The British Retail Consortium has launched a high-profile campaign to save Britain’s high streets. Noting that average voids on the high street had risen three-fold since last autumn to 12 per cent, BRC director general Stephen Robertson warned that some retail destinations were now approaching a tipping point, and might prove beyond repair if they are not given urgent help.

As the party political conference season approaches, the BRC will be using its new report to inform policy discussions and to marshal political support behind its campaign.

“We need to address the health of the high street early on,” said Robertson, who went on to identify a number of key symptoms of decline.

First is the vacancy rate, which in some locations is as high as 40 per cent. Second is footfall. “This has been in decline for decades. If it becomes worse we’ll see structural change,” Robertson warned. And third is the crime rate. “As a high street goes into decline the crime rate goes up. But reducing crime helps bring back footfall,” he said.

Alliance Boots has become the first major retailer to lend its support to the campaign. Alex Gourlay, chief executive of the retailer’s health & beauty division, said: “Boots has been on the high street for 160 years and with 2,500 branches we are represented on every high street. Our commitment is to keep the high street at the forefront as a vibrant place for people to shop and spend their leisure time.

“Inevitably there are always going to be winners and losers. In ten years’ time some high streets will be vibrant again but others will be a shadow of their former selves. It’s the ones in the middle – those at the tipping point – that can have a future provided they are properly aligned with their catchments,” he continued,

Gourlay said that high street decline is not a new problem, and there are tried and tested remedies. But he said action was needed urgently. “In every recession the high street comes under pressure,” he said. “We know from experience what measures can work, but partnership and co-ordination is essential. Government, retailers and other interested parties need to work together.”

Robertson said that soaring property costs are putting many high street retailers under pressure. “Property accounts for a third of the typical retailer’s cost, so business rates are having a huge impact. Our biggest request is that the Uniform Business Rate should be based on the reality of today, not on what’s happened in the past.”

And the BRC called on landlords to play their part in promoting a renaissance on the high street. “Landlords are absolutely critical,” said Gourlay. “I think filling vacant units is the most positive thing they could do, and we need to see events and marketing that create a vibrant mall or high street.

And Robertson called for property owners to be brought into the BID system: “We mustn’t forget that a better high street creates a better investment regime. There really isn’t a cigarette paper between us and the landlords on this.”

The British Property Federation gave the move qualified support. Its press spokesman, Andrew Teacher, said: “We’re seeing first-hand how a lack of consumer confidence is killing off retailers and ministers must do everything to avoid a generation of ‘ghost towns’. While we can’t support shops with out-of-date business models, we must avoid undermining the recovery with short- sighted tax hits. Plugging budgetary holes by ramping up business rates will only cause the roof to cave in on a vital part of our economy. From construction workers to cashiers, retail employs thousands of people and the government should take a long hard look at the damage it has done through empty property taxes and look again at hiking up business rates.”

But Rupert Clarke, chief executive of Hermes who took over as BPF president last week, said: “Landlords are coming under increasing pressure to make concessions and it is our responsibility to be flexible and to support our customers as they struggle to save their businesses. It is clear that a large proportion of the BPF are committed to taking a responsible approach to challenges facing occupiers. However, many property owners are facing similar or even greater financial challenges which should be recognised when establishing an appropriate balance between the parties.”

The BCSC also threw its weight behind the campaign. Executive director Ed Cooke said: “Our members have been actively pursuing innovative uses for empty units for some time – including offering stores as showrooms under short-term arrangements, as well as entering into leasing arrangements with charities and the public sector.

“We will continue working with Government and other industry bodies to pursue ways of moderating the effects of increasing occupancy costs on the retail property industry, as well as ways to secure the future of retail-led regeneration so that the long term benefits to local communities of retail property investment is realised.”

The BRC report highlights Rotherham as a successful example where co-operation is leading to positive benefits. The town has launched a Business Vitality Grants Scheme to support retailers and the BRC report noted: “It is too early to gauge the impact. However, it is clear that approaches like this have the potential to reduce the burden on retailers and make a valuable contribution to the viability of our high streets.”

In addition Rotherham is offering help with parking: the launch of the Free after 3 initiative has already seen initial footfall increase, and been welcomed by retailers. To make things easier still for shoppers the council is also looking into changing how long people can stay in some on-street parking spaces as well as introducing short-stay-only parking on the lower floors of the centre’s multistorey car parks – the Interchange and the council-owned Wellgate.

Rotherham is also following BRC advice by focusing on attractive public spaces, boosted by a marketing and events plan to improve footfall and the appearance of the centre. Activities carried out, based on shoppers’ feedback, include an increase in town-centre planting and a concentrated effort on improving the appearance of the centre’s vacant units while they remain unoccupied.

At the same time Rotherham is working with South Yorkshire Police to reduce crime. The past year saw less than one shoplifting incident a day reported and, overall, reported incidents have been cut by 12 per cent – largely thanks to the Business Against Crime Partnership initiative.

Rotherham has also introduced Click-Backs, a free marketing initiative available to all businesses in the centre to advertise their discounts on its town-centre website. It enables shoppers to print off vouchers and use them in the participating shops.