How Can We Fix Empty High Streets?
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High Streets are getting quieter with most being littered with empty shop fronts.
How do you think this could be fixed?
There needs to be more variety of shops on the High Street. Rents to be cheaper to attract businesses and to help the ones already there. Better parking and parking rates would help too.
MrsCraig Some of the towns closest to us either have very small car parks that can't cater to the amount who want to park or seem to charge an extorniate price.
SamGoodship we have a few smaller car parks near the town centre which aren't too bad price wise but can be hard to find a space. We have a massive one which costs £2 for all day parking, to just have to walk a few extra minutes to get to the high street.
your own foods with whatever it ingredients you like! And can save them to eat for the next 2/3 days if you batch cook a lot 
Not enough variety imo. I'm from west Midlands and the variety is poor on my high street. I also visit Burnham on sea quite regular and there's is the same, always coffee shops or charity shops
match prices in-store with online prices. Keep as much products/sizes in stock as possible. Sorted
I just don’t think it’s feasible really, we are in a cost of living crisis so people are especially price conscious and we all know that 9 times out of 10 shopping online is cheaper.
How's about you interact with the questions that you post, SamGoodship?
It's in the LD rules.You should know being in the LD TEAM.
I don't go near my local high street. What shops we've got are expensive high end brands. Parking is awful and expensive. I'd rather sit at home shop online with a cup of tea. It's cheaper
SamGoodship honestly? Nope. I do our food shopping but that's it. It's to much hassle to get to the high street. Most people feel like that where I live
Before you even think about revitalizing it, the criminals and junkies need to be removed, but that sadly won't happen.
Starmer will be releasing criminals due to overcrowding... It's only going to get even worse.
Ffs PhilipMarc You should know better than to spout politics on here. If it was allowed, I'd be moaning about the war crimes of israel and their killing of innocent children.
TheChimp It's connected.
Shopliftings will continue to happen as long as it's permitted.
I personally don't like going to the high street that's near to me (about 10-15mins walk) and I'd rather go somewhere else due to having those issues.
PhilipMarc sunak was planning on releasing them had he stayed in power, it's not a starmer/labour policy as such, their hands are tide due to 14 years of neglect by the conservatives numerous prime ministers , all the beggars/drunks and druggies are the reason we stay away and the most ridiculous thing is , our local council are going to build them a safe zone, guess where... right in the middle of the town centre lol
martinlufc5637 I've seen junkies go to pharmacies to get some sort of a drug to get high (during Sunak's time). Why are they enabling them. 
It ultimately just makes it a sanctuary for criminals and junkies.
PhilipMarc I get my medication delivered now, every time I went to the chemist junkies where always outside , the chemist opted into the methadone program, the pharmacist gets £15 a head to give them their daily fix of methadone, they are making a fortune from it
We need a mix of different shops not only mobile phone shops bookies ect free parking days and lower rents and businesses rates
It's relatively easy to do if there is the political will to do so by changing the tax structure so selling online is more expensive and local shops are cheaper. It's all about changing business rates, how commercial shop ownership works and of course taxing vehicles much more that deliver goods. We are in a free market situation in Europe so we cannot tax Amazon for corporation tax but we can approach it from many other angles. Japan like England has a very high population density and they make local shops far more viable with much lower taxation etc so shopping locally can be as cheap or cheaper than buying from more distant stores especially when you factor in fuel costs and time. Less travelling means lower wear rates on roads, less congestion and people able to use bicycles more easily due to shorter distances involved. It creates more space for agriculture too. Now that England has a higher population density than Japan we need to look to them for how to deal with such a high population density.
I've said for a long time that vehicles should be taxed by the mile not by time. So someone who drives 10,000 miles in 3 months and someone who drives 10,000 miles in 3 years should pay the same road tax amount for the same distances not have the occasional drivers subsidising the people who drive huge miles. This in itself would be a huge motivation to use vehicles less and create more problems for online sellers whose costs would increase because of their high mileage use.
Of course many people will still make online purchases but it will be for convenience rather than cost but would shrink dramatically because we are becoming much poorer as a nation so more and more people are focused on value in their purchases.
I get most of my shopping online as its so much more convenient. I could go into the city centre which involves a 45 min bus journey there and then back again with all the costs involved and then you have no idea if the goods you want are going to be available. As for the supermarket shop then forget it - I cant physically carry everything I need for the week so have to get it delivered. I am all for making city centre shopping areas more pleasant environments - then more people will shop there - but dont do it by making people pay more for getting shopping delivered.
Lower rates for the businesses and to encourage business. Free parking - I will only go in to Town on a Sunday when it’s free and I probably go in less because of this elsewhere. I never get why councils don’t go - outside town stores are business - I wonder why 
Some of our smaller towns in part of the town do offer this - one even has it on a board after the welcome to board. It’s rare and only 3 of them but 1 of them I stopped in and no empty shops. The bigger ones need to offer this too.
