There is something oddly nostalgic about the latest policy document from Localis. Not just because Recovery and Renewal on the Kent High Street harks back to the heady days of Boris Johnson’s Government, Levelling Up and Building Back Better.
It is probably too early to say what prime minister Liz Truss’ long-term strategy will be but the beleaguered Growth Plan 2022 makes no mention of either phrase outside of the eponymous department and funds.
Localis discusses the pressing but ‘well-rehearsed challenges’ facing local authorities when it comes to saving the high street from online shopping, the ‘outdated’ business rates regime and the over-expansion of out-of-town retail.
‘While town centres have always been a place of public service, culture, and leisure, over the last 40 years there was a marked and rapid demand for their primary role to be as retail space. And recent trends exacerbated by the pandemic has meant this demand is no longer there – which is in effect reverting high streets back to their pre and immediate post-war characteristics as mixed and variable areas,’ the document states, almost wistfully.
The impact of COVID was dire: ‘In January 2021, the proportion of money spent online was 35.2 percent, the highest on record. Consequently, by Q3 2021, there was a 14.5 percent high street vacancy rate with shopping centre vacancies at 19.4 percent.’
A series of policy areas are analysed in turn, alongside useful mini case studies. In transport terms, the proffered options are sensible rather than radical:
• Reallocation of road space for green transport corridors – for example prioritising electric buses or a dedicated Park & Ride lane
• Bus improvement strategy to make buses more frequent, reliable, and cheaper
• Installing electric charging points to promote the uptake of electric vehicles
• Taking submissions for citizen-led plans to reclaim parts of the high street through organising road-closing activities like pop-up markets on pre-approved days
• Public campaign to increase engagement and better understanding of the pedestrianisation process and how it can impact locally - this will allow for anxieties about the process and potential challenges to be addressed
• Segregated and well-designed cycle lanes and cycle parking
• Reducing speed limits in town centres - evidence shows that 20mph speed limits encourage walking.
More important perhaps is the fact that an omnivorous think tank like Localis is arguing for active travel in the growth context at all. Not only does it position liveable public realm, bus networks and active travel as good for business, but it also touches on the difficulties of problems left behind by previous thinking.
In Dover, ‘the dual carriageway that runs in the middle of the town separating the beach from the town centre has been highlighted as a connectivity challenge that needs to be overcome to deliver quality housing and inward investment into Dover to make the place attractive for potential buyers and investors’. As sad a case of severance as you might find.
‘Challenges arising specifically from transport infrastructure have been cited as standing in the way of making progress on high street and town centre renewal. Dover, Sittingbourne and Canterbury have all struggled with the issue.’
A final element of nostalgia hangs in the background. The ‘Zoom shock’ of white-collar working from home has prompted a well-documented demographic shift - people and families moving further out of the city where the cost of living is cheaper.
Localis notes: ‘In four of the five largest cities across England and Wales population growth has slowed down since the start of the pandemic. And it is the places in the immediate vicinity of these cities that are facing the largest consequences of this population shift.’
This was the urban demographic trend in the UK from the 1960s up until the 1990s. This ‘counterurbanization’ came about because of deindustrialization and a move away from the assembly line. New Labour tried to arrest this decline and championed the ‘Urban Renaissance’ of British cities.
A paper by Claire Colomb in 2007, analysing the Labour policy, states: ‘As New Labour came into power in 1997, many voices urged for radical changes in the orientations of urban policy: a stronger role for local government, the end of competitive bidding, more democratic partnerships, community-led regeneration and greater integration between regeneration funds.’
If you replace ‘urban policy’ with high street policy this is a fairly decent encapsulation of the Localis paper.
By 2012, Transport for London reigned supreme in the UK transport world, having re-opened and regenerated the east of London with new connections and shiny Overground stations, and enjoyed the Olympics as its finest hour. Fortunes have certainly changed since then.
The modern problems facing the high street are much more complex and the retreat more inward than geographical suburban sprawl. But if cycling and walking are seen as boosting the economy, a quiet renaissance could take place.
