I have welcomed over £24,500 to clean up high streets across South Oxfordshire, as the Government spends almost £10 million across England to improve local high streets.
The funding will improve the quality of high streets across the country, helping to attract more residents and visitors so that local businesses can continue to thrive. It will be used to buy tools such as litter pickers and brushes, as well as providing training for residents on how to remove graffiti or tackle fly-tipping.
The release of the funding coincides with High Street Saturday, a new national campaign day to celebrate the place of the high street at the heart of communities across the country.
I was out speaking to local people and visiting businesses in Henley and Thame, encouraging people to pledge to shop locally. I will also speak to South Oxfordshire District Council about making good use of the Future High Streets Fund – a £675 million pot of money to help local areas modernise their high streets and town centres.
High streets have long been a place to bring communities together, a place for local people to access vital services and a place for businesses to thrive. But, the Government recognises that it is becoming harder for businesses on high streets across the country to compete with out-of-town shopping centres and online retailers. That's why the Conservatives in government have been:
- Providing £10 million to help local areas clean up their high streets, making them more attractive places to work and visit. Every local authority in England is to receive a share of a £9.7 million fund to back their efforts in cleaning up high streets and town centres (Daily Mail, 16 March 2019, archived).
- Cutting small retailers' bills by a third and taking 600,000 businesses out of paying business rates altogether, so our local businesses are able to provide more local jobs to their communities. Our £1.5 billion package announced at the 2018 Budget to support high streets builds on our strong record of over £10 billion of business rates support since 2016 (MHCLG, Press release, 24 January 2019, link).
- Backing community leaders with £675 million of funding to help modernise their high streets and town centres. The Future High Streets Fund will empower leaders on the ground who know their communities best to transforming our town centres into the thriving community hubs of the future (MHCLG, Press release, 26 December 2018, link).
- Relaxing planning rules to support new homes on our high streets to transform them into community hubs where people work, live and shop. There are currently over 27,000 premises lying vacant in England's town centres, if just a fraction of these vacant premises were turned into homes, thousands more people could have a roof over their head. We are also linking landlords to vacant retail units so we transform empty spaces into much needed housing for local people (MHCLG, Press release, 7 November 2018, link).
- Establishing an expert panel to diagnose issues that affect out high streets and advise on how to make them thrive. Chaired by Sir John Timpson, Chairman of Timpson, the multiple service retailer, the panel will focus on what consumers and local communities want from their high streets (MHCLG, Press Release, 16 July 2018, link).
- Rejuvenating the high streets with the Great British High Street Awards and supporting businesses through the Future High Street Forum. The Forum is a partnership between government, retail and property industries to restructure town centres and support the digital high street. (TheGreatBritishHighStreet, 17 October 2017, link; DCLG, Press release, 30 November 2015, link).
Today's funding will make it easier for local communities to enhance their local high streets, and make sure that they are places where the community can come together.
Commenting, I said:
"Our high streets in Henley and Thame and in villages in the constituency are at the heart of our local community. I know that times have been challenging for many town centres lately, and this area is no different. That's why I am delighted to be supporting High Street Saturday – I have been out urging local people to shop locally and talking to businesses about the support available to them. Today's funding will ensure that we keep high streets here looking their best, making it easier to encourage more people to return to the high street."
Notes
- Saturday 16 March was a national campaign day to celebrate the high street. Communities Secretary James Brokenshire recently told a conference: 'I can tell you today there will be a national campaign day on Saturday 16 March in support of the high street ... and like me, I expect you all to be out there, making the case for the Great British High Street' (James Brokenshire speech to CCA conference, 22 February 2019, archived).