High Street Rental Auctions

Jessica Toale Excerpts

Wednesday 26th February 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jessica Toale (Bournemouth West) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered Government policy on high street rental auctions.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. As many Members know, our high streets are the beating heart of our communities. They are not simply places where people shop. They are gathering points and cultural centres and they serve as symbols of local identity. They fuel local economies, support countless small businesses and provide many thousands of jobs. They inspire confidence in our communities and encourage residents to stay connected to the areas they live in.

For too long, our high streets have been neglected. They have become defined by the number of empty shop fronts and “to let” signs they sport, rather than by the vibrancy and the footfall that once sustained them. When people stop visiting town centres, antisocial behaviour and crime are allowed to flourish, creating vicious cycles that benefit only those looking to create disorder and discord in our communities.

Town centres were once a great source of pride for our communities, but their decline has had real consequences. We cannot deny that the retail landscape has changed, and it is a challenge to adapt to this new reality. The rise of online shopping, out-of-town retail parks and over a decade of austerity have left town centres struggling to adapt. This is a national story that I am sure Members across the House will recognise, and it is one that characterises our experience in Bournemouth West.

My constituents are rightly frustrated by the state of our town centre. It is the No. 1 issue that people bring up on the doorstep and in conversation. Time and again, I hear that people feel unsafe—they are worried about reports of drug use and homelessness—or that there is nothing for them to do in the town centre. Empty shops, a lack of variety and overall decline have led many people to change the way that they interact with Bournemouth, and sadly, many of my constituents have not visited the town centre in many years due to its falling reputation.

Bournemouth was once known for its vibrant shopping streets, its summer tourism and its cultural heritage. Long-time residents yearn for the days when we could walk down the old Christchurch Road and pop into Beales or Dingles, or head over to the Westover Road, which was often referred to as the Bond Street of Bournemouth, with its luxury brands and high-end goods. That is the Bournemouth I remember from my childhood—a town that was thriving and safe. My parents never thought twice about letting me get on the bus or the train to spend the day in Bournemouth with my friends.

Over the past decade, we have seen an increasing number of shop closures and long-term vacant premises, with no apparent plan for repurposing or reuse. Changes in consumer behaviour, the arrival of Castlepoint—an out-of-town shopping centre—and the cost of living crisis have all had their part to play, and we currently face a staggering 15% vacancy rate of shop fronts, which is far above the national average. The failure to revitalise these spaces has more than just economic consequences; it has major implications for the way people feel about our town.

[Leigh Ingham (Stafford) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend for securing a debate on an important issue that is raised regularly with me in Stafford. I have spoken to a local small business owner, Alison, who is concerned about the vibrancy of Stafford high street and told me that a shop nearby had been closed for over two decades. Does my hon. Friend agree that these powers are long overdue and that by giving local authorities greater control, the Government have taken a vital first step towards revitalising our high streets?

[Jessica Toale]

The story my hon. Friend tells about the shop in her constituency is one that I am sure many of us recognise from our own. High street rental auctions can have a transformative effect in many towns around the country, and I will come on to that.

Despite the challenges we face, Bournemouth has much potential and so much to offer. Its beach was recently rated the 12th best in the world by Tripadvisor users. It has amazing examples of heritage architecture just waiting to be repurposed. If we were to design the town of the future, it would have the beautiful gardens that run like a central artery through our town, connecting the beach to the town hall.

I am pleased to say that there are lots of green shoots to celebrate. Bobby’s, in the Square, has been repurposed into a multi-use space, including Patch, a collaborative workplace for small businesses and start-ups. That has huge potential to serve as a community hub, hosting local events—including one that I am hosting next week on women’s safety in the town centre—and providing support to new entrepreneurs. The former House of Fraser building is also being converted, into student accommodation, and its large commercial space is being converted into smaller units, making them more accessible to a wide range of businesses.

The Ivy has arrived. Home-grown businesses such as Bad Hand Coffee and Naked Coffee have transformed unused spaces and are supporting an ecosystem of retail and hospitality. We have a burgeoning tech and creative industries sector, supporting the town and making use of the talent coming out of our world-leading universities and colleges. I will also namecheck Trove, Calabrese, Revival café and Brazilian Snacks. They are all local businesses making an outsize contribution to our high street. I encourage as many of my local residents as possible to rediscover and to champion all the good things that are happening in Bournemouth.

However, the scale of the challenge is still enormous. For too long, Governments have left it to the market, which has seen the managed decline of our high streets. To tackle that challenge, we require urgent action, collaboration between central and local government as well as the private sector, and creativity in how we imagine our high streets and town centres of the future—with a mix of culture, retail, hospitality and community spaces.

