Priti Patel – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Priti Patel on 2014-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much funding from the public purse was provided to support high streets (a) in total and (b) by local authority area in each of the last 10 years.

Brandon Lewis

Since 2010 we have spent or committed £18.53 million funding from the public purse to support high streets. This support has included: direct funding, support and advice for 23 Portas Pilots and 333 Town Team Partners; the High Streets Innovation Fund, supporting 100 towns with the highest empty property rates and those affected by the riots; the High Street Renewal Awards; the Business Improvement Districts Loan Fund and support for the Love Your Local Market campaign.

In addition, the Chancellor announced a £1 billion Business Rates support package in the Autumn Statement, which includes a 2 per cent cap in Retail Price Index increase in business rates for 2014-15, a discount of £1,000 for smaller retail premises, which will benefit around 300,000 shops, pubs and restaurants, and a 50 per cent discount for 18 months to new occupants of vacant shops, bringing them back into use.

The doubling of small business rate relief has been extended for another year. This measure was worth £900 million to small businesses in 2012-13, trebled from 2010.

It is not possible to provide a breakdown of funding by local authority area for each of the last ten years due to disproportionate cost.