Scheme to use £10m to revive empty shops

A £10m fund aimed at bringing empty shops back into use and attracting more visitors to town and city centres in the West Midlands has been launched.

The region's mayor, Richard Parker, said the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) scheme would support hundreds of businesses and tackle what he claimed was one of the highest shop vacancy rates in the country.

Several locations across the region, which have yet to be announced, will share the cash.

The money will be used to bring boarded-up shops back into use, improve public spaces, create new market stalls and street food venues and put on events, the mayor said.

The announcement came as the government announced plans on Monday to give councils greater control over the number of vape and betting shops on high streets.

The changes include scrapping the so-called "aim to permit" planning rule - which currently restricts councils' ability to refuse new betting shops and 24-hour slot machine shops - and requiring planning permission for new vape shops.

Parker said there were too many of that type of shop on local high streets and the WMCA investment would help fill streets with alternatives.

"I want high streets that are clean, safe and bursting with life from morning to night," he said.

"Government is giving councils the power to clean them up. We're giving them the investment to build something better."

The fund is being developed by the WMCA in partnership with the West Midlands Growth Company and councils in Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton.

Parker said the high street programme would complement regeneration projects already being carried out in places like Coventry, Wolverhampton and Solihull.

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