The Autumn Budget countdown is on. As the budget looms, pressure is piling on the Chancellor to stick to her commitment to overhaul business rates and provide rates relief.
While the Chancellor’s commitment to overhauling business rates is a promising first step, it is far from a silver bullet to save Britain’s high streets.
Without fitting into a holistic approach that considers the diverse needs of Britain’s high streets, this overhaul is destined to fail. A tailored strategy that prioritizes local, small SMEs first, rather than big conglomerates, will allow us to gauge real impact before any broader implementation.
Crucially, business rates reform alone will not revive struggling high streets. Any reform must be part of a wider strategy that includes significant investment in placemaking, targeted support for independent businesses, and initiatives that promote social impact.
Councils too have a pivotal role to play in the UK’s high street revival. To ensure vibrant high-streets for the future, councils must embrace data-driven placemaking using market-leading tools such as Apollo Impact Compass to track the real-time effects of their policies. Without these insights, we risk relying on outdated, top-down legislation that simply can’t keep pace with today’s rapidly evolving environment.
If we don’t act decisively and comprehensively, we will continue down a dead-end road—more businesses will shut, economic growth will stagnate, and we will lose the irreplaceable character, charm and community spirit that our high streets provide all across Britain.
Credit: Florian Wupperfeld, CEO of LCD Ventures, UK-based urban innovation company offering data-driven placemaking services and socially sustainable solutions
