That long-stuck 14% national vacancy rate must surely start to come down now.
I say that based on two things:
+ Feedback from locations we’re working on tackling #highstreet vacancy with #TheVacantShopsAcademy, who are seeing their headline empty ‘shops’ rates fall, in some places very significantly (20-75%);
+ The government’s new High Street Rental Auctions (HSRA) power is now in play for local authorities to use and very detailed guidance on the ‘how’ has been published.
It’d be great to hear from council and BID colleagues who are preparing to make use of HSRA.
…and it’s this I’d argue raises hopes of some real positive momentum on tackling vacancy, nationally, because it asks councils (or partners, potentially BIDs, who run this with them) to take a number of steps in preparation, all of which tie in with the ‘audit, engage, encourage, promote’ approach we’re using and know works.
The guidance says:
“We encourage the local authority to create a register for the purpose of identifying potential vacant properties.” (‘audit’);
“We want to see local authorities working proactively with landlords…” (‘engage’);
“Where a landlord is not proactive or has been unable to secure a tenant, local authorities should consider whether there is likely to be interest from prospective tenants were the premises available at the Minimum Standard and at a fair market rent.” (‘encourage’).
Having seen our approach make a positive impact on vacancy rates down the years and across a variety of locations, I believe that getting a ‘place partnership’ in play and just starting to take these steps will make a difference, even before places get to the auction stage itself.
So. Let’s do this…!
We’d love to share the approach with town and city centre teams who are starting out on the journey, and would be really happy to connect you with council and BID colleagues who are already working it in their places.
