CBI and EC Harris have today launched a report aimed at rejuvenating the high street.
The Next Generation: Unlocking Local Growth comes just one month after Bill Grimsey’s report, which also put forward plans to save the high street.
The CBI/EC Harris report is a blueprint for regeneration and among the measures it calls for are a one-year business rates holiday for firms moving into empty property; planning changes to make it easier to convert empty shops into homes and for cafés and restaurants to introduce temporary outside seating; and using the public sector balance sheet to kick-start investment in building projects.
It also highlights the need for more joined-up strategic local leadership and more proactive planning allied with early private sector engagement.
Katja Hall, CBI chief policy director, said the CBI/EC Harris report differed from those of Grimsey, and the Mary Portas Review because it has a strong local bias.
She added: “This isn’t us, the CBI team or anybody else, sitting here in London coming up with ideas. This report is based on round table discussions [across the country]. We have been talking to business leaders on the ground and to regeneration experts and it’s really based on a strong sense from our members that growth has got to work for all parts of the UK.
“There have been a lot of failed initiatives in the past and we need to learn from them. We need to look beyond London and the South East. So we see the report as a pragmatic contribution to the debate. It’s realistic and it looks at the high street but it goes broader so we hope the government will find it useful.”
On business rates, Hall said the CBI wanted to see caps on business rate increases to provide certainty, but in the long term there needed to be a fundamental review of the system.
“Miliband’s proposal on business tax has merits, but we don’t like the way he’s proposing to pay for it by increasing corporation tax,” she said. “We want to see business rates capped for all firms, not just small firms.”
noella.pio.kivlehan@estatesgazette.com
