Taking care of our high streets takes action and creative thinking

From an article from the Guardian, some ideas on how the apparent collapse of the British High Street can be arrested with some creative thinking and some actual action by councils and government.

Some of these key points are from Mary Portas and some from NEF's Andrew Simms, author of Tescopoly. All seem eminently do-able and needed sooner rather than later. Worth revisiting them in the light of the closing of Blockbusters in Crouch End, and the spread of the betting shops and money shops in Wood Green, as well as Green Lanes own troubles with bookies. The third point below, for example, seems applicable to the Coliseum's predicament. 

Councils could :

• use the discount they're allowed to offer on business rates to encourage independent startups;
• make more use of compulsory purchase powers to encourage redevelopment and regeneration where properties are sitting empty;
• put pressure on landlords to provide alternatives to the traditional "upward only" rent structure, which drives out even successful independents in favour of big chains with deep pockets and greater bargaining power.

At a national level:

• removing the tax relief on empty properties for landlords who are not actively investing in their buildings.
• a public register of property ownership, so that local people can find out who to blame for rotting shop fronts.

Creatively:

• a need to re-imagine high streets as places where we "do more than shop: learn, meet, exchange and borrow things, get services, get and make entertainment".
• A need to rescue the decline of the proper pub to bring people to town centre