What’s the answer to revitalising our High Streets? More legal loansharks, of course!

Today’s news that the Government wants to slash red tape to revitalise our high streets seems, on the face of it, good news.

Who needs all these tedious restrictions on what sort of businesses can operate out of a particular shop?  Surely we need flexibility to stimulate retail centres?

Well, as the Tory-led Local Government Association has pointed out, this is another ill-thought through policy made by people who, one can only conclude, don’t spend much time on the High Streets of deprived areas like Kilburn, which I represent.

From today, developers will no longer need permission to change the use of certain buildings from one type of business to another for up to two years.   As the LGA point out, it means that premises previously used as independent gift shops could be turned into payday lenders while greengrocers could become betting shops, without the need for planning permission or public consultation.

Kilburn High Road has the dubious honour of having one of the highest concentrations of payday lenders in the country.  It is obvious why legal loansharks target Kilburn – high levels of deprivation, made worse by benefit cuts and stagnant wages.

So thank you, Tory and Lib Dem ministers, for making it easier now for new lenders to set up shop.  The only challenge they will face is jostling with the bookies who are also over-represented on the High Road.

It isn’t bad enough that the Tories and Lib Dems have mismanaged the economy and savaged benefits to create the huge demand for easy credit.  Now they want to make it even easier for the poorest to get into uncontrollable spirals of debt.  I suppose you could call is holistic policy-making.

I’ve been campaigning on the issue as part of a Fair Credit Commission, set up by local community activists, with the help of Movement for Change.  The campaign wants to promote responsible lending, financial literacy and our local credit unions in Brent and Camden.

But it feels like an uphill struggle when local people can’t walk to the shops without passing a plethora of shops offering easy credit (and four-figure APRs).  Both Brent and Camden have been offering tailored advice and support to residents affected by benefit changes to try to help them keep a roof over their heads and out of debt.  These planning reforms chip away at that good work.

And it goes without saying that this isn’t a problem unique to Kilburn – or Kentish Town, Neasden or Willesden.  Across the country, payday loan companies are among the fastest growing on the high street.  In fact, according to analysis by Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) and the Local Data Company, in 2012 they were the fastest growing – up 20 per cent on the previous year.

Of course, the useful policy Government could introduce to help here is to cap interest rates, to bring the scourge of legal loansharks under control.  And ministers could do well to look at the pledge

Ed Miliband made during last month’s local election campaign to bring in planning laws which help local people and councils shape their high streets in a positive way.

Sadly, as long as the Tories and Lib Dems want to pursue a laissez-faire, drive-to-the-bottom approach, our local High Streets and communities will continue to suffer.

Mike Katz is a councillor in Kilburn, Camden and sits on the Kilburn Fair Credit Commission