Land Use Classification Map

The land use classification maps for Blackpool shows that the most number of high order shops are in the centre of Blackpool. This links to the rates, as towards the centre the rates should increase, as it is a more prestigious location. As the hypothesis states it is a characteristic of CBD's to have lots of high order shops and medium order shops and few low order shops. The position of the high order shops are linked to the pedestrian density map as more people will want to visit the areas with high order shops so the density will be higher there.

I predicted that in Blackpool the specialist shops will be in the centre of the town CBD but quite a lot of the specialist shops were in the frame, the tattoo salon for example. Also the shopping and environmental quality is linked to this, as the high order shops tends to be in areas with higher shopping and environmental quality values. The land use classification map of Lytham shows that there is a mixture of low, medium and high order centre which according to my hypothesis is a characteristic of a small town. This as with the Blackpool land use map is also linked to the pedestrian counts and the shopping and environmental quality values as the highest pedestrian density tends to be in the areas with high order shops as these are the best shops in the centre.

Shop Breakdown

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As fig S1 shows, the highest percentage of high order shop for Blackpool are in the centre and south zones. This is linked to the pedestrian and shopping and environmental quality scores, as the highest of these scores are in the centre and south zones. The north and east zones have the highest percentage of vacant shops which also links to the shopping and environmental score because if there aren't any shops there the shopping quality score will be low. If the environmental quality is low, businesses will less likely want to purchase property so they will remain vacant.

This is also linked to the pedestrian density as if there aren't many shops there they will not shop there. All of the zones have roughly the same percentage of medium order services. This is because Blackpool is a medium to high order centre and the medium order shops are likely to be in any area as they get make more profit as they are medium order services so can afford better locations. Also more national businesses are medium and high order so can afford sites in the centre, whilst independent businesses may only be able to afford smaller sites in the frame of the CBD. This is linked to rates, (see fig B3 and analysis of it).

As fig S2 shows Lytham has roughly the same percentage of high and medium order shops which was not what I predicted in my hypothesis but has a higher percentage of low order shops than Blackpool which I predicted in my hypothesis. I predicted that the low order centres would more convenience stores than a high order centre, which is correct in this study but I also predicted that the higher centre would have a higher percentage of specialist shops which it didn't as they both had similar percentages. Blackpool has a higher percentage of vacant shops than Lytham.

This could be because there are 7 times as many shops in Blackpool as there are in Lytham so there may be a lower demand for them if they are in the frame of Blackpool CBD. As figs S3 and S4 show Blackpool has more variety of shops due to its size but similar percentages of clothes shops, cafes and electronic shops. Lytham has a higher percentage of gift shops and restaurant. This could be because people travel to Lytham, as it is a quiet seaside town and they then eat at the restaurants and buy gifts at the gift shops. As graphs S3 and S4 show the radius of the pie charts are directly proportional to the square root of the number of services.

Pedestrian Density Maps

The pedestrian density map of Blackpool shows that the highest value of pedestrian density is in the centre of Blackpool. This is a characteristic of any centre. The further away from the centre the lower the pedestrian density should be which the case for Blackpool is on this particular day. This is shown on graph B3. This shows that pedestrian count against distance form the town centre as medium to strong negative correlation, which means in most cases as the distance from town centre decreases, the pedestrian count increases.

The pedestrian density map for Lytham also shows that the highest pedestrian density is in the centre and the further away from the centre the lower the density should be. This is shown on graph L3. It shows that pedestrian count against distance from the centre has medium negative correlation. Also the highest pedestrian density for Blackpool is higher than that of for Lytham which I stated in my hypothesis as Blackpool is higher up the hierarchy than Lytham. This is linked to the shopping and environmental quality index value, as when the pedestrian density value increases the shopping and environmental quality value should also increase.

Environmental and Shopping Quality Maps

The shopping and environmental quality map for Blackpool is as I predicted with the exception of the area surrounding Talbot Road and Springfield Road. As I predicted, the values for both the shopping and the environmental quality increase as they get nearer the centre. This is shown on graph B2. It has a medium negative correlation. In most cases the environmental quality values and the shopping quality are within 10 or 12 of each other, which shows direct correlation with the exception of Talbot Road where the shopping quality value is 30 points more. The shopping and environmental quality map of Lytham also shows an increase as it gets closer to the centre with the exception of outside the library where the shopping quality value is 36 but the environmental quality is 60 which follows the trend.

