Just in case you didn’t catch this programme on ITV last night...Jonathan Maitland goes off in search of answers to the Is the high street in terminal decline? question. Of course many of the reasons he finds are universal – car parking, lack of investment in the public realm, internet, lack of strategic town management and are ones highlighted in the BID 5 point plan letter to the PM and Mary Portas and it was interesting that the more successful towns are not only ones addressing such issues but ones that have a strong independent/nationals ratio. Rotherham Council’s Grant scheme to entice new businesses is one to look at in more depth...
Mary Portas’s points at the end of the interview were pertinent – the notion of ‘community’ high streets (very similar to the discussion we had Jonathan, RG with Andy Godfrey from Boots/British BIDS), the need for much more integrated holistic town management frameworks, the need for towns to be much cleverer in identifying what is unique/special/their USP, the need for legislative review to force the issue with landlords who don’t play ball with physical improvements/empty units ...
Mary Portas will be attending the All Party Parliament Town Centre select committee meeting at Houses of Parliament that I have been invited to attend so I will look to put forward Falmouth’s points to her and the committee then....
Richard Wilcox
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