Revitalising Town Centres and High Streets

Dr Chris Adams (Vice Chair, FCC); Aide: Baroness Teather; Hall Aide: Dionne Daniel

Submitted by: Federal Policy Committee
Mover: Daisy Cooper MP (Spokesperson for the Treasury).
Summation: Cllr Katie Mansfield (Chair of the Policy Working Group).

Conference understands that town centres and high streets are the beating heart of communities up and down the country, places that people love and become attached to, places that give a sense of local pride and places that can support local economic, social and environmental needs. Conference recognises that many town centres and high streets have been allowed to go into disrepair, with empty shops, cracked pavements, traffic jams and waste strewn across the streets.

Conference believes that, to create a successful town centre, it must be:

1. Fair: Welcoming spaces that are socially inclusive and accessible to everyone.
2. Economically Successful: Places that feel alive with opportunity, where independent businesses thrive day and night, weekday and weekend and resilience is built through a diversity of uses.
3. Social: An opportunity to connect, for all ages and backgrounds, with activities and infrastructure that supports health, wellbeing and community pride.
4. Local: Rooted in the needs of local people, supporting local businesses, and creating meaningful jobs, especially for young people building their futures.
5. Sustainable: Designed for the future, with clean transport options, green spaces and inbuilt climate resilience.
6. Clean and Safe: Environments where people feel secure and comfortable spending time and where businesses have the confidence to locate.

Conference wishes to reimagine town centres, not as relics of the past but as places for everyone to live, connect and belong, places that inspire local pride today and for generations to come.

Conference therefore endorses the policies set out in policy paper 162, Revitalising Town Centres and High Streets, and in particular welcomes its proposals to:

1. Reduce vacancy rates by:
   1. A temporary emergency cut to VAT for hospitality, accommodation and attractions.
   2. A review of the cumulative effects of taxation on the High Street.
   3. Improving access to competitive energy deals.
   4. Reforming business rates to reward occupancy and community value.
   5. Requiring landlords, especially these from overseas, to publish contact details and a named contact in the UK.
   6. Strengthening the 'Town Centre First' principle in national planning policy, including an 'Out of Town Levy'.
   7. Encouraging homes above shops.
2. Create the spaces the community wants on- and offline by:
   1. Making it easier to convert vacant units into community hubs, without full planning change of use.
   2. Creating a national digital infrastructure designed to support local enterprise, a platform that can be available for local adaptations and branding.
   3. Giving councils powers to designate Independent Shop Zones within their local plan, locally defined areas that protect and champion small, locally-owned businesses.
   4. Closing loopholes that incentivise landlords to lease property to shell companies or businesses with no credible trading activity, and tighten anti-money laundering (AML) duties for commercial lettings, requiring landlords and agents to carry out proportional, risk-based AML checks.
3. Create distinctive design and better accessibility by:
   1. Promoting public transport and active travel options.
   2. Reviewing the impact of parking charges to provide guidance for councils to support more flexible, targeted approaches that can support footfall, in particular during evenings and weekends.
   3. Making dedicated funds available for local authorities that want to deliver high-quality high street pedestrianisation projects.
   4. Establishing a National Centre for Design and Placemaking to support local authorities through providing design support, guidance and training for local authorities, championing good design and sustainability across all regions.
   5. Initiating an annual national 'Amazing High Streets' competition to celebrate the outstanding design of public spaces.
4. Drive footfall and bring high streets to life by:
   1. Establishing a High Street Culture and Community Fund delivered in partnership with the Arts Council and local authorities to give ongoing support to community-led cultural initiatives and local events.
   2. Establishing a national Incubator Fund to support the creation and early-stage development of locally designed festivals.
   3. Backing creative start-ups and cultural enterprises.
5. Tackle the lack of sustainable investment by:
   1. Establishing High Street Improvement Districts (HSIDs) led by a locally- agreed board representing the cross section of interests, including representation from the local council, which would be charged with creating a long term vision for the town centre, supported with a joined-up roadmap, curator and communication plan.
   2. Creating a 'High Streets Back Home' scheme as a defined and accessible route for people to give back, to invest in the future of their community, whether by supporting community asset purchases, restoring heritage buildings or backing local enterprise space.
6. Tackle safety, anti-social behaviour and shop theft by:
   1. Building features that discourage anti-social behaviour (such as strategic lighting) into the design of town centres.
   2. Supporting small businesses to invest in CCTV.
   3. Offering digital tools as collective procurement bundles, making them accessible for small businesses, such as a WhatsApp instant alert system for businesses, Business Improvement District teams, and community wardens that flags offenders, patterns and risks in real time.
   4. Calling on the National Crime Agency to establish a dedicated unit to liaise with local authorities and police forces to take on organised shoplifting gangs.

Applicability: England only, except for 1. a) and b) (lines 34-37) which are Federal.

Mover and summation combined: 16 minutes; mover and summation of amendments: 4 minutes; all other speakers: 3 minutes. For eligibility and procedure for speaking in this debate, see pages 15-16 of the agenda. You can submit a speaker's card online here.

In addition to speeches from the platform, voting members will be able to make concise (maximum one-minute) interventions from the floor during the debate on the motion. See pages 14 and 16 of the agenda for further information

The deadline for amendments to this motion is 13.00 Monday 2 March; you can submit amendments online here, see pages 13 of the agenda for more information. Those selected for debate will be printed in Conference Extra and Saturday’s Conference Daily. The deadline for requests for separate votes is 09.00 Thursday 12 March; you can request separate votes here, see page 14 of the agenda for more information.