Andrew Gwynne
Main Page: Andrew Gwynne (Labour (Co-op) - Gorton and Denton)
Mr Pickles
My hon. Friend illustrates my point. I hope those families enjoy their new property and will come to see it as something that a different Government were able to deliver in a different way.
Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)
2. What steps he is taking to encourage use of empty shops not covered by the Portas pilot scheme or the high street innovation fund.
Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)
11. What steps he is taking to encourage use of empty shops not covered by the Portas pilot scheme or the high street innovation fund.
The Minister for Housing and Local Government (Grant Shapps)
Addressing the issue of empty shops is one of the priorities for the industry-led taskforce set up as a response to the Portas pilots. We are also encouraging landlords to make empty shops available for meanwhile use, and have introduced the community right to bid, to help local people sustain their vital community assets.
Andrew Gwynne
The Portas pilot is a great boost for Stockport, and I have seen some of the good work done there, particularly during the recent “Love your local market” fortnight. However, there is a record number of empty shops in the town centres of this country—about 24,000. Just how many of those does the Minister expect to see filled as a result of the many initiatives that he has announced?
Grant Shapps
As the hon. Gentleman will recognise, the Portas review suggested 28 different steps. We have accepted almost all those, and one of the things we added to the list was a £10 million fund that directly helped to bring empty shops back into use. That is £5 million more than was proposed by his party.