Thriving high streets are central to our national life: they bring communities together, provide essential services, support culture and heritage, and drive employment and local growth. Yet the economic model high streets have relied on has been disrupted by changing consumer habits, competition from online and out-of-town alternatives, and declining investment in the public realm - in the face of which many of these local assets have declined.

For many people, the neglect of the high street and the struggle many have faced to adapt to changing economic tides is a visible sign of a wider loss of control and pride in where they live. The replacement of banks, pubs, and shops with vape shops or vacancies is a powerful symbol of lost control and diminished pride.

But this decline is not inevitable – and if we are to restore hope and confidence across the country, there is no better place to start than our high streets.

That is why today the government has laid in both Houses and published ‘Hope on the High Street’, our new High Streets Strategy.

Our plan is to put high streets back under local control, backing local leaders to drive the change their community wants to see. Every town and city centre is its own unique ecosystem shaped by where it is and who it's for. We will not try and fix everything from Westminster. Instead, we are backing councils, Mayors and communities with new powers and investment – and tackling the cost of doing business.

We believe that the job of this government is to support local leaders to build the high street their community wants. The strategy sets out the six pillars of a successful high street:

1. Active leadership and management; reasons to have confidence
2. Strong businesses, anchors and amenities; reasons to visit
3. Vibrant culture, leisure and entertainment; reasons to stay
4. Easy access and connectivity; reasons to explore
5. Safe, clean and welcoming; reasons to return
6. A place to call home; reasons to move in

Taken together, they can increase footfall and spending, reduce vacancies, strengthen business resilience and productivity, attract investment, and build confidence among residents, businesses and investors.

The strategy recognises the vital importance of improving the conditions for businesses to set up and grow on the high street. The government is providing an extra 20% relief for pubs, social clubs and all but the very largest live music venues in England from 1 April 2027. This is in addition to the support introduced earlier this year, bringing the total relief to 35%.

Today’s Budget confirms further steps to back retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) businesses of all sizes, many of which had been facing significant business rates bill increases. The decisions set out in the Budget mean that RHL businesses in England will see their business rates either frozen in real terms, reduced, or cut to zero, while ensuring that half of all RHL properties in England will not pay business rates at all from 1 April 2027.

The Budget also confirms we will remove business rates reliefs from vape shops and adult gaming centres, to better target those reliefs at businesses that support thriving high streets: from April 2027, vape shops and adult gaming centres in England will no longer be eligible for the RHL multipliers, and vape shops will also lose eligibility for Small Business Rates Relief. This builds on the steps we have announced to end the requirement for licensing authorities to “aim to permit” gambling premises, and our proposals to require new vape shops to obtain planning permission, giving councils and communities a greater say over where they are located. A new Model Design Code will also support councils to impose higher quality, more consistent design standards for shopfronts.

The strategy also supports high streets to adapt, bringing vacant premises back into productive use and encouraging a greater mix of activities in town centres.

Our £210 million Community Assets Programme will provide practical investment to tackle vacancy and dereliction, protect valued community assets, support co-operative development and strengthen local capacity to renew high streets. This funding is available within England.

The package comprises four complementary funding streams:

• £125 million Derelict Buildings Fund to help 60 local authorities bring prominent vacant and derelict high-street buildings back into productive use.
• £65 million to help communities acquire and protect valued local assets, from pubs to local sports facilities, aided by new Community Right to Buy powers. Funding will be open to applications across England.
• £10 million for High Street Rental Auctions to help councils accelerate and expand their use of the powers and bring persistently vacant commercial premises back into use. Funding will be open to applications across England.
• £10 million Regional Co-operative Development Programme to help Strategic Authorities grow their co-operative economies and support community-owned businesses.

More detail on this funding can be found here: Community Assets Programme - GOV.UK.

To accelerate adaptation, the government will empower local authorities to better take on business rates avoidance by expanding the funding provided for the costs of challenging avoidance in courts; and introducing a General Anti-Avoidance Rule, giving local authorities the powers they need to better take on non-compliance.

The strategy also expands the role that public services and workplaces can play in successful high streets, through a new ‘high streets first’ principle. This will encourage public bodies to consider the wider benefits their estate decisions can bring to high streets and local growth, making better use of the public estate as a strategic asset that enables placemaking and regeneration. This principle is backed by a number of policies, including Local Asset Management Plans co-designed with Mayoral Strategic Authorities, Place Based Business Cases to align investment around a shared vision for places, and a greater say for Mayors in significant estates decisions.

The strategy also sets out measures which the government will explore to create stronger conditions for growth in town centres, including the possibility of Community Enterprise Zones as a vehicle for high street renewal, and hospitality or vibrancy zones to support to bring town centres to life outside of core retail hours. We will also explore how licensing can better support economic growth, including considering putting the National Licensing Policy Framework for the hospitality and leisure sectors on a statutory footing.

The government also recognises the significance of crime and organised crime as crucial factors in deterring people from visiting high streets, and undermining the viability of high street businesses. The strategy sets out how the government is acting to deliver on existing commitments to crack down on these threats, including through a £30 million national crackdown on organised crime and stronger powers to close premises linked to criminality.

This strategy sets a clear direction of travel for high streets, but it is not the end of our work. We will continue to work across government and with local leaders, businesses and communities to identify where further action is needed. We will use the forthcoming Rewiring the State Delivery Plan and future fiscal events to consider where additional powers, funding or reforms are needed to help places deliver lasting change. The new Place Regeneration Taskforce, part of the Office for the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, will continue to champion an ambitious approach to high street regeneration as part of its work

The state of our town and city centres says so much about us, who we are as a country, and whether we are on the right path. We need to get them booming again, so that people can see that our best days are ahead of us. The government has every faith that the future can be so much brighter than anything before us, and together, we can bring back hope again.