31 October 2018
London

British High Streets are witnessing a decline in their ability to attract shoppers and visitors. Footfall has continued to shrink, with 3% less shoppers between March and May 2018 compared to the same period in 2017 (IPSOS 2018). This decline has economic repercussions, and many shops have been forced to close. A BBC report (2017) found a decline of 17% in the number of retailers operating in the towns studied. This is expected to impact the number of retail jobs available in British city centres, with retail positions expected to decline by 900,000 by 2025 (Deloitte 2017). Online shopping has limited the high street’s potential market, as has a decrease in disposable income, with 3% inflation of prices cancelling out wage growth of 2.2% (Bank of England 2018).

The Government has enacted policy aimed at counteracting this decline. In 2017 Chancellor Phillip Hammond enacted the “biggest ever cut in business rates”, with a £6.7bn 5 year package. In autumn of the same year, the Government published its white paper on housing, promising to develop new housing with better access to central urban areas. In 2018 Public Health England published ‘Healthy High Streets’, a series of recommendations to help urban environs become clean, healthy and to improve the experience of both visitors and residents.

Despite this, challenges remain to halt the decline of high street retailers. Mary Portas, who wrote the Government’s own assessment of high street prospects in 2011, has stated the Government needs to completely remove business rates or risk losing a third of shops. The Centre for Cities has also raised concerns about the Government’s spending on infrastructure, seen as key to enabling people to visit high streets. This is backed by an Office for Budget Responsibility report suggesting that the government will only spend half of its planned £5 billion budget on improving infrastructure. The increasing housing crisis is also a challenge, with high inner city accommodation costs pricing out people who otherwise would use their local high street more regularly.

This symposium offers an invaluable opportunity for local authorities, retailers, planning authorities and landlords to discuss the challenges facing British high streets and to share best practice in order to address these substantial issues.

Delegates will:

Assess methods to maximise infrastructure spending to best support high streets

• Investigate how relevant stakeholders can collaborate most effectively
• Analyse how to overcome the barrier of unaffordable housing near high streets
• Understand the high street’s role in developing a sense of community in urban areas
• Learn how to use social media effectively to promote high street retail shops
• Discover the best practices used to promote increased footfall on high streets
• Understand the effect business rates have on the success of high street stores
• Identify the way to record footfall and how to use this data effectively

To view our brochure, including the full event programme, click here.