Small business leaders have set out a blueprint for overhauling Britain’s high streets and helping independent retailers thrive.
Last month, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) published a series of recommendations to ministers, councillors and other key bodies to help local shops fight back against threats to their existence such as online and out-of-town commerce.
In a report titled The Future of the High Street, the organisation broke its vision into five themes: destination, transformation, experience, infrastructure and competitiveness.
It called for an overhaul of the business rates system including raising the threshold at which properties start paying the levy from a rateable value of £12,000 a year to one of £25,000.
Other measures suggested in the study included the creation of annual high street promotion plans; provision of funding for shops to build digital loyalty schemes; and appointment of high street managers to monitor vacant premises.
FSB policy chair Tina McKenzie said food retailers had been under “intense pressure” from spiralling produce and energy bills, recruitment struggles and rising employment costs.
“Our high streets can have a bright and thriving future provided they, and the small businesses at their heart, are given the right support, policies and infrastructure,” she added. “We’ve set out a blueprint of specific changes and innovative ideas to encourage them to evolve and grow as go-to destinations.”
Increasing the Small Business Rate Relief threshold to £25,000 would be “a good place to start”, McKenzie said, “providing support to small food retailers, allowing them to invest and grow”.
But she added: “We also need to see initiatives to encourage local businesses to collaborate and incentivise customers to shop, eat and drink locally, by introducing things like loyalty schemes specific to that high street, as well as encouraging new food start-ups into our town centres by creating specialised funds to support pop-ups, markets and temporary use initiatives for first-time businesses.”
The report called for the Government to establish a national High Streets Economic Development Profession Taskforce to upskill councils to help them invest in infrastructure integral to town centres.
It said local high streets and communities should feature in domestic and international tourism campaigns, and demanded that business improvement districts be required to directly promote high streets.
The FSB called for a new fund to support high street businesses in developing and enhancing their websites, marketing strategies and e-commerce operations.
It also demanded disruption-mitigation action plans for high street areas where small businesses would be affected by construction works for six weeks or more.
This article first appeared in the September 2024 edition of Fine Food Digest.
