Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help support the regeneration of town centres affected by increased vacancy rates.

This government is fully committed to rejuvenating our high streets and supporting the businesses and communities that make our town centres successful. The government has committed £1.5 billion towards a reformed Long-Term Plan for Towns to regenerate communities across the UK.

The law in this area is devolved but to address the blight of vacancy in town centres in England, the government has implemented High Street Rental Auctions, which empowers local authorities to auction the lease of persistently vacant commercial high street properties, and we will also introduce a new ‘right to buy’ to enable communities to protect valued assets.