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29
Sept
How will North Yorkshire mayor’s high street fund revitalise Harrogate?
“High streets are not dying, they’re changing,” Mayor David Skaith told business owners in Harrogate as he pitched a new fund to help revitalise the county’s town centres.
The plight of high streets across North Yorkshire has become a symbol of angst for businesses, with some feeling its a question that has been left unanswered by successive governments.
Harrogate is not immune to the changing face of town centres, with an array of empty units and claims from some traders that the old spa town is not what it used to be.
During his election campaign, Mr Skaith put his £10 million high street fund at the centre of his pitch to voters in an attempt to address the problem.
But, what is it and could it deliver the revitalisation that it promises?
Helping the high street
As early as April, Mr Skaith was talking about his idea to help get local businesses back on their feet.
In an interview with the Stray Ferret on the campaign trail, the 38-year-old businessman muted the idea of a fund to help firms both strategically and financially.
Fast-forward to June following an emphatic election victory and Mr Skaith was able to put his ideas into action.
He unveiled the high street fund following a meeting with business representatives in Thrisk, which included Matthew Chapman of Harrogate Business Improvement District.
A report to the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, which Mr Skaith chairs as elected mayor, reveals the finer detail of the scheme.
The fund will include £10 million over the course of the Labour mayor’s four-year term.
Businesses and community organisations can apply and there is no limit on how much can be requested — though the combined authority said it will consider the scale and type of project which is proposed.
Much of the aims of the scheme are geared towards improving outcomes for businesses, such as increasing turnover and reducing the number of vacant units in town centres.
Beulah Street in Harrogate.
But others have a wider remit, specifically the goal to “improve the perceptions of high streets amongst both residents and visitors”.
The aim suggests the combined authority wants to tackle how people feel about their local high streets, rather than solely focus on material improvements.
This was evident when Mr Skaith, who owns a menswear shop in York, spoke to business leaders at the Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce this month.
The Labour mayor spoke about the perception of high streets to outsiders and acknowledged that Harrogate in particular had struggled in recent years.
I’m from Harrogate and I agree. Some of it is lovely, James Street in particular is a really nice looking street. But a lot of the town isn’t, quite frankly. When you lose big retailers, Jamie’s Italian for example, it leaves big gaps and big holes. We have seen it all over right across the region. This is why we created the high street fund.
But do traders feel Mr Skaith’s approach will work?
Other schemes
The debate over the future of high streets is nothing new and businesses have different opinions on what should be done to improve them.
For those in Harrogate, the mayor’s high street fund is just one of many initiatives that could be done to increase footfall.
The Stray Ferret ventured across to Westminster Arcade, tucked away on Parliament Street, to ask local businesses about the High Street Fund.
Though none of the businesses had heard of the fund, several suggestions on improving Harrogate’s high street were offered such as bringing back a tourist information centre and tackling rising rent costs for businesses.
Derek Hufton, Boroughbridge Chamber of Trade.
Such views were also reflected by those who have had meetings with the mayor.
Derek Hufton, of Boroughbridge Chamber of Trade, told the Stray Ferret that several other matters were raised with Mr Skaith during their discussion in Thirsk.
These included initiatives to make town centres more attractive, addressing the inequality of business rates and addressing negative media reporting of high streets, particularly that all appear to get “tarred with the same brush”.
Mr Hufton added:
The meeting was well attended and came up with a long list of required actions and initiatives in answer to those questions that the fund could potentially be used for.
To be fair, very little of this was new, as the debate about the future of the high street has been going on for some time - but this time, with the potential funding and enthusiasm/commitment of the mayor, it looks as though something might actually get done at last.
The idea that the fund should be one of many initiatives is also reflected politically elsewhere in the country.
Between 2011 and 2016, successive London mayors — both Labour and Conservative — introduced £305 million worth of funds aimed at improving the high streets in the city.
Some were designed to improve the appearance of London boroughs, such as Boris Johnson’s £9 million High Street Fund, while others targeted outer London areas over two funding rounds at a cost of £82 million.
The views of traders and the wider political world suggest a fund complemented by other measures to help revitalise town centres are required to help get the high street back on its feet.
Whether it works or not is another question.
The Stay Ferret asked Mr Skaith whether he had modelled his fund on other initiatives in the country and whether he had any plans to launch similar schemes to help complement the high street fund.
In response, he said:
The ambition is for high streets across our region to be not only a focal point for local commerce but a focal point for local communities. In support of this, the combined authority has allocated £10 million in principle over a four-year period for a new Vibrant and Sustainable High Streets Fund.
The combined authority is committed to working in partnership with the private sector to develop the fund. Having run a high street business myself for over 15 years, through some difficult times, I know what works for my business and what doesn’t. I want to ensure that high street businesses and business support organisations, who are the experts in their field, have a voice and help shape this fund. That way, when we launch the fund, the investments we make will deliver the vibrant and sustainable high streets we all want to see.
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