This is shown on graph L2. It shows weak to medium negative correlation, which means as the distance from the centre increases the environmental and shopping quality value decreases in most cases. In every case, except the outside the library the values are within 12 points of each other, which is the same as the values for Blackpool. The highest value for the shopping and environmental quality is in Blackpool, which I predicted in my hypothesis, as Blackpool is higher on the hierarchy.

These values are linked to the land use classification map, as the higher shopping quality values are in the centre where more high order shops and services are. This is shown on graph B1 for Blackpool as it shows rates per metre frontage against environmental plus shopping quality value. This shows low to medium positive correlation, which means in some cases as the environmental plus shopping quality value increases the rates per metre frontage also increase. Graph L1 for Lytham shows that for Lytham, rates per metre frontage are not at all linked to environmental plus shopping quality, as the graph shows no correlation. Also the pedestrian density is linked to this as the pedestrian density is usually higher where the shopping and environmental quality values are as people want to be in an area with pleasant surroundings and lots of good quality shops, which in most cases are high or medium order.

Parking Restrictions

The whole of Blackpool centre allows no parking unless you pay for the Hounds Hill car park. All the area is double yellow lines. There are a few taxi ranks and bus stops, but around half of the centre is pedestrianised. This is linked to the pedestrian count, as there is a higher pedestrian count in the pedestrianised areas. It is also linked to environmental quality value, as the value is likely to be higher if there is a pedestrianised area. For Lytham the area is split half-and-half with double yellow lines and restricted free parking. There is a small taxi rank and some bus stops.

Shopping Questionnaires

I predicted that there were to be a higher percentage of younger to middle aged people in Blackpool. This was true for the sample we took for Blackpool, as 5% were under 20, 20% were 21-30 and 21% were 41-50. For Lytham I predicted that there would be a higher percentage of older people. This was also true as 35% were over 60 but there were also more young people as 20% were under 20%, which I didn't predict. These percentages are shown on graphs Q5 and Q6. This is also linked to the distance people are prepared to travel as older people will want to travel less distance.

It is also linked to the frequency of visit as older people will visit the centre more frequently as they usually have more time than middle aged people. The distance travelled to each centre is shown on graph Q4. It shows that the same percentage of people live in the immediate area, but a higher percentage of people from Blackpool travelled less than a mile, again a higher percentage of people asked in Blackpool between 1 and 5 miles but a higher percentage of people asked in Lytham travelled between 6 and 10 miles and also over 10 miles. This is also shown on graph Q10.

I did not predict this in my hypothesis as I expected people would travel further to visit Blackpool, as it is a high order centre and should have a larger catchment area than Lytham. The catchment areas for Blackpool and Lytham are shown on maps. These show quiet clearly that more people travelled from a smaller distance to visit Blackpool than they did for Lytham. A higher percentage of people were in Lytham to buy food and drink than there were in Blackpool. This was what I expected, as it is lower on the hierarchy. A higher percentage of people bought clothes and footwear, expensive items and household items in Blackpool. This is also as I predicted, as Blackpool is a high order centre. These are shown on graphs Q1 and Q2. These are linked to the distance people travelled as 32% of people travelled under 1 mile to Lytham and 37% bought food and drink which is as I predicted. If people spend more money they are more likely to use a credit card, as they won't have cash of say over �50.

A higher percentage of people walked to Blackpool than to Lytham, which was not what I predicted, but the most popular mode of transport, was car. Also 10% of people travelled by coach to Lytham which was the same percentage that came from Somerset. This was because there was a coach trip from Somerset so these have affected by results. How people travelled to each centre is linked to the distance travelled, as people are not going to walk to a centre if they walk over a few miles away. A higher percentage of people in Lytham were going to visit a caf� or restaurant than in Blackpool.

This could be because Lytham is a tourist town and they came for a day out. A higher percentage of people visit Blackpool frequently than they do to Lytham (graph Q3). This could be because people were on a day out to Lytham, as opposed to regular shoppers to Blackpool so I didn't predict this. This is linked to distance travelled, as people are unlikely to visit a place regularly if they live over 10 miles away. The sizes of Graphs Q 1,2,5,6 8, 9 are directly proportional to the square root of the number of services in the centre.

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