Transformation of our high streets

Changes to Kent’s high streets, predicted to take five years, have occurred in five months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. That’s the view of high streets expert, Graham Galpin, who will be leading a workshop on the subject in January at the Kent and Medway Business Summit. The event, which recently announced accountants Kreston Reeves as its main sponsor, is being held on January 15 and will bring together more than 400 businesses, decision makers and academics. Normally staged at the University of Kent in Canterbury, for 2021 it will be hosted online. Companies will be able to have their say on how high streets and town centres can be transformed as part of the discussion and there will be the opportunity for business to share best practice as well as voice concerns with representatives of local and national bodies. Mr Galpin, an economic development consultant and former cabinet member for town centres for Ashford Borough Council, has been appointed by the High Streets Task Force to help communities and local government transform their high streets.

He said: “Before Covid-19 we had been expecting a transformative change over the next five years. Covid has made that change happen in five months. “We all care about how our high streets will work in the future, but we need to understand that they will work differently.”

The panel will also include Mark Robinson, CEO of Ellandi, which has the largest shopping centre portfolio in the UK, and who is also chairman of the High Street Task Force to lay out the potential for the region’s high streets and town centres. For details on how to register for the event, which costs £10 and is limited to 400 people, and full timetable of events, see tinyurl.com/summit2021

The pandemic has increased the pace of change on the high street - a key topic to be discussed at the Kent and Medway Business Summit in January