but a few. The CAP does identify areas to improve over the coming 5 years, with plenty of detailed actions / recommendations. These include improving the appearance of the centre, addressing roads and parking issues, improving the events activity, improving local economy and tourism appeal, supporting local businesses, and improving access to shops and services. Many of the points concur with or add to the findings of the healthcheck.

Accessibility and Environment

4.95 The town centre is relatively drawn out for such a small offer, spanning Commercial Street, Market Square and Airlie Street. The number of non-active and residential units scattered throughout the town centre reinforces this and in parts reduces the impact of the offer.

4.96 The town centre provides a very pleasant open town scape, with attractive vistas and good sightlines of the available offer. The area around Market Square is attractive, including the Alyth Burn which traverses the heart of the town centre. Commercial Street, adjacent to the Burn is especially attractive and well kept.

4.97 It’s easy to park in the centre, and there are buses connecting Alyth to Dundee. The nearest rain station is however 30 mins drive away in Invergowrie.

Diversity of Uses and Retailer Representation

4.98 There were 38 retail / commercial units counted at the time of the review, of which 33 were active and 5 vacant / non-active, producing a vacancy rate of 13%. Vacant units are along the periphery. All bar one of the active businesses are independents, with Co-op being the only multiple operator present.

4.99 The service offer in Alyth is relatively good, with 4 hairdressers and 1 barber shop. Adding in the dentist on Commercial Street, plus pharmacy and solicitors on Airlie Street, plus cycle shops (sale, hire and repair) ensures that service goods dominate the offer overall.

4.100 The rest of the offer contains a small selection of convenience food (Co-op, 2 convenience stores, newsagent and a butcher) along with some specialist comparison goods (gallery, gift shop, hardware store) and a little food and beverage (fish & chip shop, hotel and pub).

4.101 Interestingly for a place as small as Alyth, the town offers a museum (currently closed, reopening next year) and a small library.

4.102 Experian Goad do not have floorspace data for Aberfeldy. Based on the observations of the place review and using measurements from ProMap, CPW Planning has estimated the comparison floorspace to be 330 sqm. and the convenience floorspace to be 680 sqm.

Customer Behaviour and Views

4.103 As the number of residents in the household survey that say they use Alyth as their main destination is so low, it is not possible to draw out any statistically significant findings; nor did Alyth form part of the previous study in 2016. Given the low levels of response there are no graphical representations of the findings.

Indicators of Vitality and Viability

4.104 Again, given the low number of businesses that completed surveys, it is not possible to draw out any statistically significant findings.

4.105 What can be inferred however from the place review, is that Alyth seems to be in a good place in regards health and vitality on the whole. The low vacancy rate in the core town centre, coupled with the high level of service businesses and the high levels of motivation shown by many of the businesses, suggest it is trading well.

4.106 There is no readily available footfall information and the household survey did not give any robust information. The business survey achieved a low number of responses and therefore it is not possible to estimate any clear footfall trend.

Identified Issues and Improvements

4.107 The following table provides a SWOT analysis for Alyth Town Centre going forward.

Strengths

The environment of the town is attractive and clean

Businesses seem motivated

Weaknesses

The offer is limited overall, especially the food & beverage

Several of the vacant units are long term and in the periphery of the centre

Single sided retail offers away from the square Good convenience store as an anchor

Museum and library present in the town

Relatively strong service goods offer

Nearby countryside and leisure attractions

Destination commercial business adjacent to town centre

Public realm of the core area and beside the burn

Availability of parking

Level of interest and support from community in the CAP process

Opportunities

More celebrations of the place – there’s lots to like about Alyth

Make more of history

Better online promotion of the town and individual businesses

Engage with the owners of the empty premises to facilitate and encourage more meanwhile uses

Curate more visiting markets

Reopen the Museum

Improve the sense of arrival

Extend better quality public realm

Make more use of the Burn and adjoining quality environment

Improve connectivity to surrounding countryside, promote activities

Improve the visitor economy

Action recommendations of the CAP

Support existing local businesses

The better public realm is hidden from arriving customers

Comments in CAP about poor parking practices

Threats

Businesses close due to cost-of-living crisis

Landlords convert empty units to residential

Reduction in offer

Overlooked by visitors

Lack of overt welcome to visitors

Healthcheck Summary

4.108 Overall, it would appear from the findings of the place review that Alyth is in a good state of health and vitality, and that it has the support of the local community Although the vacancy rate sounds high, these are mostly on the periphery of the offer. The core reasons to use the town centre (service offer, Co-op, fish & chip shop, specialist comparison goods stores) are generally strong independents and seem to be trading well. Residents look to Blairgowrie as the higher order centre, but Alyth can provide the daily essentials.

4.109 Alyth can further adapt its offer to reflect national consumer and place trends, with more services and convenience for the local community. It has the core of a good sense of place and public realm, and this needs to be extended so as to improve the welcome to visitors. An improved or restarted local events programme will attract both local residents and visitors.

4.110 There are no obvious large development sites that need delivering or bringing forward in the town centre.