Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to help support high street businesses in Epping Forest.

At Budget the Chancellor announced a number of measures to support high street businesses, ideally in Epping Forest’s regeneration including permanently lowering tax rates for retail, hospitality and leisure properties from 2026/27, extending RHL relief and the Small Business Multiplier for another year and additional funding to tackle retail crime through additional training for police and retailers and programmes cracking down on organised gangs.

The Government also announced its intention to bring forward a Small Business Strategy Command Paper in 2025. This will set out the Government’s vision for supporting high street businesses including measures that will address access to finance, investment opportunities from overseas and domestic markets and building business capabilities.

This will complement the Government’s work to give local leaders and communities greater powers over empty properties and powers to revitalise their high streets.