Retail property leaders in Mary Portas summit
Published: 10 October, 2011
Leading lights of the retail property industry told Mary Portas that local and central Government must take decisive action to save Britain’s town centres.
Speaking before a meeting organised by BCSC, the group’s President Richard Akers said high streets are the “heartbeat of local communities” and their success had a “huge impact” on people’s attitude to where they live and work.
Mr Akers, who chaired the meeting, said: “Some of our towns and cities have undoubtedly failed to evolve in response to technological innovation, changing consumer preferences and retailers’ modifying their property requirements. Because of this they have struggled to remain relevant to their customer base.
“We believe this failure to evolve is a consequence of a number of factors including fragmented property ownership in town centres, poor planning and a lack of local leadership, along with inflexible and high business rate costs.
“We are recommending to Mary that local authorities, working with the business community, need to show leadership in grappling with these issues. They must be encouraged to use the planning system, compulsory purchase powers and direct or indirect investment to facilitate change and breathe life back into ailing towns and cities.”
Mr Akers was joined at the meeting, held as part of Mary Portas’s independent town centres review, by senior figures from the industry, representing the likes of John Lewis Partnership, Hammerson, Capital & Regional and JD Sports.
Mr Akers continued: “We strongly believe that central Government should immediately reinstate tax relief for empty property. The current regime is harmful for retailers, landlords and ultimately communities as it simply sucks away money that could be otherwise invested to create attractive and relevant places.”
BCSC also reiterated its call for a stronger ‘town centres first’ policy for retail development as part of the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), along with the inclusion of office development in a town centres first policy.
