Ministers challenge Mary Portas to help save high street independents
Posted by Dan Martin in Finances, Business trends, Regulation on Tue, 17/05/2011 - 00:01
Retail expert and television presenter Mary Portas has been appointed to lead an independent review into how to create more diverse high streets, the government has confirmed.
Among the issues to be examined by the entrepreneur and star of BBC's Queen of Shops and Channel 4's Secret Shopper are how to deal with vacant shops, measures to prevent the proliferation of 'clone towns' and ways to increase the number of small and independent retailers in local town centres.
As part of her review Portas will visit areas across England and report back to the government by the autumn.
"With town centre vacancy rates doubling over the last two years the need to take action to save our high streets has never been starker," Mary Portas said.
"I am calling on businesses, local authorities and shoppers to contribute their ideas on how we can halt this decline in its tracks and create town centres that we can all be proud of."
Prime minister David Cameron added: "The High Street should be at the very heart of every community, bringing people together, providing essential services and creating jobs and investment; so it is vital that we do all that we can to ensure they thrive.
"That is why I am delighted that Mary Portas has agreed to take on this review and I am confident that her straight talking, no nonsense approach will help us to create vibrant and diverse town centres and bring back the bustle to our high streets."
Businesses owners can contribute to the review via the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills website.
News of the review comes as MPs prepare to discuss amendments to the government's Localism Bill in the House of Commons on Tuesday. Campaigners including the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) are calling for politicians to support plans to give local people more power to prevent the growth of 'clone towns' and community wishes being overridden by large developers.
According to the ACS, 12,000 shops have closed down during the past year.
The Mary Portas review is one of several new government initiatives aimed at supporting the retail sector. The Red Tape Challenge, for example, was launched last month and allows the public to comment on the validity of around 21,000 regulations. The first theme was retail rules which attracted more than 6,000 responses.
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