- In an op-ed published by The Daily Telegraph, Chairman Sharon White calls upon ministers to to set up a Royal Commission, as a matter of national importance, investigating the problems faced by town centres
It has been 180 years since the last Royal Commission into the health of our towns.
Commissioned during the reign of Queen Victoria, it paved the way for the Public Health Act of 1848, at the time an important milestone in improving the health of the nation.
Today, there are health concerns of a different nature relating to our towns and cities: the state of Britain’s high streets.
The crisis engulfing our high streets is no less urgent. Too many towns and cities are shells of their former selves. Boarded up shops left vacant, dwindling numbers of banks and post offices. And in their place, seemingly endless rows of vaping shops and charity shops. A sign of the times? Yes. But for too many local residents the heart has been ripped out of their community.
This is an issue of national importance and deserves a national conversation. Britain has lost 6,000 shops in the past five years, according to the British Retail Consortium. There are John Lewis and Waitrose stores amongst these statistics, but the Partnership is still standing strong with more than 360 shops nationwide and an online retail business.
Data from earlier this year reveals that an alarming 14% of high street shops lay vacant. Worse, this masks stark differences across the country. In the north east, more than one in six shops (17.5%) are empty; 17% in Wales. Of course, there are many high street success stories, with new businesses opening and thriving, but we shouldn’t accept the regional inequalities we see today.
That’s why now is the right time to carry out a root and branch assessment of how to breathe life back into our high streets, rebuilding communities and local economies. We need a new Royal Commission to set a course to revitalise our high streets.
This would address a fundamental problem; that the issues dogging the prosperity of our high streets are complex and connected, but too often looked at in isolation. Planning, taxation, crime, environmental policy, housing and transport are all on the policy agenda, but must be considered as a whole to bring our high streets back to life.
A Royal Commission could take a long-term, holistic view of the challenges facing our high streets and the role they can play in the fabric of local communities. It would bring together leaders from business, hospitality, retail, housing and entertainment, local authorities, politicians and academics. This is the time for experts.
Most agree the future of high streets needs retail at its core but needs to go beyond retail truly to prosper. A Commission should consider the best mix of retail, hospitality, offices and housing - and fiscal measures - needed locally so high streets are welcoming places where people want to live, work and spend time. That’s not the case for many today.
Council planning decisions need to take into account the new norms on home and office working established post-Covid. Planning laws need to provide clarity and certainty to support businesses when they want to invest in regeneration. Be that M&S in Marble Arch, London or the John Lewis Partnership in West Ealing, London, where we will be developing a new Waitrose shop and much needed rental housing, including affordable homes for public sector workers like teachers and nurses.
As shopping habits change, we need a tax system that can keep up. Business rates unfairly hit retailers, who pay over 20% of business rates despite contributing about 5% to the value generated to the local economy. Most agree the current system isn’t fair. As businesses pay almost £30bn into the Government coffers every year, it’s not easily replaced. But that would not stop a Royal Commission grasping the nettle and developing clear proposals for a fairer system, which recognises that the world has changed.
The other tax issue left hanging is the tourist tax. The Government stopped VAT-free shopping for tourists, a tax relief which still applies to other European countries, two years ago. Latest estimates suggest that the UK will lose out on £3bn of tourist spending this year, which puts us at a major disadvantage compared to other big European cities.
High streets have long represented the spirit - the centre - of local communities. Yet they risk becoming a looting ground for emboldened shoplifters and organised gangs. Retailers are trying to do their part to keep customers and their staff safe, introducing bodycams, stepping up security and increasing CCTV. The recent supportive words from the police and Home Secretary - that no crime is trivial and promising to pursue all crimes - are very welcome. We need a comprehensive plan to stop organised gangs who have a licence to steal. I want to see Scottish legislation that makes the abuse of or attack on a retail worker an offence, brought in UK-wide.
And then there are big environmental issues to work through. Ultra low emission zones, a hot topic of debate, should be considered as part of a broader plan to ensure towns and cities meet their clean air obligations in a way that doesn’t leave anyone behind. Cycle lanes, pedestrianised areas and low traffic zones can be just as contested and have to be considered alongside public transport needs in making high streets accessible to all.
These are all knotty issues that successive Governments and local authorities continue to struggle with.
High streets are more important to us than the sum of their parts - they help define our towns and cities and create civic pride. They are vital to us as a nation and, which is why, piecemeal decisions on individual problems will not work.
These interlinked social, economic and environmental challenges need to be considered holistically, above party politics. Is it too naive to believe that, with an election approaching, the political parties could join forces for the good of the country on an agenda that aligns so closely with the Government’s levelling up ambitions and the Opposition’s Industrial Strategy? Only a Royal Commission could deliver this and set out a fresh vision for a prosperous high street for decades to come.
Just as the 1848 Public Health Act offered the chance to make a real difference for citizens of Victorian Britain, our generation has the opportunity to leave a lasting legacy for our communities and high streets for decades to come.
Britain’s high streets have hope, but they need help.
