By PM plans to revive struggling town centres in new government bill
Boris Johnson is set to unveil plans to help struggling town centres in his Queen’s speech next week.
He will announce plans to restore neighbourhood pride and reduce the number of derelict shop fronts by giving councils new powers.
The Levelling Up And Regeneration Bill would give councils the power to hold compulsory rental auctions on shops that have been vacant for more than a year to make them available to prospective tenants.
According to figures from the British Retail Consortium, one in seven shops are vacant, with as many as a fifth empty in the North East.
Many have lost tenants due to high rental and business rates, as well as a fall in demand as shoppers move online.
Councils will also have greater power to use compulsory purchase orders to deliver housing, regeneration schemes and infrastructure.
Other ideas include making pavement cafes a permanent part of town centres.
Mr Johnson said: “High streets up and down the country have long been blighted by derelict shopfronts, because they’ve been neglected, stripping opportunity from local areas.
“We are putting that right by placing power back in the hands of local leaders and the community so our towns can be rejuvenated, levelling up opportunity and restoring neighbourhood pride.”
Levelling Up Secretary, Michael Gove, said: “By empowering local communities to rent out shops which have been sat empty for a year or longer, we will end the scourge of boarded up shops that have blighted some of our great towns across the country for far too long.”
Other measures expected in the package include a Brexit Freedoms Bill to make it easier to scrap EU laws, and a Bill of Rights to replace the Human Rights Act.
