City and Town Centres: Regeneration

James Naish Excerpts

Wednesday 16th October 2024 Westminster Hall

[Vikki Slade]

I will come to business rates later, and I absolutely agree that meanwhile use is important.

The out-of-town shopping centre was such a catastrophe because it was cost-effective for major retailers to go there as they did not need to navigate the town centre traffic, there was no need to maintain historic or awkward buildings—the hon. Member for Macclesfield (Tim Roca) spoke about the difficulties with his Marks and Spencer—and customers and staff could be given free parking. We are seeing similar mistakes in my constituency of Mid Dorset and North Poole: low-cost supermarkets are buying up seemingly easy plots on the edge of town, forcing everyone into their cars to visit, rather than investing in underused or empty awkward town centre units. Central Government might be able to invest in them in order to drive people into town.

[James Naish (Rushcliffe) (Lab)]

I was the leader of Bassetlaw district council. Bassetlaw was the home of Wilko, which of course went under two summers ago. Only a month or so later, the Government announced that 55 towns would get £20 million to create shiny projects. Does the hon. Lady agree that we should think differently about retail units that play a social function, as well as an economic function, in our town centres?

[Vikki Slade]

I am delighted that Poole was one of the places to get its Wilko back a little while ago—that was a great celebration. The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right: some town centre units are anchor spaces, and planning and financial levers such as allowing councils to keep their locally generated business rates could transform them by allowing them to work with businesses. Currently, councils have to back-fill those lost business rates sent to the Treasury; council tax payers fund that, which is a big ask for them.

As many Members have said, business rates must be an urgent priority from the Government—