Communities To Seize Control Over High Streets And Restore Pride

Local communities will be handed new powers to revitalise their high streets and restore pride in their towns.

People will be given the power to revitalise their neglected high streets, create new spaces for young people and take back control of derelict pubs, to breathe new life into neglected communities up and down the country.

Communities will be handed new powers to seize boarded up shops, save their local pubs or libraries and clean up the eyesores in their area.

Sir Keir Starmer said it represented a “huge investment”, and that those who “know their communities best” would decide how the money would be spent.

Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Steve Reed said:
“When people step out of their front doors, they know their communities are struggling. They see shuttered pubs, fading high streets and their local areas in decline.

“Yes, communities have been stretched – but they haven’t given up. They’re working hard to make things better, and we’re backing them.

“The Government is putting power into their hands so local people decide how best to restore pride in their neighbourhoods, not us in Westminster.

“That’s what real patriotism looks like: building up our communities and choosing renewal over division.”

The nationwide Pride in Place programme – which was unveiled by the Prime Minister yesterday, (Thursday, 25 September) – will, the government says,  deliver a record investment and support over 330 communities in total. It will tackle deep-rooted deprivation and regional inequality through wide-ranging action, including:

• Community Right to Buy: handing local people the power to buy beloved assets, helping them turn around derelict pubs, create new parks and regenerate treasured spaces in the heart of their communities.
• Compulsory Purchase powers: allowing communities in England to acquire assets and eyesores like boarded up shops and derelict abandoned businesses, allowing new local start-ups to thrive. For larger sites – like disused department stores or abandoned office blocks – it could even see new health centres opening up, or local housing to help reach our target of 1.5 million homes.
• Power to block unwanted shops: empowering councils in England to say no to new betting shops, vapes stores and fake barbers.
• Giving residents the power: we will only approve spending if community groups, local organisations and social clubs have been included in decisions on how the money should be spent – putting real power in local hands and giving them a proper say over their community.

The programme will introduce new powers that would give communities more control over where betting shops can open, and how many there can be in one area, giving people a say over their high street, particularly where there are high numbers of these types of shop already, not blocking these shops altogether.

It will also look at accelerating ways communities can take ownership of empty shops – helping to give them a greater say over what’s on their high streets, so they don’t just end up with rows of vape shops, gambling shops and barbers. The government is already bringing in new laws to crack down on dodgy vape shops through the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.

The Pride in Place funding will be delivered in England, Scotland and Wales, with corresponding funding provided to Northern Ireland. The government will be working closely with the Scottish and Welsh Governments to design specific programmes which put the principles of the strategy of community engagement at the centre. Further detail on Northern Ireland, including support for Belfast, will follow.