Internet shopping hits High Streets of the North

Plea to help those towns blighted by empty shops

HIGH STREETS in Yorkshire and northern England have more empty shops and fewer visitors compared with the rest of the country, new analysis has revealed.

On average, 12.5 per cent of shops in the North and Yorkshire have been vacant since 2011, compared with 10 per cent in the UK as a whole, while footfall has also been dropping at a steeper rate.

According to Springboard, a provider of data and intelligence on customer activity, the figures are part of a long-term trend of decline in visitors to the high street driven by the “digitisation of society”.

And in Yorkshire the overall average rate for empty shops masks some stark differences across the region. Successful cities like York and Leeds have vacancy rates of 6.2 per cent and nine per cent respectively, while in Harrogate the rate is just under 10 per cent and 13 per cent of shops are empty in Hull.

Diane Wehrle, Insights Director at Springboard, said the trend towards digitisation means that online sites are now used for browsing as well as services like banking and travel.

She said: “This reduces the number of trips made to bricks and mortar destinations which has meant over the past decade footfall has declined by an average of minus 1.3 per cent per year. It is within this context that any ambition to reduce the number of vacant units and to increase footfall needs to take place.”

The decline in the high streets – highlighted in a series of reports by The Yorkshire Post this year – has led to calls for changes to planning policies and for local landlords to play more of a role in creating vibrant high streets.

Business leaders have been lobbying the Government to change the “regressive” system of business rates, which are incurred before any profits are made.

During the General Election campaign, the Conservatives outlined plans to overhaul the business rates system to help create thriving high streets.

They pledged to increase the business rates discount available to businesses with a rateable value below £51,000 from 33 per cent to 50 per cent in 2020-21.

Measures to improve the vibrancy of towns are also expected to emerge from the Government’s £3.6bn Towns Fund.

Ms Wehrle said retailers and local leaders had options available to them to reduce the number of vacancies and get more shoppers onto the high streets.

She added: “The obvious initiative to reduce vacancies would be to introduce ‘pop up’ retailers – temporary occupiers who broaden the offer in a particular location.

“The key mechanism to increase footfall in a location is implement marketing and promotion – creating a reason or impetus for consumers to visit a destination more frequently or to stay longer whilst they are there.”

A COUNCIL leader in Yorkshire has called for local landlords to start thinking about how they can play their part in reinvigorating the region’s town centres and “see themselves as more than just recipients of rent”.

Richard Cooper, the Conservative leader of Harrogate Borough Council, said the owners of high street buildings should “charge realistic prices” to help ensure they are re-let as part of a joint effort to create vibrant town centres.

At the end of September, there were 48 retail vacancies out of 489 in the centre of Harrogate, meaning the spa town is outperforming the average for Yorkshire and the North. But Coun Cooper said vacant units were not being re-let as quickly as he would like.

He added: “We are keen to see fairer rents and rates for retailers at levels which support business growth. High street retailers, including our trademark independent shops, need a level playing field to compete with the major online retailers who don’t carry the same overheads.

“Landlords need to start thinking about how they can play their part in re-invigorating the town centre. They need to see themselves as more than just recipients of rent but as a big part of the team ensuring town centre vibrancy. Units will be re-let if landlords charge realistic prices.”

On average 12.5 per cent of shops in the North and Yorkshire have been vacant since 2011, according to analysis by Springboard, compared with 10 per cent in the UK as a whole, while footfall has also been dropping at a steeper rate. Yorkshire’s big cities are outperforming the rest of the region, with vacancy rates for Leeds, Sheffield and York all below the average. In Sheffield, footfall has bucked the national trend by rising by seven per cent, while only 4.6 per cent of shops are empty amid “vibrant plans of growth and regeneration”.

These include Heart of the City II, a new mixed use development bringing in new office space and 400 new apartments to support retailers such as Monki and Weekday. Despite this success, High Street and Fargate in the city centre have higher vacancy rates of 24 and 16 per cent respectively.

Sheffield Council hopes to tackle this by providing a ‘better green environment’ and bring back life to the space above shops.

In York, one of the region’s most-visited tourist destinations, the vacancy rate is 6.2 per cent, due in part to the high number of independent stores. A consultation scheme called My City Centre is shaping how leaders respond to challenges facing the high street.

York Council’s executive member for the economy, Coun Andrew Waller, said: “We know we’re not immune to the growing pressures of internet shopping, decisions by remote hedge funds, economic and social changes and the nationally set business rates.”

High street retailers need a level playing field with online retailers. Richard Cooper, leader of Harrogate Borough Council.