Extra money for High Streets unlikely to go very far
It’s not quite City Challenge. And it’s not Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, despite the offer of a “golden ticket“. But on Saturday the Government unveiled that a £1 million fund aimed to revitalising the High Streets of twelve towns or cities. Housing Minister Grant Shapps has even made a YouTube video about it.
We’ve stated our position on the Portas Review in previous posts. In essence, the High Street is only one part of a strong city centre. So any efforts to boost the High Street are likely to be hamstrung if retail is the only reason for people to go to the city centre.
Even setting aside the scepticism about the approach, the money set aside for the “Portas Pilots” is fairly small beer – £1 million spread amongst twelve places isn’t going to go very far. The fundamental issue that these places face is that they do not have consistent footfall to support retail. And they are unlikely to be fixed with £80,000 to improve the appearance of some shop fronts or setting up a weekly market. We’ll be addressing these issues in forthcoming work which looks to build on last year’s partner city report on Preston.
In the meantime, interested applicants have until 30 March to submit their application (which also requires the submission of a YouTube video) to be in with a chance of winning a “golden ticket”.
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