The review into the future of Britain's high streets, conducted by Mary Portas, has been published by BIS, the business department. The Portas Review acknowledges the challenges facing high-street retail, from the growth in online retailing to the rise of the supermarkets and the expansion of out-of-town retail parks, and set outs 28 recommendations to try and tackle some of these problems. These include:
- Empower successful Business Improvement Districts to take on more responsibilities and powers and become “Super-BIDs”
- Make it easier for people to become market traders by removing unnecessary regulations so that anyone can trade on the high street unless there is a valid reason why not
- Support imaginative community use of empty properties through Community Right to Buy, Meanwhile Use and a new “Community Right to Try”
- Make explicit a presumption in favour of town centre development in the wording of the National Planning Policy Framework
The Portas Review has generally been well-received (see here for examples) but from our point of view it is disappointing to note that culture's potential role in reviving high streets gets only limited coverage. Portas says in her introduction that "I want to put the heart back into the centre of our high streets, re-imagined as destinations for socialising, culture, health, wellbeing, creativity and learning." but, apart from brief mentions of the Meanwhile Project, Coventry Artspace and Brixton Village, she doesn't really return to culture and creativity in the remainder of her report (though she does thank Urban Pollinators in particular for their contribution - we have blogged about their work before). While Portas cannot, of course, cover everything in her report, this is something of a missed opportunity.
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