The Prime Minister spoke of breathing new life into town centres at the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre in Coventry, expanding on the Government’s strategy to regenerate and support high streets. The main focus of this long-term plan will be to revive town centres through the transformation of derelict buildings, cleaning up the streets and reinforcing a sense of community.
Local authorities will be given compulsory purchase order powers to take over the ownership of derelict buildings for regeneration. This provides councils with opportunities to transform towns and take control of buildings if landlords stall on regeneration plans.
Authorities are still encouraged to utilise their existing powers to convert empty offices into houses and shops into entertainment venues or new thriving businesses. Regeneration projects will be funded by Town Deals, totalling £335 million spread across 15 contracts. This money will fund projects such as those to transform underutilised river fronts to community hub areas and to repurpose empty high street shops.
The continuation of the Mini-Hollands scheme will see increased sustainability through investment into greener forms of transport, encouraging cycling and walking by increasing the number of pedestrianised areas, segregating cycle lanes on main roads, and introducing more public open green spaces.
To tackle the litter issues across town centres, gum producers are funding a new taskforce to eradicate chewing gum from the streets. By investing £10 million from now until 2026, gum producers fund councils to employ street cleaners and will support schemes aimed at preventing littering.
Not only will this strategy regenerate high streets, but it also strives to encourage a sense of place and community. National High Street Day and street parties for occasions such as The Commonwealth Games and The Queens Platinum Jubilee will be encouraged to allow communities to take pride in their local region. The hospitality industry will be boosted by the extension of the pavement licensing system for an additional 12 months, with the view of making this permanent. This will allow shops, cafes, and restaurants to utilise outdoor spaces that were previously off limits.
Overall, the changes made to towns and high streets should enable communities to feel a greater sense of place and councils will be gifted more control over how they can support and enact town centre regeneration.