Today in the House of Commons, Jack Brereton, Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent South, successfully got his ‘High Streets (Designation, Review and Improvement Plan) Bill’ over the latest parliamentary hurdle.
The new Bill is focused on improving the condition of our high streets by getting local authorities to assess the condition of their high streets and come up with action plans to help them improve. The Bill does not create new powers for local authorities but is about getting them to better use the powers they have already got, working with other stakeholders on our high streets, to focus on providing the focus our high streets need to improve. The Bill puts a duty on councils to designate high streets and work with stakeholders to develop action plans to help high streets improve.
Last month, the Bill passed its Committee Stage in parliament. Since the Bill cleared its Committee Stage, Jack Brereton MP has been working with colleagues in Government and across Parliament to ensure the new legislation was prepared for its next parliamentary step known as the Report Stage and Third Reading. Third reading is the final chance for the Commons to debate the contents of a Bill.
MPs voted in favour of clearing the Bill and it has now successfully passed through the scrutiny stages of the House of Commons. The bill will now go to the House of Lords for their scrutiny before hopefully receiving Royal Assent.
Following the debate, Jack Brereton MP said:
“I am delighted to get my proposed new laws that will help revive our high streets through final Commons stage. As we heard during the debate Members of Parliament up and down the country care passionately as much as I do about supporting our high streets to succeed.”
“Residents in North Staffordshire know that our high streets have been faced with many challenges and my Bill is about helping them to turn the corner. Now that the Bill has cleared the Third Reading in Parliament, it will move to the House of Lords further scrutiny. We are one huge step closer to getting Royal Assent and turning this into law.”
“Once signed into law my Bill will ensure local councils work properly with local communities and high street businesses. Voters expect their council to be proactive in coming up with plans in supporting their high streets. This Bill will help high streets throughout England in getting that much needed support, and help our high streets thrive again.”
During the debate, the Minister for Levelling Up, Jacob Young MP said:
“Healthy and vibrant high streets are not only vital, not only for local economies, but for the quality and pride for our local communities.”
“This Government is fully committed to breathing new life into our high streets, whether that’s through the Long-Term Plan for Towns, High Street Rental Auctions or the ‘High Streets (Designation, Review and Improvement Plan) Bill’.”
“I appreciate, like the honourable member for Stoke-on-Trent South, just how much this matters to communities that both of us represent. And I would like to offer my gratitude to him for introducing this bill.”
“The Government is backing this bill and backing our high streets to navigate this period of change. I look forward to supporting this bill from the sidelines as it progresses through the other place (House of Lords) and eagerly anticipate the bill becoming law.”
The ‘High Streets (Designation, Review and Improvement Plan) Bill’ introduced by Jack Brereton MP has been done so as a Private Members’ Bill (PMB) and follows him securing eighth place in the PMB ballot. PMBs are public bills introduced by backbench MPs and Lords who are not government ministers. As with other public bills their purpose is to change the law as it applies to the general population.
For full details of the Bill, please see here:
https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3548
Full contributions to today's debate can be found here: https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2024-04-26/debates/5611A481-29CD-488B-B2D4-07D416E151DB/HighStreets(DesignationReviewAndImprovementPlan)Bill
ENDS
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