Councils whose businesses have been hit hardest by the recession stand to receive £50,000, under government plans to energise empty high streets. Communities secretary, John Denham, has published a list of 57 authorities which house retail areas suffering from the downturn, and has tasked each council with finding creative ways to use the UK's growing number of empty shop spaces. Mr Denham wants the councils involved to use empty premises to provide community projects, such as art exhibitions, meeting places and education facilities. The aim of the initiative is to prevent UK high streets from falling into the same dilapidated state witnessed during the recessions of the 1980s. Retail centres such as Brixton in Lambeth, south London, took decades to recover from past recessions. Lambeth LBC attempted to persuade retailers back to the high street using an iconic ‘We're backing Brixton' sign on a local railway bridge, but the initiative had limited success. During this recession, Mr Denham is keen to use shop space to promote local skills and community wellbeing. City councils which stand to benefit from a £52,000 funding package include Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle. The Arts Council England is also set to distribute a further £500,000 nationally. ‘We know the downturn has really hurt high streets in areas of high deprivation across England. These grants will help transform and reopen empty shops as part of our real help to keep town centres vibrant and combat the recession,' he said. ‘Those authorities will now be able to use our funding to come up with their own creative ideas to transform their boarded-up shops into something useful. ‘There is no need to see unused shops on our high streets going to waste, especially when we know that it doesn't take a lot to turn a vacant shop into something beneficial for the community.'
