A House of Lords committee envisages that thriving high streets will be less dependent on retail in future, although shops will remain key to their success.
A new report entitled High Streets: life beyond retail? by the Lords’ Built Environment Committee, chaired by Lord Moylan, makes a raft of recommendations to help ensure high streets “continue to be the centre of communities in the future”.
Variety, safety and accessibility – including by car – were among the vital characteristics identified, which should be supported by, for instance, improvements to how local authorities access high street project funding and business rates reform.
Lord Moylan said: “Retail will always be important, but people want to see a variety of businesses and other services such as NHS diagnostic centres and libraries on their high street. And they can’t be successful if there isn’t a convenient way, both by public transport and by car, to get to them.”
The committee found that young people, particularly women, often feel unsafe on their local high streets. “Adequate street lighting, clear sightlines and ‘eyes on the street’, as well as a mix of uses including residential and those open into the night, can help to contribute to safer-feeling spaces,” the Lords noted.
Other groups are put off by lack of facilities. The study heard evidence that “access to public toilets is particularly important for the elderly and families with young children. If they are not available it can stop them visiting their local high street, or reduce the amount of time they spend there”.
Efforts by the previous government to boost high streets “were not well co-ordinated”, according to the committee, which advised that the new government “should recognise that local authority bidding for central funding has become expensive and wasteful and consider replacing that approach with a transparent system of funding distribution that commands greater confidence”.
The report welcomed the government’s review of business rates and said: “As part of the review the government should consider and simplify the range of business rates relief.
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