The National Review of Town Centres has called for a change of thinking about the way Scotland’s town centres are managed. In a report commissioned by the Scottish government, it calls for a mix of leisure, public facilities and homes to “enhance the bustle and diversity”. It suggests the introduction of a “town centre first” principle in which public bodies look at how to support the town centres before considering development elsewhere and, in particular, think carefully about the impact of proposals to relocate services out of town centres. It also offers ideas about how to bring empty town centre properties back into use by working with housing providers to redevelop them as affordable housing.
Andy Willox OBE
Federation of Small Business
The report has been broadly welcomed. As Andy Willox OBE, the Federation of Small Businesses’ (FSB) Scottish Policy Convenor, points out, the organisation is “delighted that this issue is finally getting the attention it deserves. For years, the FSB has been making the case for mixed-use town centres and we hope the report will act as a catalyst for the local and central government action needed to make this happen.
“High streets might be associated with small enterprise, but independent shops need a hand to turn around many of our town centres. Six in ten of our members believe that their local high street is performing poorly. We need our town centres to have more firms in more sectors, alongside public sector employers and residents. But this means they must become an attractive, cost effective location to do business.”
The Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) added that the report was a “starting point” in dealing with the unprecedented challenges facing town centres.
Fiona Moriarty
Director, Scottish Retail Consortium
Its director, Fiona Moriarty, stressed that “we mustn’t lose sight that retail is at the heart of Scottish communities and should remain a key component of any successful town centre. We must not take the retail sector for granted and policy makers should use this report as an opportunity to fully grasp the scale and pace of change the sector, and by implication our high streets, are facing.”
One key finding of the report focuses on the way the tax system encourages out-of-town development. “The iniquity of the VAT system,” it says, “whereby a new-build in a field on the edge of town is publicly-subsidised by being excused VAT, while the repair of an existing building is burdened with the full 20%, is a formal UK-wide encouragement that squanders our resources, by hugely disadvantaging the old buildings and existing town centres at the heart of our communities.”
On receiving the report, the Deputy First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, recognised the national review group’s “passion for finding a future for our town centres and welcome their succinct and insightful review which outlines practical ideas for reenergising these areas. Town centres are the lifeblood of our communities, functioning as places of social interaction and enterprise. By diversifying our high streets we will make them even better places to live, work and socialise.”