Footfall in February was at its highest in nine months, according to the latest figures from the British Retail Consortium – BRC.

The BRC/Springboard Footfall Monitor recorded a 0.5% fall in February compared with a year ago – above the three-month average of -0.8%.

The largest decline was reported in shopping centres, which saw footfall drop by 1.5%. Meanwhile activity in high streets fell 0.6% compared with a 1.6% decline in January.

Footfall in out-of-town locations was up 1% year-on-year.

Springboard retail insights director Diane Wehrle said: “It is gratifying that finally there is some good news for retail locations, as the 0.5% drop in footfall across the UK in February is the best result since May 2014 and a significant improvement on the 2.9% fall recorded in February 2014.”

The BRC/Springboard Retail Footfall and Vacancies Monitor (FVM) gathers data on customer activity in town and city centre locations, and in out of town shopping locations, throughout the UK using the latest generation automated technology.

The FVM records approximately 62 million footfall counts per week at over 500 different shopping locations in 152 towns and cities across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The Monitor covers the main centre in each nation/region and a representative sample of secondary and smaller town centres.

The Monitor provides the only available measures of the performance of town centre and out of town shopping locations in the UK.