00:00Across the West Midlands, the old model of a city centre built mainly around shopping is being rewritten.
00:08Birmingham City Council's 2026 Central Heart Plan identifies 17 hectares in the commercial core for transformation, including underused retail and
00:19office space.
00:20The idea is to mix shopping with homes, leisure, workplaces and public space, because simply waiting for traditional retailers to
00:29fill every unit is no longer realistic.
00:32Coventry faces similar questions. Its council has acknowledged that the city's market has struggled with vacancies, even though it remains
00:41an important source of footfall.
00:42Beyond all of this sits the change in our own behaviour. Office for National Statistics figures show online shopping accounted
00:51for 28.8% of retail spending in August 2026.
00:56It's quick, often cheaper and doesn't require a trip into town.
01:00Yet, when stores disappear, people understandably complain that centres feel emptier or less cared for.
01:07Across the region, the challenge is turning high streets into places people choose to visit, even when buying the basics
01:15no longer requires leaving home.
01:17We've been talking about the decline of the high street for years, it seems to me.
01:22When we're talking about the online retailers, and of course I don't have to mention who they are, they have
01:26the ability to bulk buy.
01:28But of course they don't have shops, it's done by clicks rather than bricks.
01:31There is no doubt, of course, that sort of vacant premises, they sort of look unsightly, and it becomes slightly
01:36hostile places to sort of people want to go in.
01:40So what you've got to do is make them more attractive.
01:42Now, of course, that's to do with sort of spending money by the sort of local authority primarily, although we
01:47have sort of groups such as business improvement districts,
01:50and they sort of put money into making the sort of the environment more pleasant.
01:54But of course, you've got to still attract people to want to go in there, and if it's not sort
01:58of for shopping, and I do think that there will always be some high street presence,
02:01although it continues to be in decline, it's about sort of the things that we want to do to sort
02:06of meet up.
02:07So it's about leisure, health perhaps, we sort of know that sort of gyms and the sort of like, you've
02:12got to sort of have the sort of the, if you like, a multi-agency approach.
02:15But of course, it always requires money. And once sort of retailers vacate those premises, don't let them go into
02:21decline,
02:21because of course, it makes it all more difficult to bring them back to sort of to a proper usage.
02:25In England, the government says it's trying to make high streets more competitive.
02:29From April 2026, qualifying retail, hospitality and leisure properties moved on to lower business rate multipliers,
02:38while councils can use high street rental auctions to bring long empty premises back into use.
02:45In September 2026, ministers announced a £210 million package aimed at derelict buildings, struggling businesses and community ownership.
02:55The test is whether that investment changes how people spend.
