High Street Regeneration and Unlawful Storefronts Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Stuart Anderson
Main Page: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)Department Debates - View all Stuart Anderson's debates with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
High Street Regeneration and Unlawful Storefronts
Stuart Anderson Excerpts(1 month ago)
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Stuart Anderson (South Shropshire) (Con)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Vaz. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bromsgrove (Bradley Thomas) for securing this important debate.
South Shropshire residents really value their high street—the 4,500 people who filled in my survey explaining what was important to them on the high street are testament to that. Unanimously, businesses said that taxes were too high and it was so hard to make a profit. Established businesses that have been operating for many years are struggling to make a profit under the current conditions.
Residents also spoke about parking, accessibility and how they get to the high street—a big issue—but also about the state of the high street, from cleanliness to pop-up shops. On pop-up shops, which many Members have already mentioned, we have the Turkish barbers, who have the skill of Sweeney Todd and serve about two people a day, can be closed for months on end and then open, and the vape shops, which have neon signs and displays that are not in keeping with any South Shropshire town. From Ludlow over to Bridgenorth, we see them changing the shape of the high street. Residents do not like it, it is not appropriate and we need to call it out.
I am working with a rural crime officer; we have recently met with the chamber of commerce and local businesses in Ludlow. I am also working with a dedicated police officer in Bridgenorth specifically to look at this problem. It is a complex issue, but we are asking local residents to feed into the police and me any operations on the high street that they believe are illegal. We need to do everything we can to ensure that genuine local businesses can thrive and to get rid of shops that do not belong there, that present a blight on the high street and, in many cases, are fronts for organised crime that need to be closed down.