Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent estimate he has made of the number of vacant shops on high streets in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England; and what assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the number of vacant retail units.

Government recognises the challenge that empty properties on our high streets poses and the risk of the number of vacant units increasing due to the economic impacts of Covid-19.

We do not have a breakdown on the number of vacant shops in Coventry, however we are aware that vacancy rates across Great Britain were reported to be 12.4 per cent after Q2 2020, with the number of vacant units on the high street in line with the national average. Regionally, the West Midlands’ vacancy rate was reported to be 14.4 per cent.

To mitigate against a rise in the number of vacant units, government has introduced a range of measures to protect businesses that are struggling to pay their rent due to Covid-19. Through Section 82 of the Coronavirus Act, government provided for a moratorium on commercial landlords’ ability to evict businesses due to the non-payment of rent. In addition, government has introduced a temporary ban on the use of winding-up petitions and statutory demands for rent payments, and amended regulations regarding Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery.