‘Labour must take back control of our high streets’

High streets are the heartbeat of our communities. They are a microcosm of our towns and cities – a place’s sense of self. 

But when many of us look at our high streets, we see brokenness. Polling shows that 79 per cent of Brits are concerned about the decline of their local high street, with 64 per cent concerned about crime and violence in public. 

This decline is a damaging legacy of decades long neglect of left-behind communities, leaving a dangerous vacuum that organised criminals and illegal traders have been quick to exploit. 

When your local high street feels run down, it’s easy to lose pride in the place you live. It causes residents to feel personally hurt. Areas that were once hubs of activity – places to take the kids after school, or for a morning coffee with friends – no longer feel safe and welcoming.

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Decline is a vicious cycle. As shops close, footfall drops off, with larger chains put off by an unattractive business case. Swathes of boarded up high streets have provided the perfect opportunity for organised crime to infiltrate our neighbourhoods. 

Dodgy shops have appeared all over high streets in Britain. They prey on the vulnerabilities which exist within our communities, all while exploiting the people who work in them. We know that cash-intensive ventures with low operating costs are their bread and butter. Hence the influx of vape shops, nail salons and mini-marts in our town centres. 

Sadly, I was not surprised when a BBC investigation uncovered a criminal gang operating a network of over 100 illegal mini-marts across the UK in November last year, including in my own constituency of Crewe & Nantwich. 

Far from  like-for-like replacement, we are losing the third spaces that foster social integration and community spirit – all for the price of a pack of contraband cigarettes and a cheap haircut. A new Broken High Streets inquiry from the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) think tank has found that in the last decade Britain has lost nearly 1,800 pubs and bars, while the number of vape and tobacco shops rose by 245 to almost 2,200 in total.

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Renewing our high streets requires active institutions, but policy makers too often lack the control to adequately plan these spaces in the interests of the people we represent. With the vast majority of commercial property being owned and let by private landlords, there remains a free market logic to town planning. 

Local authorities are often simply unable to influence how town centre shop units are used, with the power to make fundamental decisions over rent, repairs and tenancy terms being held by speculative landlords, many of them unaccountable private equity firms or overseas investors.

Government intervention is essential to protect local establishments and keep organised crime off our high streets. Labour has already allocated £6 billion in Pride in Place funding to support local businesses on our high streets and regenerate 284 disadvantaged neighbourhoods across the country. The worst affected town centres will also benefit from a £150 million cash injection to regenerate the high street.

New High Street Rental Auctions and Community Right-To-Buy powers are critical, giving local groups greater time to raise funds to protect communal assets like pubs and libraries. New powers also include the ability to seize boarded-up shops and block nuisance businesses. 

These are all steps in the right direction, but the government must go further to save our high streets. We need to listen to the countless small businesses calling for a review of rates and VAT in hospitality. As well as protecting assets, we need to recognise the invaluable contribution of small business owners who are the backbone of local economies. 

In the same vein, the fronts for organised crime groups must be shut down. During the year to September 2025, the government oversaw the largest enforcement crackdown on illegal working since records began, with a significant increase year on year of 63 per cent and 51 per cent for arrests and visits, respectively. Historic cuts to local government funding should be addressed to give Trading Standards the resources to investigate rogue businesses and pursue prosecution.

A radical High Streets Strategy would provide greater transparency to give residents oversight on who operates and owns what in their community. Landlords should be held much more accountable, with a crackdown on those who rent to dodgy shops. Those who hold onto derelict properties in the heart of our communities should be forced to sell them. 

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Communities across the country are determined to restore their town centres to the symbols of pride they once were. The upcoming strategy must give them the tools to do so.

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