Government’s plan to put high streets on road to recovery: Kelly Tolhurst

I have great sympathy with anyone whose business or job has been endangered by this pandemic, and I want to reassure them that this Government are unwavering in our commitment to support them.

I am personally very passionate about our high streets and town centres. They are so much more than places to shop. They are where we meet our families, friends and neighbours, and where communities come together to work and to socialise. They are a focal point within our local areas.

They are, of course, also home to thousands of people who are just as keen as the local businesses that occupy them to see their high streets bustling and thriving.

Prior to the pandemic, our high streets were already going through a significant evolution, with changing consumer habits and changes to what people are wanting to see on their high streets.

People are shopping online more frequently, and our high streets are having to adapt to the 21st century to become more than just retail hubs.

Since March, we have seen an acceleration in the trends that our high streets were facing. Online shopping has risen from pre-pandemic levels of about 20 per cent to a high of 33 per cent of total retail sales in May.

The Government has put in place a range of support measures to assist businesses on the high street.

We have provided a comprehensive package of support worth £200bn, including the Eat Out to Help Out initiative to help to protect two million jobs in hospitality.

We recognise that our high streets and the businesses located on them need to adapt to the changing way in which consumers are using high streets, so we are supporting areas by funding investment in infrastructure and place.

Our £3.6bn Towns Fund and the Future High Streets Fund competition will create jobs and build more resilient local economies and communities as we begin to recover from the impact of coronavirus.

The new £4bn Levelling-Up Fund for England that was announced in the Spending Review will be open to all local areas and allocated competitively.

To support levelling-up opportunity across the country, we will prioritise bids to drive growth and regeneration in places in need – those facing particular local challenges and areas that have received less Government investment in the past.

A call for evidence was published on 21 July for the fundamental review of business rates. Government are now considering the responses to the call for evidence, and the review will conclude in the spring.

We are also ensuring that our planning system is ready to support our high streets and communities. We have introduced reforms that create a new “commercial, business and service” use class, which encompasses a wide range of purposes, allowing businesses to attract people to high streets and town centres.

That includes offices, shops, cafés, gyms and other uses that are suitable in town centres. The new class also allows for mixed use, to reflect changing retail and business models. Businesses will have greater flexibility to adapt and diversify more quickly to meet changing needs and circumstances.

However, the success of a high street is about more than just funding. It requires local people to be empowered with the tools and resources they need to help their town centres and high streets adapt. It is about having an ambitious vision for the future that the whole community can buy into.

That is why Government are supporting local leadership through the high streets taskforce, which is doing this in four ways: building local authority capacity by providing on-the-ground experts; improving place-making skills through access to training; improving co-ordination nationally and locally, to ensure that high street plans reflect the needs of their communities; and improving the use of data and best practice.

The taskforce will be providing in-person expert support to those high streets that need it most, offering expertise on subjects such as planning, design and place making. We continue to explore what more can be done to help our high streets and town centres quickly recover and adapt.

Kelly Tolhurst is a Communities Minister and led a Commons debate on high streets. This is an edited version.

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