At least 800,000 new homes could be created as more people work from home and move away from the traditional high street, a leading thinktank has said.
The Social Market Foundation (SMF) said in its report A New Life for the High Street that the decline of the traditional high street could not be reversed by policies that “turn the clock back” – especially in a post-pandemic landscape.
Homeworking was also likely to become a staple of many jobs, the report highlighted, leading to further declines in footfall in town and city centres.
The report advocates turning empty shops into new homes or modern apartments to support “new and more beneficial uses for town-centre sites”.
The SMF said that under a “conservative assumption”, 5% of commercial land could be used for development, which would see a minimum of 800,000 homes to be created.
Zoning in
Boris Johnson has been open about his desire to overhaul the UK’s planning laws and has brought several former thinktank specialists into No 10 to draft a new scheme, which should arrive by the end of the year.
Housing minister Robert Jenrick said last month he wanted to move to a zonal planning system that forced councils and other associated bodies to agree a framework for new developments.
This would do away with the case-by-case assessment of individual proposals currently in place.
But the report’s author and SMF research director, Scott Corfe, said a zonal system that pushed aside council oversight in favour of a minister-approved framework would call into question the protection of community assets such as parks, sports centres, and open spaces.
It would also likely deny councils the funds to promote social housing, said Corfe.
Instead, the SMF said it preferred France’s Zones Franches Urbaines, which offer tax incentives for firms that move to the zones and create employment.
It said a UK version could offer tax incentives contingent on the hiring of local workers, in particular those who have been put out of work due to the economic effects of Coronavirus.
The thinktank said: “There is a role for government to take the initiative in plans to repurpose urban centres, with a significant role for local authority housebuilding to provide affordable homes for those on lower incomes.”
“Politicians pledging to save the high street are promising voters the impossible,” he said
The SMF said ministers should allow councils to close shops and turn them into homes, and to do so using funds previously allocated to paying local authority debts.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak could transfer the £80bn owed by councils to the central government balance sheet, freeing councils to make improvements in their local area and generate jobs, the SMF said.
“This would essentially transfer local government debt into the hands of central government, which is better-placed to service the debt,” the report said.
The demise of the high street
Scott Corfe said that it would be futile for the government to say they can ensure the longevity of the high street
“Politicians pledging to save the high street are promising voters the impossible,” he said
“Instead of claiming they can turn back the clock, leaders should aim to make inevitable change work better for urban centres and populations.
“Trying to prop up high street retailers facing long-term decline is not an act of kindness to workers or towns.”
Corfe added: “It just postpones the inevitable and wastes opportunities to develop new policies to help workers and towns embrace the future.
“Nothing can stop the demise of traditional high street shopping, so it would be better for politicians to support the next chapter in the story of the high street, with hundreds of thousands of new homes that bring new life to our urban centres.”
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