‘Change of culture needed to save town centres’
Business leader’s plan to aid struggling high streets
LOCAL INITIATIVES led by community groups rather than central programmes dictated by government are essential if the nation’s struggling high streets are to be rejuvenated, according to a major report by one of the country’s leading businessmen.
Sir John Timpson, who chaired an expert panel which was asked to advise on how central government could help high streets, suggested empowering local leaders to reinvent town centres. The owner of the Timpson shoe repair chain recommended the creation of town centre task forces and an ‘Upside Down Government’ approach to enable community figures to design future town centres that recreate a “community hub”.
Sir John said yesterday that retail will not return to the high streets that existed 10 or 20 years ago, but he put forward suggestions to help places overcome the “difficult structural issues and changes” they face.
He said: “Local initiative is an essential ingredient for success. This report won’t offer places a standard off-the-shelf process because a one-size-fits-all solution will not work. Local teams, which may comprise of local government, businesses and community groups, in each town must discover a culture and central purpose that unites their community and attracts them to the town’s central hub.”
The growing threat to town centres and high streets from changing shopping habits prompted The Yorkshire Post and its sister titles to the Love Your High Street campaign to focus attention on what can be done to support small shops and businesses.
The panel, set up by High Streets Minister Jake Berry in July to address these problems, gathered evidence in towns including Holmfirth. In the Budget a £675m fund was established to create an action plan for high streets and town centres. Yorkshire consumer champion Kate
Hardcastle said that seven years on from the 2011 report on the future of the high streets by retail consultant Mary Portas, many local areas still face “extreme challenges”.
She said: “This is not just an online versus offline issue. Research, including that featured in this latest report, shows that people struggle with their high streets and want better stores and better mix of offer – and feel frustrated with parking.”
Conservative MP Kevin Hollinrake said the market town of Malton in his constituency was an example of the community working together to forge a new identity for the town centre.
He said: “Local property owners and retailers all work together to create this identity for Malton, which is all based around leisure because we know it is this wonderful food capital of Yorkshire.”
He said the Fitzwilliam Malton Estate, which manages property in the North Yorkshire town, offers free parking for two hours, a contrast with neighbouring York where there is no free parking in the city centre.
AT THE end of another challenging year for Britain’s high streets, shop staff – and retailers – will draw little comfort from the Government’s negligible response to the thoughtful recommendations made by leading entrepreneur Sir John Timpson’s critique.
For, despite Sir John calling for a communitydriven approach and changes to the planning system, the response of Jake Berry, the High Street Minister, smacked of ‘gesture politics’ at a time when many stores are fighting for their survival.
“We have already taken action,” he declared before citing cuts to business rates that were announced in the last Budget. And then, with reference to Sir John’s report, he added: “We will carefully consider these recommendations.”
Where’s the urgency? Having sought expert advice by commissioning this review, Ministers should be working overtime to make it easier for new microbusinesses to be set up and empty premises converted into homes.
Time is not on the Government’s side. Thanks to the prevailing uncertainty over Brexit, and the growing influence and pricing strategies of online retailers, this will be a dispiriting Christmas for many retailers.
They can’t wait until Mr Berry – or another Minister – dusts down the report at some future date. By then, it will be too late – and Sir John’s report will, just like the review undertaken by Mary Portas around a decade ago, come to be regarded as a wasted opportunity.
What Mr Berry should be doing – without delay
– is implementing Sir John’s report and heeding the advice of retail gurus like Yorkshire’s very own Kate Hardcastle who says each community needs to utilise local knowledge and external experts “who can help create commercial change” that meets the needs of workers, visitors and residents alike. Such an approach is central to the Love Your High Street campaign that has been spearheaded by The Yorkshire Post.
If Mr Berry doesn’t feel able to advance this agenda because of his dual role as Northern Powerhouse Minister, he should make way for someone who can. After all, ‘lip service’ will never be a sustainable strategy.