Plea over Devon’s declining High Streets

Increased national insurance costs for businesses could ‘drive the last nail into the coffin’ of Devon’s High Streets, the government has been warned.

Torbay’s Liberal Democrat MP Steve Darling issued the warning during a Westminster Hall debate on High Street businesses.

He also called for legislation to speed up town centre developments, citing the example of Paignton’s former Crossways shopping centre which has become a car park after ambitious development plans were delayed.

Mr Darling also told colleagues that anti-social behaviour in town centres meant people don’t feel safe using them.

He said: “At the last count, 40 people were sleeping rough across Torbay, which is absolutely shocking. The number has more than doubled.

“Sadly, people sleeping rough make others feel unsafe, and therefore unwilling to go into our town centres. We need more funding to support people, but we also need the stick of more bobbies on the beat – more uniformed officers who can be seen supporting our communities.”

He said out-of-town and online shopping had caused a steady decline in town centres, but making it easier for councils to buy and redevelop run-down buildings could help reverse that.

He went on: “We need to ensure that local authorities have the ability to place-shape, whether that is having influence over stopping immediate transfer from retail to residential, or whether it is enhancing and speeding up the abilities of compulsory purchase orders.

“I am only too alive to one case in my constituency of Torbay. It straddled the Ukraine war, which meant that we saw a massive boost in the cost to redevelop Paignton town centre, and now that particular location is just a car park

“We have that uncertainty, and if we want to drive that imagination for our communities, we need certainty.”

On the national insurance changes, which will force businesses to pay more to employ staff from April, he added: “Although the policy is still slightly over the horizon, its cold hand is sending a chill through the heart of our town centres.

“The Conservatives may have almost nailed down the coffin lid on our town centres, but I fear that the Labour party will actually put in the last nail.”