BITC responds to the Mary Portas High Streets Review

Today’s Mary Portas Review shines a timely spotlight on the important role of thriving high streets in building prosperous communities.

However, the recommendations must not ignore the reality, as revealed by our own research, that many large businesses understand these issues and are already engaging in local communities to support and help build thriving high streets, but they also want do more and need better opportunities and structures to do so. 

We now call on Government to play their part in strengthening local partnerships.  We want every town to have a strong business-led partnership which has the levers to make a difference.

We need to ensure that good will at head office becomes best practice on the high street and urge those high street names that are not yet signed up to act on this agenda.

Business in the Community works closely with many of the biggest and most well known high street names, engaging with them on responsible business issues and the key role that business can play in transforming communities. So we agree that “high streets are a really important part of building communities”. 

That is why a number of our retail members are already participating in Business Connectors, a programme which places talented secondees  from businesses to work full time in the most disadvantaged communities.  Both Sainsbury’s and Greggs have seconded senior staff to work in communities enhancing their appreciation of the communities in which they operate and enabling the local high street and local businesses to benefit from their retail skills. For example in Middlesbrough, where  Greggs’ Business Connector Craig Warkman is supporting a programme which enables local entrepreneurs to test trade their retail ideas in retail incubators on the high street without a huge cost outlay.

Larger businesses have an important role to play in supporting smaller businesses and the wider high street to help them grow, expand and thrive. Working with Boots, Starbucks, McDonalds, Asda and the Cooperative, BITC published a study called, "Future High Streets, Businesses going local" earlier this year.  This report underlined the importance of retailers and other high street tenants in empowering their local managers to proactively involve themselves in the management of the high street. 

It is up to high street tenants, not just local authorities, to lead the creation of a vision for their town centre. To create this vision businesses needs to be at the table together with the local authority and other stakeholders.

We now call on Government to play their part in strengthening local partnerships.  We want every town to have a strong business-led partnership which has the levers to make a difference.  These partnerships will be attractive to local business leaders because they will be able to affect positive change and create the community hub which Mary Portas, and everyone else with an interest in the high street, ultimately wants to create.