The boss of John Lewis has called for a royal commission review into the UK’s ailing high streets.
Dame Sharon White has argued that mass stores closures, crime and antisocial behaviour are blighting Britain’s town centres.
She added that this could only be turned around with a co-ordinated approach.
“Piecemeal decisions on individual problems will not work,” she said.
“We now need a new royal commission to set a course to revitalise our high streets,” she wrote in The Telegraph, adding: “Planning, taxation, crime, environmental policy, housing and transport all play their role, but must be considered as a whole.”
White said a royal commission, in the form of an independently-run public inquiry, should focus on the need for council planning to take account of changes to work in a post-Covid world, “unfair” business rates, and the impact of scrapping VAT-free shopping for tourists two years ago.
“Only a royal commission can set out a fresh vision for a prosperous high street for decades to come. Britain’s high streets have hope, but they need help.”
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