I’ve seen how declining British high streets can be brought back to vibrant life | Holly Lewis

New powers to force landlords to let empty shops is a good step – and there are other ways to revitalise these community spaces

If you have been reading anything about high streets recently, the chances are at least some of it included the reporting of another closure or collapse: M&S and Boots shutting stores, banks closing branches, pubs withdrawing. The list is long, and perhaps we would be less concerned if we were all confident that one ailing business would be replaced with another, more dynamic one. But for many of our high streets, that is not the case.

Against that gloomy backdrop, a report published at the end of November by the House of Lords’ built environment committee makes for refreshing reading, opening with evidence of “an optimistic and flourishing future” for our high streets.

Holly Lewis is a co-founding partner at the research, urbanism and architecture practice We Made That, and town architect for the London Borough of Hackney

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