Empty High Streets action urged

Councils have been urging ministers to help them fill vacant shops

Communities should use more empty shops as neighbourhood resources to help prevent town centres becoming magnets for crime, the government says.

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears announced measures to make it easier for groups in England to turn stores into galleries or advice centres.

They include faster planning and standard short-term leases.

But the Conservatives said the government's policies had "worsened the misery for local firms".

Ms Blears used a seminar of councils, business leaders, landlords and town centre managers to set out the measures.

Our ideas for reviving town centres will give communities the know how to temporarily transform vacant premises into something innovative for the community Communities Secretary Hazel Blears What to do with empty shops

She said there would be extra powers to allow councils to take over premises.

Ms Blears added: "Town centres are the heartbeat of every community and businesses are the foundation so it is vital that they remain vibrant places for people to meet and shop throughout the downturn..

"Empty shops can be eyesores or crime magnets. Our ideas for reviving town centres will give communities the know how to temporarily transform vacant premises into something innovative for the community - a social enterprise, a showroom for local artists or an information centre - and stop the High Street being boarded up."

The Local Government Association (LGA) warned earlier this year that England's High Streets were in danger of becoming "ghost towns" unless action was taken to fill empty shops hit by the recession.

Four out of five councils had reported an increase in empty premises, it said.

For the Conservatives, shadow communities secretary Caroline Spelman said: "We should take no lessons from Labour ministers, given Gordon Brown's policies worsened the misery for local firms.

"His government are hiking business rates during the recession, including scrapping rate relief on empty property. Worse is to come in the form of the rates revaluation next April.

"New planning rules in favour of more out-of-town development will soon make it even worse for High Street shops."

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