High Street Rental Auctions can drive investment and regeneration
May 15, 2024
New plans to make vacant properties available through auction can enable hospitality to drive change in our high streets.
What's been announced?
The Government has confirmed that the High Street Rental Auctions plan will come into effect in September.
The scheme will give local authorities the ability to instigate an auction on properties that have remained vacant, with the ambition to remove empty sites and encourage new business investment in high streets.
Our response
Kate Nicholls, Chief Executive of UKHospitality, said: “The Government is right to identify hospitality as the bellwether of local economies.
“When hospitality thrives, the high street comes alive. When the sector faces challenges, like it does now, we see more and more empty plots available.
“The proposals to allow vacant properties to be brought into use via auction will create opportunities for hospitality businesses to move into high streets, generating local investment and creating places where people want to live.
“I’m pleased that protections for pub sites have been addressed and this will help protect the cultural and historic role pubs play in our society.
“For businesses to capitalise on the investment potential created by these plans, we need to see the cost burden for hospitality addressed.
“Financial headroom is essential for businesses to take advantage of these opportunities, alongside urgent improvements to the planning system.”
