Manchester Arndale a shopping centre, it never recovered. Stocks argues that these factors lay behind the Greater Manchester County Council's (GMC) strategic view that the county had too much retail capacity. From 1977 onwards the GMC consistently opposed further development, and would not support any before 1986. Trade increased in the early 1980s, though GMC policy against development and for retaining the relative importance of the retail centres remained. By the mid-1980s, the trend in retailing had moved from city-centres to out-of-town. The opening of Meadowhall Centre in 1990 added to the retail impact in the Sheffield city centre. The GMC was
Retail park at households owning a car, though there are often also bus services. They are an alternative to busy city centres. Such developments have been encouraged by cheaper, more affordable land on the outskirts of towns and cities, and with loose planning controls in a number of Enterprise Zones, making planning and development very easy. In recent years, in many areas across the UK, planning controls have been tightened to preserve the countryside. This has made it more difficult for such developments to proceed, resulting in many smaller, more compact retail parks, sometimes consisting of only three or four stores being