WITH all the votes counted and councillors taking their seats, the north's 11 local councils have a much work ahead of them to deliver for their villages, towns and cities.
Councillors can exert tremendous influence over local economic development and more specifically, town centre regeneration. As the only business group to have set out a comprehensive regeneration agenda, launched last November, my plea to all 462 councillors is to put regeneration of their villages, towns and cities as their number one priority for this next term and hope that it’s the very first item on their in tray.
We need to reverse the decline of our town and city centres. It is not just physical spaces which need to be regenerated, but we must change the ways in which we approach and tackle the numerous issues facing our high streets.
Too many of our villages, towns and cities are testament to a failure in regeneration policy to date. For the past 15 years, Northern Ireland has not only had the highest shop vacancy rate in the UK, but nearly double the national average.
This Thursday Retail NI, in partnership with DWF Law, will host an event aimed at exploring new ideas and thinking to create 21st century town centres and will welcome both Centre for Cities CEO Andrew Carter and Department of Finance permanent secretary Sue Gray as our keynote speakers.
I am urging all newly elected councillors to come along and hear from these leading industry experts on how we can reinvent retail, reform business rates which continue to cripple our members and reboot our high streets.
Retail NI’s signature policy document ‘Regeneration NI – Creating 21st Century Towns and City Centres’ will take centre stage throughout the event and I look forward to discussing in more detail the many policy priorities we have outlined in the paper. Our plan includes 47 priorities including all councils adopting a more effective shop vacancy strategy and producing bespoke retail development plans for every town centre.
Introducing and implementing smarter technology within our towns and cities is imperative if we are to make retail more experiential and we are calling for councils to adopt a wider approach to town planning where retail, hospitality, industry, housing and healthcare services can cohabit, thus creating an ecosystem of opportunity where shops are just part of the plan.
We fully support the call of the Northern Ireland Local Government Association for councils to gain additional powers covering regeneration, all car parking, more economic development powers and resources, neighbourhood services, winter maintenance, emergency planning and local roads maintenance.
A Northern Ireland Towns and Cities Partnership must be established to manage and coordinate town centre regeneration policy, made up of representatives from the Departments for Finance, Infrastructure, Communities, Economy, the 11 local councils and key business organisations.
Town centre/high street plans must encompass an eco-system approach to town centre regeneration, incorporating health, housing, education, arts, entertainment, business/ office space, manufacturing and leisure, while developing day-time, evening and night-time cultures where shops are just a part of the total plan.
We also have the huge opportunity for regeneration, presented by the Belfast Regional and Derry and Strabane City Deals. The litmus test for both is that they deliver real change for town and city centres.
These plans may sound ambitious. But Retail NI is confident these aims can be achieved. To those newly elected, I wish you well but more than this, implore you to commit your council area and your party to work with us on our quest to regenerate towns and cities across Northern Ireland. Visit www.dwf.law/rebootingthehighstreet for more information on our joint conference.
:: Glyn Roberts is chief executive of Retail NI.
