Local authorities need to be realistic about what their region can support if they want to attract retail development, a conference in London has heard.

Speakers in a session on retail at the Public Property Summit, run by PublicPropertyUK.com and Property Week, said that there was a gap between what the public sector wanted in some areas and what the private sector could deliver.

Councillor Andrew Finney, leader of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, said local authorities should do more to understand the pressures on the private sector if they want to attract development: “It concerns me that there is a huge gap between the commercial sector and the public sector,” he said.

Finney said the council was looking to work in partnership with private sector partners to promote development in the town. It has also officially kicked off its hunt for a development partner for up to six sites in the Basing View area of the Hampshire town.

He said working in partnership was “the best we can do… to unlock the money to come in to invest in our community”. He added that working on the town’s failed bid for a local enterprise partnership had helped strengthen its relationships with businesses.

Martyn Chase, director at DTZ and Stanhope, said he supported the government’s plan for local enterprise partnership as it gives more power for local authorities to lead regeneration and retail development.

“It emphasises the role of the local authority to lead. From the developer side, unless the local authority is taking the lead, it will not happen,” he said.

Bill Boler, director of physical regeneration at Business In The Community, talked about his experience helping to regenerate New York areas Harlem and the Bronx in the 1980s and 1990s. He said areas should look to attract retailers that make an area look attractive to other retailers, and said the first Starbucks in Harlem was an incentive for others to come in.

“For us, the key was understanding how to get the private sector in. It was about understanding how you use your investment to being regeneration benefits,” he said.

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