Britain’s high streets have been in decline since before Covid-19 as a result of a number of factors, not least the rise of online shopping, focus on out of town shopping, stifling business rates etc. This trend of decline has been significantly accelerated by Covid-19 and this competition entry puts forth a series of proposals in order to reinvent our high streets for the 2020s and beyond. High streets are typically managed by local councils with varying degrees of success. Although there are examples of successful high streets across the country, the vast majority of Britain’s high streets are, in 2021, overrun with empty shops and in a perennial state of decline. The stark reality is that people only visit high streets (or shops in general) for the following reasons:
– To partake in activities they are unable to do online (eg eating/drinking whilst socialising, haircuts, etc);
– For convenience (eg buying a pint of milk due to an urgent requirement, popping out for a sandwich during one’s lunch hour);
– For unique purchases or experiences not available online (eg independent shops selling handmade products only available in store);
– In certain circumstances, for financially significant consumer purchases that require a level of interaction either with the product or the service (eg buying a sofa, new car etc).
Consequently, trying to compete directly with online retail is only going to result in one winner – and it is not the high street shop. Local councils have been left too long to mismanage high streets and are failing to realise the reality of the situation. Action must be taken centrally in order to address this. This proposal sets out below the following initiatives for addressing this:
– Encourage conversion of empty buildings peripheral to main high streets to residential premises by immediately relaxing change of use planning permissions. This will result in more people living within walking distance of the high street which will have numerous benefits, including increased footfall for convenience purposes and socialising, reduced traffic (as those using the high street will be within walking distance), and reducing Britain’s housing shortage as a byproduct. This proposal envisages our town centres moving towards mixed use residential/leisure/retail/office space peripheral to the main high street, with a mostly-retail/leisure concentrated town centre high street, and may even go so far as repurposing tired old purpose built shopping centres to become residential or mixed use properties;
– Encouraging service sector/office based businesses to relocate to the high street by offering zero business rates/business rates incentives for taking over empty retail or other high street premises and improved planning permissions. High streets are generally visited during weekends; in order for a high street to thrive, it needs to be in use during normal working hours, and the only way to ensure this is to have large numbers of people working in the vicinity, who will then use the high street shops for convenience or essential purchases;
– Encourage independent businesses (eg cafes, restaurants, pubs and shops) to locate to empty retail units. This can be through relaxing change of use planning permissions (allowing conversion of empty shops to cafes or pubs, and vice versa) and reforming business rates (for example so that retail businesses with two or fewer physical premises and/or turnover below £1 million are exempt from business rates).
This proposal is intended to be largely self financing, through the additional economic activity that it will create. However, balancing the books must be considered at the national level and that may require a more holistic view to be taken (eg loss of business rates for local councils must be refunded elsewhere centrally). To the extent additional funding is required, this should be by additional taxes on larger more profitable out of town retailers and/or additional taxes on online retailers.
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