Green Party Proposes Using Compulsory Purchases to Revive England's Empty Shops and High Streets

The Green Party of England and Wales has set out a plan involving the forced sale of long-term empty shops in England to revive high streets, BBC News reported. The party is pledging to create affordable leases for local businesses as part of this initiative. Green-run councils would make use of compulsory purchase orders to bring long-term empty shops back into public use.

Once in public ownership, these empty shops would be leased to small businesses at rates deemed affordable by the council. The blueprint is designed to help revive high streets in councils where the party wins control at May's local elections in England. The plan also involves giving residents a say in shaping their high streets through citizen assemblies.

A party leader announced the plan alongside a recently elected MP. The party leader stated that the party's councillors would use the powers local authorities have to buy empty and derelict properties and get high streets thriving again. Last year, the Local Government Association said councils had highlighted that compulsory purchase orders require considerable resources to be of any significant use in facilitating town centre regeneration.

The Greens are calling on the government to give councils the power to control rents for small businesses. Councils in England currently have no powers over private sector rents and cannot restrict landlords raising them in line with market prices. Last year, the Labour government set out plans to hand communities new powers to seize boarded-up shops.

The Labour government's plans included an expansion of compulsory purchase orders and giving councils the power to block shops such as vape stores. The Conservative Party's high streets plan focuses on scrapping business rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure businesses.

The Conservative Party has outlined proposals to cut electricity bills for businesses and has promised to hire an extra 10,000 police officers to tackle crime on high streets.

The Liberal Democrats are calling for a temporary cut in VAT from 20% to 15% for hospitality, visitor accommodation, and attractions, as well as a new business levy to shift the tax burden from tenants to commercial landowners. Reform UK says it would abolish business rates for all pubs and is planning to set out more proposals to boost high streets in due course.

“Sky-high business rates and parking charges imposed by local authorities that don't understand business are crippling the great British high street." — Reform UK High streets have been in long-term decline, with changing consumer habits and the shift to online shopping driving the closure of retail businesses. Compulsory purchase orders are seen as a last-resort option by councils because of high costs, significant legal risks, and the need for specialised expertise. Successive governments have urged councils to make use of the orders as a mechanism to revitalise high streets.”

“Use the powers local authorities have to buy empty and derelict properties and get our high streets thriving again." — Green Party leader The state of high streets has become a more prominent political issue in recent years, with parties suggesting different policies to support shops. Citizen assemblies involve bringing groups of people together to debate public policy issues and make recommendations.”