That is why I welcome the Government action to introduce high street rental auctions. They are taking the action that the last Government failed to take and giving local authorities the power to bring vacant commercial properties back into use. I am proud that Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council has been selected as an early adopter for the scheme.

[Catherine Atkinson (Derby North) (Lab)]

We are seeing some really exciting investment in Derby city centre, with a new performance venue, a new business school and the reopening of our market hall, but like so many city and town centres, we struggle with too many empty shops. Does my hon. Friend agree that high street rental auctions could be a really important tool in tackling empty shops, and how does she think that councils can be supported to use these new powers?

[Jessica Toale]

Yes, these auctions are a promising step forward and could be transformational for many towns across the country. I will come on to the local authority points in a moment.

The auctions require landlords to lease properties within a certain timeframe, preventing them from leaving spaces empty for years on end. The time restriction of 365 days in a 24-month period will help to tackle the persistent problem of vacant properties, which is a huge opportunity for communities such as mine in Bournemouth West. By enabling councils to take action, we can reintegrate those spaces into our high streets and bring them back to life.

However, it is crucial that we think about the long-term sustainability of this approach. I have been assured by landlords and agents in my constituency that there is a genuine desire to fill empty commercial properties, but business rates, antisocial behaviour and even parking charges constitute barriers, so to landlords it is important to say that the approach should be a tool of last resort. It is clear that such measures should be used only once a genuinely collaborative and good-faith approach between landlords and councils has been exhausted. The auctions should be seen in the context of other measures to which this Government have committed, ranging from supporting small businesses and tackling crime and antisocial behaviour in our town centres to the long-term reform of business rates. I am pleased that we are making progress on all these issues.

High street rental auctions are not just about filling vacancies. They are about creating vibrant, sustainable environments for businesses, residents and visitors alike, so can my hon. Friend the Minister provide assurances that high street rental auctions will not see our high streets filled with more vape shops and American candy shops? [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.”] They can often be fronts for money laundering and other criminal activity. Additionally, we need to ensure that our local authorities have the resources and capacity to manage these changes.

[Neil Duncan-Jordan (Poole) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend and constituency neighbour for securing this important debate. Our local authority, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council, is part of the early adopters programme for this scheme, but when I contacted it recently to ask about the number of properties that it had identified in our area that were going to be part of the scheme, it told me that it was just one. Does my hon. Friend agree with me that we need to see a more ambitious approach from local authorities for the scheme really to be worth while?

[Jessica Toale]

I thank my hon. Friend and neighbour from Poole for the intervention. I certainly hope that our local authority will take an ambitious approach and I am working very closely with it to help it to identify areas within Bournemouth town centre. BCP council has expressed concern about the cost of having to implement such measures, and the potential for expensive legal challenges it may face as a result. I would be grateful if the Minister would outline how we can mitigate some of those issues, and how the £1.5 million that has been set aside is intended to be used.

I underline that this is a moment for action. The powers granted to local councils are a great step forward, but we need to ensure that the changes are not simply superficial. We must think about how we can make our high streets and the commercial offering work for everyone —for businesses, our communities and the economy as a whole. I will continue to champion the revitalisation of our high streets in Parliament; by working together, we can ensure that our high streets become the thriving, vibrant centres that they were always meant to be.

It is fantastic to see my hon. Friends the Members for Bassetlaw (Jo White) and for Mansfield (Steve Yemm), and my hon. Friend the Member for Darlington (Lola McEvoy) was meant to be here as well. Their local authorities are also early adopters of the scheme. I look forward to hearing their contributions and to continuing this important conversation. I also encourage other Members to speak to their own local authorities and push them to join this initiative.

We have a real opportunity to break the vicious cycles that I mentioned at the beginning of this speech, and to turn them into virtuous circles, where we fill our shops, increase footfall, reduce antisocial behaviour, and again build pride in our town centres and high streets across the country.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

--- Later in debate ---

[Jessica Toale]

This is an important moment for our high streets and our local communities. The debate has been a real tour de force of our great towns, and I have been blown away by the passionate stories I have heard. We have heard nostalgia about towns as they once were, but also passion for the future and for what our towns can be. I share a lot of the pain that Members have expressed about our towns, but I know that there is potential in this policy, and the other measures that the Government are bringing in, to think about how we can make town centres work again, and how we can support and promote our local businesses and community spaces. I thank everybody for taking part.

I thank the Minister for addressing Members’ questions, as well as outlining the wider context of the situation that we are in and the Government’s wider range of reforms to support our small businesses: community right to buy, policing reforms, direct support to businesses —it all adds up and makes a difference. I thank her for her offer to continue to work with local authorities to make this scheme work. Many of us are eager to see it implemented, and I know that many of us are eager for our residents to see the real transformation that a Labour Government can bring about for our town centres.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered Government policy on high street rental auctions.