£7 million funding boost to level up high streets

A new Government pilot, the High Street Accelerators programme, will be trialling efforts to regenerate high streets in 10 areas across England.

The idea of the scheme is for communities to work with local authorities and businesses to tackle problems such as empty shops, anti-social behaviour and a lack of foot traffic on the high street.

The 10 selected areas will each receive an initial £237,000 to kickstart these partnerships. However, they can also apply for a share of a further pot totalling £5 million to improve green spaces and provide pleasant socialising environments for residents.

Over the next 2 years this funding will be spent and the impact it has on the designated high streets will be evaluated. This will help the Government decide on further action to be taken to revive high streets in these and other areas.

This pilot programme is one initiative being used to revive England’s high streets. New High Street Rental Auctions regulations are also to be introduced later this year to give local authorities the ability to sell off the rental rights for empty properties to willing tenants. These could include businesses and community groups.