Empty shops to be turned into community centres

Tuesday, 14 April 2009 10:31 AM

Shops left empty by the recession should be turned into community centres and art galleries to stop them attracting crime, according to a new government initiative.

The communities secretary, Hazel Blears, will announce the measures later today.

Some £3 million of funding, faster planning procedures and standard short-term leases will all be introduced to make the programme possible. There will also be extra powers to help councils take over premises.

"Town centres are the heartbeat of every community and businesses are the foundation so it is vital that they remain vibrant places for people to meet and shop throughout the downturn," Hazel Blears will say.

"Empty shops can be eyesores or crime magnets.

"Our ideas for reviving town centres will give communities the know how to temporarily transform vacant premises into something innovative for the community - a social enterprise, a showroom for local artists or an information centre - and stop the High Street being boarded up."

Councillor Margaret Eaton, chairman of the Local Government Association, said: "If ever there is an image that symbolises the times we are in, it is desolate town centres with rows of empty shops where once there were small local retailers, a Woolworths or a Zavvi.

"Decisive action must be taken to stop our high streets turning from clone towns into ghost towns."

But the British Property Federation (BPF) have reacted angrily to the announcement, saying an estimated 15 per cent of shops will be empty by Christmas and about 2,500 post offices will be lost over the next 18 months, reducing the total number from 14,300 to about 11,800.

BPF chief executive Liz Peace, said: "This is typical government spin, turning a situation of property owners being left with liabilities into an excuse to hold a craft fair. Surely it would make more sense to help firms to not go out of business in the first place and ensure that, should this happen, the landlord isn't then further penalized by empty rates which is a tax on hardship?

"While today's measures may be of help to a small handful of shops, what the public actually wants is an end to empty rates - which are the business equivalent of making the unemployed pay income tax."

Stephen Robertson, director general of the British Retail Consortium, added: "Confidence in a community comes from a vibrant, economically successful, town centre.

"Clearly there's a need for information centres and play groups but local economies need shops to be filled with thriving retailers supporting real jobs."

Tags:
• uk property news