Dated policies and an unfair tax regime must be reformed to create an environment that will allow high streets and town centres to flourish in the future. That is the message from the High Streets and Town Centres in 2030 report published by the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee in February.
Locally-led strategies
The Committee’s report sets out what it believes is a bold vision for the high street based on locally-led strategies, developed with local communities and businesses at the centre. Such future visions, it says , should be reflective of evolving commercial and economic patterns. The Committee calls on the Government to initiate reform in key planning and taxation areas, including the options of an online sales tax and long-awaited reforms to business rates. These recommendations, it believes, will allow town centres to adapt to changing demand, and compete with online retailers such as Amazon on a level playing field.
Intervention and large-scale change
The High streets and town centres in 2030 report calls for large-scale structural change led by local planning, government tax reform and private innovation. In brief, the Committee’s findings are that:
- High streets and town centres must adapt, transform and find a new focus in order to survive
- Business rates are stacking the odds against high street retailers. The Government must initiate reforms to provide meaningful relief to high street retailers, including giving consideration to proposals for an online sales tax to level the playing field
- Achieving large-scale structural change will require intervention led by the local authority, in collaboration with business and local communities, backed by funding and new powers from central government
- Local Plans are a key element of this. They must consider green space, leisure, arts and culture, health and social care services to create space that is the “intersection of human life and activity”
- Retailers must accept the need to adapt and do more to offer what online cannot, focusing more on personal interactions and convenience
- Landlords need to recognise the retail property market has changed and be more receptive to negotiating lease terms with retailers in financial difficulty – The Government should consider providing a conciliation service to facilitate negotiations between the parties.
Focal point for communities
Launching the report, Committee Chair Clive Betts MP commented: “In recent years, high streets and town centres have faced extremely challenging times. We have seen the collapse of a number of well-known, national high street chains, with many more undergoing restructuring or being bought out. The growth of online shopping has profoundly changed retail in the UK, and the knock-on impact on high streets has been stark.
We must begin a period of renewal and regeneration, establishing high streets as focal points of our communities comprising green space and health, education and leisure services, as well as a core of retail. At a local and national level, government must create a framework that allows high streets and town centres to thrive. Local authorities must have the foresight to develop evolving strategies tailored to the needs of their local communities and drive the large-scale transformation needed. Central government must give them the powers, and back them financially, to allow them to put this into practice.”
More information
Download a copy of the High streets and town centres in 2030 report.
Read extensive guidance in the handbook and accompanying online toolkit for council leaders on revitalising town centres produced with the Local Government Association by the People & Places Partnership.
