Closure of High Street Services: Rural Areas Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Business and Trade
Carla Lockhart
Main Page: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)Department Debates - View all Carla Lockhart's debates with the Department for Business and Trade
Closure of High Street Services: Rural Areas
Carla Lockhart Excerpts(1 day, 14 hours ago)
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Manuela Perteghella (Stratford-on-Avon) (LD)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Furniss. I thank my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) for securing this important debate.
Across rural areas, including in my constituency of Stratford-on-Avon, we are seeing too many high streets lined with empty shops, despite strong demand from small businesses eager to establish themselves. We have sadly seen announcements of Lloyds Bank closing branches in Alcester and Shipston-on-Stour We have been promised a banking hub for Alcester, and now we need to ensure that banking services are kept in Shipston.
Our small businesses are the backbones of the rural economy, and they are struggling. That is not just an issue of declining footfall, but of landlords who are holding out for unrealistic rents, and the current business rates regime.
Carla Lockhart (Upper Bann) (DUP)
The hon. Member will know that many shops have been resilient to increased costs over recent years, but does she agree that the hike in national insurance contributions and increase in wage in the recent Budget have created a cliff edge for businesses? We will see the hospitality sector fall over, and there needs to be a bespoke support package in place for those businesses.
Manuela Perteghella
I completely agree. Many hospitality businesses have written to me about the damage from the hike in national insurance contributions.
Prime retail spaces have been left unused while our rural economy struggles. The old BHS building in Stratford-upon-Avon, which is located at one of the town’s principal gateways, has been left empty and derelict for almost 10 years. Local authorities must be given powers to step in and act. Strengthening compulsory purchase powers is a step in the right direction, allowing communities to take back control of neglected properties and revitalise their high streets. High street rental auctions will make a difference on empty properties up and down the country, and I hope to see them rolled out in my constituency soon. With the right support, our rural towns and villages can become thriving hubs of local enterprise, boosting the economy, social inclusion and community spirit.