‘Boost high streets by offering free parking’
TOWN centres should offer short-term free parking and bring back bandstands to help save Britain’s high streets, a Government minister says today.
Jake Berry, the minister for the high street, is to put forward this summer a “robust policy response” to concerns about shop closures.
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Berry said he wanted the Government to be the “handmaiden of change on the high street”. One idea was
Pride of place
for councils to rethink how they charge motorists to park in town centres.
He said: “Having short periods of free parking is something that can bring people back into high streets. Parking [charges] should be locally determined but what I think may be missing is the voice of business.
“In my own local authority we had a situation where you could park all day free. You would think that is what shopkeepers wanted but – guess what – it’s not. They want free parking for an hour or two, because they want you to leave and new customers to arrive. Having shorter periods of free parking is something that all local authorities in consultation with business should consider.”
Mr Berry also recognised that business rates were a “major challenge” for retailers but said any change would have to be made by the Treasury at Budget time.
The minister added he wanted to see local authorities appoint a councillor to act as a “sheriff of the local high street” to oversee a healthy town centre.
He said: “If political leadership knew that shops and businesses were strug- gling to have their voice heard they would want to do something about it. We should be working with local authorities at finding ways of bringing things like gyms, childcare – maybe even day care for the elderly – on to the high street.”
High streets should learn from the way in which shopping malls have laid on additional services, Mr Berry suggested. He pointed to an example set by Ashford in Kent where Damian Green, the local MP, had helped restructure the local high street.
“There are art galleries, there bandstand … I don’t think they are the only solution but I want more things that will bring people in,” he said.
He said it was important to separate the “so-called crisis in retail and the challenges facing high streets”.
“We have to accept that in the future there are going to be fewer retail outlets on every high street and it will be a much more mixed offering,” he said.
He also stressed it was up to local people to back their local high street. He said: “It is absolutely incumbent on all of us to go out and support our high streets. There is nothing greater than the great British high street. It is a huge community asset.”
Analysis by the RAC Foundation said that 354 councils in England made £766million from parking fees in 201718 with figures published last week suggesting that amount is expected to rise to £885million in this financial year.
James Lowman, chief executive of the Association of Convenience Stores, said: “Expensive parking charges are a major contributor to consumers avoiding high streets, as shopping online or out of town is always free.”