Councillors: Don’t forget about our declining high streets
The Chancellor’s £1.5bn package of measures ... is very welcome and we hope will make a difference in transforming threatened local precincts ... It is vital that a programme of support is rolled out to other parts of Bristol equally under stress
Councillor Mark Weston
CONSERVATIVE councillors are asking that high streets in north Bristol are not forgotten about when it comes to funding.
It comes after the East Street area in Bedminster was chosen to benefit from a multi-million pound investment.
The ‘Love our High Street’ pilot project will see the West of England Combined Authority (Weca) invest £10million into transforming three high streets across Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire.
Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees has said that he expects a number of other high streets in the city to be supported after Bedminster and that the authority, alongside Weca, would further develop criteria.
And now Bristol City Council’s Tory group leader Mark Weston and Westbury-on-Trym councillor Geoff Gollop are asking that declining high streets in north Bristol are also considered for funding in the future.
The pair recently gave Metro Mayor Tim Bowles a tour of one such high street – Westbury Village.
In October, the Westbury-on-Trym Business Association (WOTBA) held a meeting with local people to air concerns over the loss of at least ten businesses in the area and to get backing for a regeneration plan.
Cllr Weston, who represents Henbury and Brentry, said the visit with Mr Bowles was an opportunity to highlight a crisis affecting even relatively prosperous locations caused by changing shopping habits, high rents and rates.
He added: “The Chancellor’s £1.5bn package of measures based around cutting business rates and regeneration funding, together with the WECA scheme, is very welcome and we hope will make a difference in transforming threatened local precincts and community focal points.
“It is vital that a programme of support is rolled out to other parts of Bristol equally under stress like Westbury Village, Crow Lane in my ward, as well as important traditional shopping destinations such as Shirehampton and Arneside Road in Southmead.
“This is something that I would urge the Bristol Mayor to really get behind in the weeks and months ahead.”
Meanwhile, Cllr Gollop said that the number of empty properties in his local village, Westbury, shows that nowhere is immune to the “seismic shift” currently underway in the high street.
He added: “Whilst this evolutionary process is perhaps unstoppable, politicians can take steps through capital expenditure and business rate reliefs to try to control the speed and future shape of this transformation.
“I believe it is a challenge which is now beginning to be seriously addressed at both a national and regional level.”