[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.17.1″ _module_preset=”default” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.17.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_team_member name=”Julian Dobson” position=”Sheffield Hallam University” image_url=”https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Julian.jpg” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _module_preset=”default” header_font=”||||||||” body_font=”|||||on|||” position_font=”|||||on|||” position_text_color=”#1E2D5A” text_orientation=”left” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”bottom” animation_delay=”200ms” animation_intensity_slide=”4%” link_option_url_new_window=”on” custom_css_member_image=”max-width: 150px;” border_radii_image=”on|50%|50%|50%|50%” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_team_member][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_padding=”1px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.17.6″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Community-based businesses and organisations can play a vital part in repurposing ailing high streets. But it is not a quick fix, and it demands a rethink of what creates value in town and city centres.<\/p>\n
A new report <\/a>by the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research finds that high streets present new opportunities for community businesses. They can make a significant difference to high streets that have fallen on hard times by bringing empty shops back into use and new people into town centres. But there are long-term challenges to overcome and community businesses need significant support to grasp the opportunity.<\/p>\n The research involved interviews with national experts and case studies of high street regeneration from Aberdeenshire to Hastings. It finds that four types of support are needed:<\/p>\n If community businesses are going to help regenerate UK high streets, they need to see the high street as a place where they can succeed. To do so, communities must be empowered to jump on opportunities when they come available.<\/p>\n First, community businesses can play a part in bringing back to life symbolic spaces that are locally significant. These could be former department stores that were once seen as the heart of a town, or former public buildings such as Hebden Bridge Town Hall<\/a> that has been repurposed as a community and business hub.<\/p>\n Second, communities can re-use spaces that become available \u2013 especially empty shops. But not every empty shop is an opportunity. They need to be in the right place, at the right price, to meet community needs. In Aberdeenshire, Huntly Development Trust is turning a former department store<\/a> into a 60-seat cinema, events and co-working space, using an old building to meet new needs.<\/p>\n Third, community businesses can identify and repurpose adaptable spaces that have the potential for re-use. Modern shop units or department stores with large floorplans can be transformed relatively easily into meeting spaces, business incubators or arts venues.<\/p>\n It’s not just about spaces, though: local people are key to the future of high streets. Community businesses can meet needs that are not currently being served within high streets, bringing new people into town centres. And they can create new partnerships and constellations of interests to drive change, working with businesses, property owners and local government. The pilot Community Improvement Districts supported by Power to Change, such as Back on the Map in Hendon, Sunderland<\/a>, could provide a model for future partnerships.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Back-on-the-Map-2.jpg” title_text=”Back on the Map 2″ _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.17.6″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n The research identified a bigger opportunity for community businesses to contribute to the wider regeneration of high streets, rather than just the improvement of individual buildings. This is most likely to happen where community businesses can cluster together, creating a group of spaces and activities that become more than the some of the parts.<\/p>\n Groups of community businesses can make a difference, for example, by animating spaces on a temporary basis during market downturns. This model has been successfully pioneered by organisations like Meanwhile Space<\/a>, which supports short-term occupancies. But high streets are undergoing long-term structural change and community businesses should not just be seen as a stop-gap solution.<\/p>\n They can also identify spaces where they can bring a group of buildings back into use, creating a buzz of activity in a specific area that can then ripple out. At Midsteeple Quarter<\/a> in Dumfries, community organisations have got together to develop a comprehensive plan for high street regeneration.<\/p>\n Third, they can bring new economic activities into the high street to complement and expand what is there already, or bring life to areas that are struggling. Community businesses, because they are owned and run by local people, are more likely to invest for the long term, offering some protection against downturns or gentrification.<\/p>\n In Argyle Street in Birkenhead, a group of community businesses are working to revive the town centre. Future Yard<\/a> runs a music and training venue that is starting to revitalise a once-thriving commercial street. Nearby Make CIC provides affordable co-working and makerspaces. A cluster of socially-focused organisations is also emerging: a \u2018social supermarket\u2019 called Make It Happen, charity shops, artists\u2019 studios, and a mental health charity. Importantly, the group has the support of Wirral Council, which sees the revival of Argyle Street as an opportunity to reconnect Birkenhead town centre with its waterfront.