The UK government has revealed the 12 centres to pilot Mary Portas’ recommendations to revitalise their high streets.
Bedford, Croydon, Dartford, Bedminster, Liskeard, Margate, Market Rasen, Nelson, Newbiggin by the Sea, Stockport, Stockton on Tees and Wolverhampton will all receive a portion of the £1.2m package.
Applications flooded in to government via Youtube from towns desperate to turnaround the fortunes of their ailing high streets. The government said that over 370 applications were made from across the country. Local government minister Grant Shapps said that he would launch a second round of the competition with 12 additional pilots to be announced by the end of July.
“I’ve been deeply touched by both the quality and creativity of the bids and the momentum Britain’s first town teams have generated in just a few short weeks,” said Mary Portas. ”It is now clearer to me than ever that Britain wants its town centres revitalised and the energy and accountability for that needs to rest with the people who live and do business there. My sincere congratulations to everyone who entered.”
The towns will be awarded £100,000 to implement the plans which will include elements of the proposals put forward in the self-styled Queen of Shops’ High Street Review, and a dedicated contact point in government to provide advice and support in identifying and overcoming challenges to local business growth, free support fro industry leaders, and opportunities to meet and discuss with fellow pilots.
It said that towns with unsuccessful bids would still benefit from the pilots, with the best ideas to be shared to help struggling high streets across the UK.
However, KPMG has questioned the outlook for communities that did not win the bid.
“But what now for the other high streets across Britain, who face the same challenges, but without funding and without help? While unsuccessful bidders will automatically be considered for the next 15 places released on the Portas Pilots scheme, communities must not pin their long term hopes for their high street on securing funding second time around,” said KPMG Helen Dickinson.
“Instead the town teams who have worked so diligently on their bids must continue to work together. Effective cooperation between town stakeholders is at the heart of a town’s success.
Dickinson also questioned whether the tide of consumer sentiment can be turned as for many, the high street is no longer viewed as the prime shopping destination.
“We must not be blind to the elephant in the room. The retail sector itself is undergoing fundamental structural change, as evidenced by the ongoing retrenchment of chain retailers to higher volume locations. The demise of many troubled UK high streets is due to the proliferation of obsolete tertiary or poor secondary sites and the closure of stores by service (as opposed to retail) operators whose services are electronically transferrable and hence have moved their operations online,” argues Dickinson.
She says retail landlords must consider what to do with empty cites in some town centres. “This may mean converting them back into residential use, or making them more attractive to those sectors still pursuing expansion plans such as leisure, coffee shops, convenience food chains and charities. Local Authorities will need to be flexible when considering change of use applications, viewing them in the context of what the modern High Street looks like now, and not basing their decision on the stereotypical mix of shops that we were used to seeing in the past.”