Minister’s plan to revive town centres
Social Development minister Nelson McCausland is to take a number of steps in response to the review of UK high streets carried out by retail expert Mary Portas which warned that they could disappear for ever if they were not revitalised.
RetaiL expert Mary Portas will be invited to Northern Ireland to advise on the content of an action plan to revitalise the province’s town centres.
Social Development Minister Nelson McCausland yesterday said he was taking a number of steps in response to the review of UK high streets carried out by Mary Portas which had warned that they could ‘disappear’ forever unless new life was breathed back into them.
Mr McCausland said: “I support any initiative which can benefit our town and city centres which are clearly facing a difficult time in the present economic climate.
“Having seen the Portas Review, I have taken a number of steps as my department continues to consider how we can best deliver support and regeneration in urban areas.
“Our focus should be on putting the heart back into the centre of our high streets, re-imagined as exciting social hubs for shopping, learning and socialising.”
Mr McCausland said his department would be setting up a taskforce of senior officials to respond to the difficult trading challenges facing Northern Ireland’s high streets.
He said he would meet with other ministers as well as business and local government representatives to develop a Northern Ireland Executive action plan.
Mr McCausland said he would invite Mary Portas to Northern Ireland to advise on the content of the action plan.
He added that a report and action plan would be presented “to the NI Executive by April 2012 for endorsement”.
Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association chief executive Glyn Roberts welcomed the plan.
He said: “The Mary Portas report provides 28 recommendations which could be of considerable help in charting a way forward for our town centres and it’s very positive that Minister McCausland is to invite Ms Portas to Northern Ireland.”
The minister’s comments come as it was revealed that one in seven shops on the UK’s high streets stood empty in 2011 and further closures are expected this year as more people shop online and in out-of-town centres.
Town centre vacancy rates stabilised last year at an average of 14.3 per cent, or 48,000 shops, according to a report by the Local Data Company, despite a spate of high-profile retail administrations including Barratts, Jane Norman and The Officers Club.
But while some high streets are still thriving, particularly in the south of England, the report warned many centres are “locked in a spiral of decline”.
With 2012 expected to see a further fall in consumer confidence, rising unemployment, the continued growth of supermarkets and the internet and uncertainty in bank lending, it predicts the vacancy rate will rise again.
It said the high street faces “structural issues”, with the internet’s share of the shopping market having doubled in the past 11 years and out-of-town centres also seeing growth, meaning that “there will be, if not already, too many shops on the high street”.
The survey revealed that the squeeze in consumer spending was also hurting shopping malls, with one in five suffering financial difficulties.
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Weather for Belfast
Tuesday 29 May 2012
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