Britain’s high streets have been hijacked. Crime, disorder, and social breakdown are on the rise, undermining the foundations of stable community life.
Across our high streets, organised criminal groups (OCGs) are operating freely, crime is going unpunished, and the British public are in retreat – 79 per cent of Britons say they are concerned about the decline of the local high street.
Repairing Britain’s broken high streets requires a gear change in government policy. For too many, the high street has become a symbol of national decline, with shuttered shops and rising crime a sign of wider economic and social malaise.
The PM has made reversing the decline of Britain’s high streets a political priority, having set out his intention to make them a symbol of Britain’s renaissance. To achieve this, the government must make restoring security a central pillar of its plan for the renewal of local places.
Political discussion on Britain’s high streets has long focused on economic issues: vacancy rates, tax reform, and the rise of online shopping. But as this report finds, the core drivers of high street decline are no longer just economic, but social.
In this report, we set out 32 proposals to restore security to Britain’s high streets, and on that foundation, to drive forward the renewal of Britain’s communities, by creating the conditions for thriving business and hospitality, the building of new homes, and the community ownership of local buildings and spaces.
