’a proliferation of vape shops’ causes distress
During an interview where the £20million investment was announced for Woodside in Telford, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Steve Reed was asked about the targeting of the areas chosen for the government’s new ‘Pride in Place’ funding for 339 deprived communities.
The Secretary of State explained that the areas selected for the fund were those that had been “held back the most under the previous government.”
He noted the distress felt by communities when they see their high streets in decline with “closed down shops, metal shutters pulled down in front of them, perhaps a proliferation of vape shops, dodgy barbers.”
Under the new scheme, each of the selected areas will get £20 million, with local communities having a direct say in how the money is spent.
They will also gain new powers to limit “unwanted shops” and use compulsory purchase orders, with the council, to take over empty shops and “bring vibrancy back to the high street.”
“It’s local people that know best what needs to change to restore pride in their own area,” the Secretary of State added.
