Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps the Government is taking to revitalise high streets.

This Government is committed to supporting the businesses and communities that make our high streets and town centres successful. The Government has provided a comprehensive package of around £400 billion of direct support, including business grants, coronavirus loan schemes, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, and income tax payment deferral. This is alongside our steps to introduce an arbitration scheme to help resolve pandemic related rent debt through the Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Act 2022. Our package builds on long-term investment in our high streets and small businesses including through the £3.6bn Towns Fund, the Future High Streets Fund, and the 4.8bn Levelling Up Fund. In addition to this, the High Streets Task Force is continuing to provide essential support in placemaking and planning, and so far has supported 115 local leaders.

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill is going further and builds on long-term investment in our high streets and small businesses. For example, this includes High Street Rental Auctions, a new permissive power for local authorities to require landlords to rent out vacant commercial properties to prospective tenants, such as local businesses or community groups.