Growth is firmly on the agenda for George Osborne’s much anticipated Autumn Statement next week and the Chancellor is under increasing pressure to ease business rates on the high street.

Growth is firmly on the agenda for George Osborne’s much anticipated Autumn Statement next week and the Chancellor is under increasing pressure to ease business rates on the high street.

Just this week, Bill Grimsey wrote an open letter to the Chancellor, urging the government to freeze rates next year and overhaul the entire system.

It goes without saying that business rates contribute to a heavy burden weighing on Britain’s retail sector.

However, it’s too easy to pin the blame on one particular sticking point when there are in fact, a number of factors in play.

Over the past 10 years, the retail sector has been through the toughest restructuring of any industry in UK history. Never before has a sector been through such a dramatic change of operating model – with the lurch from bricks-and-mortar stores to multichannel.

Rapid technological advances and the 2008 credit crunch led consumers to change their habits at light-speed, with retailers having to completely overhaul their business models in real time.

As we know all too well, many have been left behind – Blockbuster, HMV, Comet and Jessops spring to mind. The fallout from this large-scale restructuring has left a range of void rates across high streets the length and breadth of the country, with vacancy rates still high in many towns and cities beyond the M25.

As the Government implements policies to foster business growth, it needs to take this turmoil into account. Retailers need a break, and the Chancellor certainly has the power to cushion the sector through this delicate period of change by easing the burden of business rates and relaxing planning application red tape.

However, we have to remember that the Government is restricted in its actions – there’s only so much that policy alone can achieve.

What’s needed is some real constructive dialogue. In the past few years, the Government has commissioned a number of reviews and many commentators have publically come forward with various big ideas to ‘save’ the high street.

Here, time could be better spent by building a forum where all the various interest groups come together. This forum needs to involve influencers who lead our retailers – the Lord Wolfsons, Marc Bollands and Charlie Mayfields of this world, for instance – as well as representatives from local authorities and consumer groups.

This group is key – we need to be asking shoppers what they want from their high streets. Only then will we be able to come up with any long-term solutions to help both Britain’s retailers and town centres flourish in the years to come.

  • Dan Coen, director, Zolfo Cooper