Community businesses and high streets: \u2018taking back\u2019 and leading forward<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, community businesses (businesses that are owned and run by and for their local communities) are already contributing to high street regeneration, increasing footfall by offering spaces and services that differ from the traditional retail model, with the potential to go even further. The research has found that community businesses support new and emerging forms of economic activity; slow down and prevent gentrification; create clusters of activity supporting other businesses; create conditions that support high street revitalisation and support the development of policy and funding to better support high streets.\u00a0<\/p>Recent research by Power to Change and the Local Data Company found that a record 16 per cent of shops on Britain\u2019s high streets stand empty, and one in every twenty vacant units have been shuttered up for more than three years. The report found that the future of the high street is a persistent challenge that has unfolded in the UK over several decades and is not amenable to short-term solutions. High streets face the complex and knotty challenges of changing retail trends; dysfunctional property ownership; the erosion of local government; changing patterns of consumption; digital transformation; and climate risks.\u00a0<\/p>
The report adds to growing evidence that shows a community-led high street is a central element of the solution to these challenges. Community-owned spaces contribute \u00a3220m to the UK economy, and 56p of every \u00a31 they spend stays in the local economy, compared with just 40p for large private sector firms. Where there is community ownership on a high street, vacancy rates are reduced. Importantly, these spaces provide affordable, appropriate services and products for the community \u2013 they more nimbly meet shifting local demand than traditional high street occupants.\u00a0<\/p>
Community businesses and high streets: \u2018taking back\u2019 and leading forward<\/em><\/strong> paves a path forward for Government to regenerate our high streets, recommending:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>- Prioritise use value over land value in regeneration schemes\u00a0<\/li>
- Incentivise partnership rather than competition \u2013 long term finance, awarded at least in part on the depth of collaboration involved, needs to become the norm\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>
- Support revenue spending as well as capital programmes \u2013 investing in places begins with investing in people\u00a0<\/li>
- Start to address long-term challenges such as local government finance and property law \u2013these cannot be repaired on an ad-hoc and piecemeal basis<\/li><\/ul>
The report also makes further recommendations for local authorities, property owners and agents, community businesses and funders to support high streets.\u00a0<\/p>
Dr Julian Dobson, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research and author of the report, said<\/strong>: \u201cMany aspects of the systems that influence the vitality of high streets and town centres are dysfunctional and not amenable to short-term solutions. They will require political choices with wide-ranging impacts. This report instead demonstrates that many opportunities and challenges that are available within the system that exists now, and lays bare the importance of community businesses in making the most of them.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>Nick Plumb, Policy Manager at Power to Change said:<\/strong> \u201cHigh streets were once the beating hearts of our local communities, but the growth of out-of-town retail; the rise of megastores; a seismic shift towards online shopping; and more recently a cost-of-living crisis has left them vulnerable. This report makes clear what we know: that greater community ownership and involvement in the high street will push back against these worrying trends. A High Street Buyout Fund will help local people overcome the barriers they face, such as access to money at speed, in taking ownership of their high streets. We need this radical action now to ensure our much-loved community spaces survive and thrive.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>Power to Change is calling for a new \u00a3350million High Street Buyout Fund that will help local communities secure property on the high street and support a transition away from the failing retail-dominated high street to new, diversified high street that puts community in the driving seat. The fund will be designed to act quickly to purchase empty, important buildings, holding them until communities have the funds and structure to run the building for the long-term. It is specifically calling on government to invest \u00a3100million of Levelling Up Fund money to help capitalise the fund.\u00a0<\/p>
Jo Bambrough, Managing Director of Good Things Collective said:<\/strong> \u201cThe high street is often the heart of a town, what happens to the buildings there is really important. This fund could be the difference between developers coming into a town and deciding what people need, or levelling the playing field and giving communities an opportunity to do something about empty buildings. It would protect communities interests long term, and can hugely impact people\u2019s quality of life at a local level.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>A High Street Buyout Fund will be a transformational measure to help communities purchase assets on the high street, with the potential to transform over 200 neglected high street properties across the country by leveraging \u00a3250m of private and commercial and social investment against a \u00a3100m government grant.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[339],"tags":[412,415],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58121"}],"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=58121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}