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Copy-of-Future-Yard-2021-\u00a9-Robin-Clewley-3441.jpg” title_text=”Photographer: Robin Clewley” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.17.6″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n A former fishing community and seaside resort, Hastings experiences the twin challenges of deprivation and gentrification. Its town centre is struggling, but it\u2019s hard for community organisations to acquire and repurpose unused premises.<\/p>\n Community activity has mobilised around one landmark: the Observer Building, opened in 1924 as the headquarters of the Hastings & St Leonard\u2019s Observer. As the print industry waned, the Observer moved out in 1985, leaving 40,000 square feet of office space vacant. Owner after owner – 13 in all – bought and sold the building over three decades, leaving it empty and decaying while they sought to benefit from the ever-rising price of land.<\/p>\n After 15 years of hard work and frustration, it was finally bought for community uses in 2018 for \u00a31.15 million by local organisations and social entrepreneurs who have come together as the Hastings Commons<\/a>. The building is being renovated as coworking space and affordable housing, with a rooftop terrace for community and cultural events, and a creative and digital hub that will turn the ground floor into a social centre.<\/p>\n It\u2019s part of a cluster of premises in a historic area known as Trinity Triangle that are now owned or managed by community organisations, providing artists\u2019 studios, workspace for creative businesses, learning spaces and affordable housing.<\/p>\n But all this takes time and could have been a lot easier with suitable support. This could include things like \u00a0flexible capital funding based on the project\u2019s needs rather than funders\u2019 deadlines or grant conditions that recognise the social value created by community projects. Another form of support could be at-risk finance to enable organisations to plan and respond to opportunities.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/White-Rock-Neighbourhood-Ventures-November-2019-683×1024.jpg” title_text=”White Rock Neighbourhood Ventures, November 2019″ align=”center” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.17.6″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill promises new powers to enable local authorities to bring high street buildings back into use, but our research argues more is needed.<\/p>\n Government should:<\/p>\n Together, communities can take more control over the future of their high streets \u2013 if the right support is there.<\/p>\n To learn more about Power to Change\u2019s work on high streets, visit our Take Back the High Street campaign page.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Community businesses could succeed in revitalising Britain\u2019s high streets \u2013 with the right support. New research by the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University explores how.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":58076,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":" You can learn from things going wrong as well as things going right. Power to Change is committed to supporting community businesses to take action on climate change and to respond to the cost of living crisis in their communities. We have been supporting innovative post-subsidy business models for community energy businesses through the Next Generation programme. Here are a set of case studies on five projects that didn\u2019t quite work out as planned but which generated considerable learning along the way. These projects will provide invaluable learning for other community businesses considering similar approaches. The projects are:<\/p> While the LED lighting project was ultimately successful and has potential to be rolled out by other community businesses, the others did not go ahead as planned, for a variety of reasons detailed in the case studies. Nevertheless, there\u2019s a lot of learning in the nitty gritty of the business models explored by these groups. In addition to the case studies themselves, the projects have shared a wealth of financial models, legal agreements and templates that other community businesses can use. These resources, and final reports by each of these projects, are available here<\/a>.<\/p> Key themes emerging from these case studies are the potential for partnership working between local authorities, housing providers, private companies and community energy businesses, to tackle the Climate Emergency. And the challenges that new and complex business models pose for community energy businesses, in terms of risk management, insurance and legal agreements.<\/p> Find out more about these projects, and other Next Generation projects, at CEE\u2019s Summer Conference in Bristol on Saturday 18th<\/sup> June (link). And watch this space for further case studies on the remaining six Next Generation projects later this year.<\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[340],"tags":[338,412],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58037"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
From symbolic spaces to the people running them<\/h2>\n
What can community businesses do to regenerate high streets?<\/h2>\n
An old building finds new life: the case of Hastings Commons<\/h2>\n
How government can support community businesses on the high street<\/h2>\n
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