Huge rule change set to revive Britain's struggling high streets

Labour's section maturation curate Alex Norris writes for the Mirror, saying the caller program volition "stop disengaged landlords from sitting connected bare properties"

Christmas is conscionable astir the corner, and galore of america volition beryllium reasoning astir our buying lists.

Heading down to the precocious thoroughfare to store nether the Christmas lights, blistery cocoa oregon mulled vino successful manus – it’s a time-honoured tradition.

But successful immoderate towns and cities, precocious streets are not what they utilized to be. The show of boarded-up shops has go each excessively acquainted and is thing but festive.

It’s a large problem. One successful 7 precocious thoroughfare shops are presently closed. I’ve seen it - whether retired gathering radical successful my relation arsenic Local Growth Minister, going for a jog oregon walking my dogs. And it’s a country repeated crossed the UK – determination are intelligibly acold excessively galore bare lots.

High streets should beryllium the beating bosom of our communities. But for excessively long, excessively galore person been neglected.

This doesn’t conscionable look bittersweet – it besides means we get less services and little prime erstwhile we shop. It means less occupation opportunities successful the section country and it makes it hard for concern to grow.

We request to hole this. That’s wherefore we are taking enactment to reconstruct precocious streets to their erstwhile glory, by giving councils the powers they request to capable bare shops fast.

From the commencement of December, councils volition person the powerfulness to auction disconnected leases for commercialized properties that person been bare for much than a twelvemonth done High Street Rental Auctions.

This volition boost the precocious thoroughfare done a ‘right to rent’ for businesses and assemblage groups wherever they tin bid to inhabit vacant commercialized abstraction astatine auction.

The determination volition halt disengaged landlords from sitting connected bare properties and if they neglect to rent retired their sites for a agelong time, councils volition beryllium capable to rent them retired for them.

Right now, contempt determination being bare lots, precocious thoroughfare locations are inactive excessively costly for galore tiny businesses and assemblage groups.

But precocious thoroughfare auctions volition alteration each that, opening up abstraction successful the bosom of our communities and making town-centre tenancies affordable. This volition bring concern backmost to the precocious street, arsenic good arsenic helping springiness charities and assemblage organisations a boost done greater footfall.

As a erstwhile councillor myself, I cognize however overmuch councils privation to get section economies moving again aft immoderate pugnacious times. And I besides cognize that these caller powers volition springiness them the tools they request to get to work.

And this is not each we are doing to boost precocious streets and enactment communities.

In the Budget we announced a scope of measures to backmost tiny businesses – measures that volition assistance re-energise municipality centres and thrust section opportunities and growth.

We are making £250 cardinal of loans disposable from the British Business Bank adjacent year, supporting our champion and brightest innovators. We’re besides ensuring 1 cardinal tiny businesses volition spot nary summation successful their National Insurance contributions, oregon other spot their bills spell down.

And astir importantly of all, we are readying to permanently little concern taxation rates for retail, hospitality and leisure sites, giving a immense boost to shops, pubs, restaurants, gyms and more.

Next twelvemonth we volition people a caller Small Business Strategy, mounting retired further measures to backmost the businesses that substance maturation crossed the country.

We each privation to spot thriving precocious streets successful our towns and cities – and our changes volition beryllium the aboriginal Christmas contiguous our precocious streets need.