Exeter named as good practice example in the Grimsey review

Exeter City Council has been named as a good practice case study in Bill Grimsey’s review of the High Street.

The review, which is relased amidst a clash between Mr Grimsey and TV retail expert Mary Portas over the future of the High Street, recommends that more local authorities form strategy teams like Exeter City Council.

Cllr Rosie Denham, Lead Councillor for Economy and Culture, said: "In Exeter we have our eyes very much focussed on the future of our High Street and the City Centre in general. In fact, the High Street is probably in the strongest position it has been since the recession but we must not be complacent.

"Whilst some of the suggestions put forward by Grimsey and Portas are interesting, the most important thing is that plans are developed and led locally – no one size fits all in terms of the approach needed for a concerted and joint effort towards ensuring the survival of our City Centre."

The row first began when Grimsey said that efforts by Portas to improve city centre retailers were “little more than a PR stunt” just prior to his own review being released.

Portas responded: "When you get consistently knocked by him you think 'what's the problem? Do you really want change or do you want headlines?'"

The review suggests that town centres and the high street require a separate minister to the Business Secretary and urges Councils to organise a team to improve town centres.

Grimsey states that of the 100 local authorities examined in the report, less than half had any strategy in place to aid their retail areas.

Other recommendations of Grimsey’s review are to found a set of town centre commissions responsible for town centre planning, a resetting of business rates (business property tax) and offer a 50% reduction of tax on stores which had been empty for longer than 12 months.

The review also calls for the introduction of compulsory levy on major chains – estimated at a one-off tax of £550 million.

The British Independent Retailers Association has already raised issue with the levy claiming that it would only address the short term situation.

So far no HM Treasury officials have commented on the review.

Portas was commissioned by the Government to produce a similar report on the UK’s high streets in 2011, which resulted in the launch of the “Portas Pilots” that has given funding of up to £100,000 to make significant improvements to 27 town centres.

In Devon, Tiverton, which was named in the second wave of pilots, has been given significant funding to improve its parking facilities and hopes to attract coaches of tourists and other vistors to the town centre.

However Portas was criticised by MPs at a Communities and Local Government Committee hearing yesterday for influencing the Government’s choice of town for the sake of making better television.

The scheme was also criticised for allegedly making slow progress; with some local teams spending grants ineffectively, including the hiring of a person in a Peppa Pig costume at a cost of £1,610 by Dartford Council in Kent.

Portas rejected criticism however, saying that the pilots were being judged too soon, and that it would take several years for the changes to show. She has, however, conceded that a more structured guide to high street improvements as suggested by Grimsey would help some councils that didn’t know how to best spend their money.

Portas said: "I don't think the pressure should be on me about what's been done; the pressure should be on the government."