Boarded-Up high Streets Brought Back to Life with £210m Boost

Boarded-up pubs and other derelict high street buildings are to be converted into shared workspaces, cafes and community hubs under a £210m government package announced last week (September 25), aimed at drawing people back into town centres.

The funding will also be used to revamp vacant shopping centres and disused cinemas, as ministers seek to tackle the hollowing out of high streets that has left too many once-thriving hubs shuttered and empty.

Through the new £125m Derelict Buildings Fund, government will support local authorities to transform these buildings into what their communities need, from health centres to civic spaces.

An additional £65m will be invested in helping communities right across England rescue and revamp beloved buildings and businesses at risk of closure, like pubs and sports clubs. This builds on existing schemes like the Pride in Place programme, which has helped locals take over the youth centre in Ramsgate and redevelop the former Brunswick Shopping Centre in Scarborough.

And a further £20 million will be split equally between High Street Rental Auctions, letting out properties vacant for 12 months or more, and a new Co-operative Development Programme so local people share in their high street’s success.

This, the government says, drives forward the Prime Minister’s mission to shift power back to communities, from letting mayors keep a share of income tax to reinvest in local priorities, to supporting the establishment of strategic authorities in every part of England.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said: “People don’t measure growth by looking at a spreadsheet. They measure it by looking at their local high street. Are shops opening or are the shutters down? Does the place feel like it’s moving forward or being left behind?

“The truth is that too many high streets have been left to hollow out, leaving town centres a shell of what they once were. That must change, and today’s funding will help put power back into the hands of locals who know their area best.

“That’s how we restore pride and bring hope back. Not by telling people things are getting better, but by giving them the power to see and feel the difference where they live.”

Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Angela Rayner, said: “Nobody knows a high street better than the community that it belongs to. That’s why this money puts power directly into their hands.

“We’ll see boarded-up buildings that have been left to rack and ruin turned into places people are proud to visit again, the pubs and clubs that mean so much to them thriving once more, and local businesses growing and creating jobs that put money back into their own community.

“That’s what this government is about. Backing the people who know their communities best, and giving them the tools to shape their own future and breathe new life into their high streets.”

The £10 million regional Co-operative Development Programme will help mayors and strategic authorities set up more co-operative businesses, owned and run by the staff, customers and communities who use them, so local people share directly in their high street’s success.

Work forms part of a broader programme coordinated through the Place Regeneration taskforce, spearheaded by the First Secretary of State along with departments, ministers and local government to deliver a roadmap to rebuild Britain. This work will regenerate communities, breathe new life into our high streets and deliver maximum benefit to the people who live there.

Later this year, the government will go further still, publishing a full high streets strategy to transform town centres across England and bring lasting pride back to Britain’s communities.

The £210m package confirmed today is from MHCLG funding already earmarked for high street support and regeneration.