Retail Trade: Urban Areas

(asked on 13th May 2019) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the trends in the level of vacancy rates in town centre business properties.


Answered by
Jake Berry Portrait
Jake Berry
This question was answered on 20th May 2019

Town centres and high streets are a crucial part of our communities and the Government is determined to see these areas thriving, both now and in the future.

The Department receives vacancy rate data on retail units from the Local Data Company which has enabled the Department to monitor the change in these vacancy rates over time at a national level. The data demonstrates that retail vacancy rates peaked at 14.6 per cent in August 2012. Although there have been fluctuations in the rate, it has not reached this high point since and current figures show this rate is at 12.9 per cent in May 2019.

At Autumn budget we set out ‘Our Plan for the High Street’ to support the sustainable transformation of high streets, including a £675 million Future High Streets Fund, a High Streets Task Force and measures on business rates and planning. We also launched a pilot of our Open Doors project in November 2018, which brings empty properties back into use by linking landlords of vacant units with community groups looking for space.

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