The liveliest high streets are lined with coffee bars, vibrant public houses, local butchers, deli's, hairdressers, gyms and travel agents.
Suzanne believes that " The High Street is the heart of the community and a sign of a community working. Often the church being the hub of social activit with a coffee shop, youth facilities and of course being a place of worship. They are also a safe haven for a community. We need to do more to protect our High Streets."
Business rates are a part of this and Suzanne supports Andy Streets vision to have " trade free zones". Business rates are only 4% of taxation and so we can afford to give something back to the struggling High Streets. Andy's suggestion is to:
- Reduced business rates and ability for local authorities to grant business rate relief for new or expanding businesses.
- 100% business rate relief on public sector organisations like the NHS or further education colleges who bring their public services into units on the high street.
- Special planning conditions, for example, to allow rapid change of use on high streets, to allow flats to be built in town centres quickly, and to fast track public realm improvements and new green spaces
- Additional policing, infrastructure, and public realm spending for businesses, funded by increased taxation of online businesses such as Amazon
Suzanne says " The imbalance between online retailers and those in the High Street business rates is staggering and much more needs to be done to address this. Houses will never build cohesive societies without High Streets. We need to consider a bolder vision for the High Streets one that continues with the mantra of the High Street being the heart of the community, keeping our small retailers at the centre of this vision. But we must look towards urban living, co-working facilities."
