BRC backs high-street healthcheck

2 November 2010

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) welcomes a new tick-box guide designed to help local business leaders to identify and address any decline in the health of their high-street. It is now calling on Government and Local Authorities to back the booklet with more practical action.

"Healthy High-Street? A healthcheck for high-streets and town centres" was launched today (Tuesday) by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS). The BRC, which originally proposed high-street health monitoring, assisted with the development of the document. The retailers' organisation welcomes the simple and practical advice it contains and encourages high-street businesses and local authorities to use it to assess their own town centres. In response, the BRC has identified eight ways that Government and Local Authorities can help retailers rejuvenate ailing high-streets.

Tom Ironside, BRC Director of Business and Regulation, said: "This document offers excellent practical advice for business owners and local authorities. I recommend that retailers use it to measure the health of their high-streets and take action to address any signs of decline.

"In order to achieve healthy high-streets retailers need support. We've identified eight ways that regulators can help make sure that businesses and consumers see high-streets as an attractive option. In particular, Government should keep business and property rates as low as possible. That will help hard-pressed high-street retailers to keep costs down. Local Authorities can encourage more shoppers to visit the high-street by reducing car-parking costs. And the police can make the high-street a safer and more pleasant place to visit by cracking down on retail crime and anti-social behaviour.

"There's a place in British retail for both high-streets and out-of-town centres. This can't be about favouring one form of retailing over another and the ultimate aim must be the same everywhere - to create great environments in which to live, shop and trade."

The BRC is calling on Government and Local Authorities to help ailing high-streets by:

- Ensuring property and business rates are affordable.
- Reinstating Empty Property Rate Relief (EPRR means reduced rates for properties which are empty).
- Local Authorities to stop using car parks primarily as a means of raising revenue.
- Local Authorities to set aside a proportion of the funds raised from parking revenues to improve car parking options in and around high streets.
- Shift transport policy focus to rewarding people for using public transport rather than penalising them for using cars.
- Police to prioritise retail crime and anti-social behaviour.
- Local Authorities to restore and repair damaged property and streetscapes as quickly as possible.
- Government to develop a clear strategy to address increasing rates of vacancy and the accompanying decline in fortunes in some town centres.

Notes:

The BRC report "21st Century high Streets: A new vision for our town centres" is available from here:
www.brc.org.uk/highstreets.

The BIS Healthy High Streets Guide is available from:
www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/business-sectors/docs/h/10-1224-healthy-high-street

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