High Streets (Built Environment Committee Report)

Lord Bishop of St Albans Excerpts

Tuesday 13th May 2025 Grand Committee

[The Lord Bishop of St Albans]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Gascoigne, for securing this debate, for taking over as chair of the Built Environment Committee and for his excellent opening speech. I declare my interest as a vice-president of the LGA.

I saw the impact of a can-do council appointing a town centre development officer when I became archdeacon of Stoke some 30 years ago. He would not take no for an answer. When you saw him coming, you got out your tin hat and tried to hide, because he was absolutely determined to develop what became the cultural centre of Hanley. It was an extraordinary transformation. I left some 25 years ago, and I am sure that they need to continue to develop for whatever is required now, but I saw just what the impact of that kind of appointment could be. It was an impressive piece of work.

This report is timely and educational. It is so easy when talking about the decline of the high street to hark back to some golden past, because that is probably what we all remember from years ago. But we must not expect a prosperous high street in 20 years’ time to look the same as it did 20 years ago, and we must not try to revive some version of the high street as we used to know it. The day of the retail-dominated high street, as this report demonstrates, is at least partially over, with reportedly more than 13,000 high street stores having closed in 2024. We need to be creative, innovative and imaginative in our approach to the high streets of the future, as we pivot towards a greater mix of leisure activities, restaurants and public services in our high street offer.

It is not only retail stores that have been closing in vast numbers; we have seen a cutting back of essential services, such as local bank branches and post offices. I recently spoke in a debate on the impact of the closure of high street banking services on SMEs, and the disproportionate impact that this has on the ability to open new businesses in small towns and villages. Can the Minister provide assurances that this is an issue that His Majesty’s Government are seeking to address in the forthcoming small business strategy? I am sure he is aware that some SMEs have been having a particularly difficult time of late, and I know he understands the vital role they have to play in creating strong, vibrant local communities.

I note also that in His Majesty’s Government’s response to the report, they stated that

“a fuller policy response was in development”,

and that they would have more to say on their plans to rejuvenate high streets soon. I hope that this debate can inform and shape that process, as I know there is a great deal of wisdom and expertise here in the Room today.

I will briefly make three points about the challenges of rejuvenating high streets and town centres. First, this is often a crisis that hits rural communities particularly hard, including smaller towns and high streets that may have just a few premises. I made this point in the debate in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Sharkey, on small businesses a few weeks ago, and I believe it is pertinent here too. The Government’s response to the report highlighted how the plan for change will support

“the future success of our high streets … from growing the economy to safer streets”,

as well as by devolving power away from Westminster and back into the hands of local communities through the English devolution White Paper.

However, as I have pointed out on a number of occasions, none of these policy papers or pieces of legislation has come forward with any obvious rural-proofing or evidence that the specific challenges and circumstances facing rural communities have been considered. From the National Planning Policy Framework to concerns raised about the circumstances of devolution, from rural areas subsumed into large unitary authorities to the industrial growth strategy, consideration of the needs of rural communities and businesses is being consistently neglected. This will come at a cost to the Government’s own growth mission.

I have referred in the past to the Pragmatix report commissioned by the Rural Coalition, titled Reigniting Rural Futures. It lays out an economic analysis showing the comparative underperformance of the UK’s rural economy and urban areas, compared with their European counterparts, and that the UK’s rural economy has the potential, with the proper policy framework and investment in place, to contribute a further £19 billion in tax receipts to the Exchequer.

Secondly, I want to comment briefly on the need for us to be imaginative about how we develop town centres. Here I am thinking about something that is close to my own heart: how we can maximise and use our historic buildings—among them, parish churches. Ever since I have been a bishop, I have been on a mission to try to get every one of our parish churches unlocked every day. This is not always easy. In some town centres, it is particularly difficult—you may have groups of young people who are up to mischief—but, generally, we can achieve it. Interestingly enough, Ecclesiastical Insurance, which insures most of our church buildings, prefers open churches in principle because, if a church is locked, it says that there is something valuable to pinch. We need to get people into the buildings; the more they are used, the better.

In the long term, the best solution for all our historic listed buildings is to find good everyday use. There are lots of places where churches have not only managed to open their premises but had a win-win solution, where, perhaps, some sort of glass screen has been put up in a side aisle built on in the Victorian era. I think of, for example, All Saints in Hereford and St Michael’s in Bath, which developed much-needed facilities so that they could have a small café in the back while retaining the church as a place of worship. But to do that, we need a can-do attitude from our conservation officers. Sometimes, we also need helpful pump-priming, because the issues of access and disability are often far more difficult in these ancient buildings. I believe that, if we can only find a way to work together, we can find solutions that will enhance the experience of coming to our high streets.

My third and final point is about betting shops. Some noble Lords will know that I was the person who managed to get this House’s Select Committee on the social and economic costs of gambling, and that I am proud to be a vice-president of Peers for Gambling Reform. Our town centres are full of betting premises. It almost feels as though, every time a post office or WH Smith closes, what pops up is a betting shop; we can debate whether to call them shops as it could be argued that the only product they sell is, of course, debt. Many residents and councils are fed up with them, and the evidence shows that many of these shops are concentrated in our most deprived communities. The honourable Member for Brent East in the other place, Dawn Butler, recently raised the fact that there are more gambling premises in her constituency than there are supermarkets and schools. That is surely an extraordinary state of affairs; I find it hard to believe that such a vast number of gambling premises is in anyone’s vision of an attractive high street.

I remember being interviewed on the radio when there was some threat over the closure of betting shops. I was sitting in a mobile studio outside my house. They were trying to find people; it was in Rochdale, I think. I was surprised that everybody interviewed was against having these betting shops. Afterwards, I said to the editor of the programme, “You’re going to get criticised because you weren’t being unbiased”. He said, “We couldn’t find anybody who wanted to speak for them. We’ve tried. We keep asking people to help us with it”.

The crux of this issue is the aim in the Gambling Act 2005 to permit provision, which places a legal duty on councils to aim to permit gambling. Brent Council, along with 40 other councils, is leading a campaign to reform the 2005 Act so that we can protect our high streets from being swamped by these betting shops. If the Government are serious about devolving power to local government, councils must be empowered to act on this issue.

I would be grateful if the Minister could pass on my comments to his colleagues in the DCMS and the DHSC —arguably, this issue cuts across the MHCLG too. If we are serious about growth and regenerating our high streets, we need to tackle the unprecedented surge in gambling premises, which take money out of those local communities and send it elsewhere. The evidence is that, if you decrease the number of premises, more money will be spent locally. We need to address this issue.