Philip Hammond to announce £1.5bn Budget boost for flagging high streets
2 min read
Philip Hammond is set to announce a £1.5bn fund to boost the fortunes of Britain's struggling high street retailers in next week's Budget.
The Chancellor will set out plans for a new £650m fund aimed at improving infrastructure and transport links to help “transform local high streets” and keep them “at the heart of communities”.
The new fund would allow local councils to rejuvenate under-used retail buildings into new homes and offices as well as relaxing town planning rules to support new mixed-use businesses on the high street.
Towns and cities will also be given new powers to decide how they allocate the cash to best support local businesses and retailers.
The move comes just days after retail giant Debenhams posted a loss of £491.5m, down from profits of £59m the year before.
The group said that challenging high street conditions meant it would have to take “tough decisions” that could see it close 50 stores, putting 4000 jobs at risk.
Mr Hammond is also expected to announce £900m of business rates relief to take the pressure of smaller firms by knocking a third of their annual rental bills.
The package will help 496,000 small businesses cut their rate and provide them with "immediate short-term relief", the Treasury says.
The department says this will mean, for example, that a pub in Sheffield would see an immediate reduction of £6,178 on a rateable value of £37,750.
Mr Hammond had previously mulled slapping a new tax on online retailers to try and increase competition between the high street and internet giants such as Amazon and Ebay.
In August he said: "We want to ensure that taxation is fair between businesses doing business the traditional way and those doing business online.
"The EU has been talking about a tax on online platform businesses based on value generated.
"That's certainly something we'd be prepared to consider."
But Labour demised the plans and accused the Government of "presiding over the slow death of the British high street".
Shadow Business Secretary Rebecca Long Bailey added: "Today’s announcement will do little to change that, and may even make things worse."
The Labour frontbencher called for increased resources for council town planners and said the business rates relief would fall "far short of what is needed to save Britain’s struggling retail sector".
"Long-term security for small businesses will only come from fundamental reform – not more temporary relief," she said.
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