Majority of councils are taking short term greed over the long term when they’ll be nothing to come into town for.
My main town is difficult to park there so I only go in occasionally. I also often smell cannabis in the air and I find it quite nauseating. There is another much smaller parade of shops the other side of me that has most things I need but the best but is parking is free for 3 hours. So I go there more often. Depends which shops I want though at the time.
Nothing can be done, local councils have made sure of it, our town centre is a ghost town, all the major stores like M&S, Wilko's, Argos are gone, same as the banks
Even the cannabis plant growers can’t make money on the High Street. Break in to empty shops, bypass the meter, install their equipment and grow it. The smell is usually the giveaway. The police raid it and get a full crop plus the people growing it. Hard times.
I feel like a successful high street needs to be a blend of mixed-use properties. Commercial, residential, and office. It seems when you only get one type, it doesn't really work.
For example, if it's all commercial - then that's basically an out of town shopping centre. It doesn't support smaller independent shops because there aren't any residents to shop at such.
If it's all office... well then there's no shops.
And if it's all residential... well then there's no high street.
I find it strange, at least where I am, that all these new towns being built don't have a single commercial or office unit being built in them. It's just houses.
Or if it's an out of town shopping centre it's just big warehouse type shops. No houses.
A mix seems to me the best bet as you then have the local residents who can shop and work at the nearby shops supporting them. A nice local economy is made.
A lot of the shops are all the same which is one reason why the public are not visiting them.
The amount of times I have gone out to buy something needed in the home and cannot find it because all the shops sell the same products. It's just ridiculous. You used to find everything you needed on the High street years ago, no longer.
There needs to be innovated people who know what is missing from the High Street and can bring it in.
Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be content when 15-minute ghettos are scattered across the whole country.
Pop up shops let someone rent for a day a week. This would give more variety to the high street and promote startups.
Business rates are too high, as well as start up costs for independent shops, who get knocked out by the bigger, bully brands. I’d like to see more workshops and creative spaces, preferably those that sustainable practices and focus on well made, long lasting products
hspexy Increasing VAT on many items and removing it from businesses that refurbish or repair products is another way of improving the situation. If a TV cost a minimum of £400 because of increased VAT but a repair of that TV only cost £60 because it was VAT free then more people would repair their products. This also helps our trading deficit and reduces global warming due to not manufacturing as many products. If you had a statutory 7 year guarantee on cars up to 100K miles then many manufacturers making more complex, less reliable cars with high repair costs would have to dramatically increase their prices and people would then be motivated to buy simpler smaller cars that would be dramatically cheaper. I've had my car 11 years from new and not had a single fault.
Parking and accessibility to the shops . Remove yellow lines and make nearby car parks free ,
We could lower the rent and have them as cash only stores so the greedy banks wouldn't get a share every time someone used a debit or credit card.
EmmaWright762 You'd need to worry about shoplifters and if businesses are leaving an area there's a reason why. I don't blame them.
PhilipMarc Perhaps the answer to that dilemma would be to return to having floor walkers. I had an elderly friend who used to be employed (just after WW2) in Woolworths. They were like security guards who watched out for rotters and showed them to the door.
EmmaWright762 I think shops pay more to deposit cash at banks plus they have to get to the bank as well so I think cash can actually be more expensive plus they may have to declare a float for insurance purposes i.e. if the till float is 500 pounds or maybe even 2000 pounds that would be factored into their business insurance as a possible risk of theft. A shop with only cash transactions would have a bigger float and therefore higher insurance and if the float wasn't factored into their business insurance they would be at much greater risk of losing a high amount of money.
I dont visit my local town because there Is nothing there except charity shops, coffee shops, shoe shops, banks etc. Plus you have to pay to park your car for little variety. If they got rid of the Parking Meters & put In some decent shops then yes I would visit. We used to have TJ Hughs, that was good. Bring back Woolworths too. The Council charges too much rent too no wonder they disappear. In Wales for an example the Town has FREE Parking for over 3000 Cars and over 170 shops, undercover. Its online for me because Its cheaper and more choice and free parking.
I dont know if it can be fixed at this point! I hope so though, as much as I love online shopping I do like to go out and about for a mooch too 
I live in Stratford on avon and the town centre caters for mainly tourists. Fair enough- they bring money in to the town- but something for the residents would be nice.
Our high street is getting emptier. One problem is lack of parking. One the politicians involved in it, is anti car so doing everything they can to stop cars. Now going to town to meet for a coffee is one thing but if you are going to somewhere like a furniture shop and buying something that's to big to get on the bus but not worthy of getting delivered. Though delivery drivers can't get near the shops cos of stupid systems of road closures and no parking for properties nearby
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