FOR Cardiff, the capital’s Business Improvement District, has published its Thriving High Streets manifesto ahead of next year’s Senedd elections. Appealing to all political parties, it asks for four key actions to support “vibrant local high streets that both serve and involve local communities”.
Representing its 750+ city centre members, including retail, hospitality and professional services businesses, FOR Cardiff is. The four asks are to:
– undertake wholesale reform of business rates;
– provide specific revenue funding for local high street development projects;
– give local communities the power to take charge of buildings in their high streets;
– sustain investment in the South Wales Metro to keep people moving easily and sustainably around their local areas.
FOR Cardiff Executive Director, Carolyn Brownell, explained the reasons for publishing a manifesto.
“FOR Cardiff works with businesses and organisations across the city centre to track trends, support growth, and champion the value of Cardiff as a thriving capital city for visitors, workers and residents,” she said.
“While there is going to be an increasing amount of speculation on how Wales will be governed after May 2026, we want to clearly present to all political parties, from the outset and on behalf of our members, the priorities for thriving high streets in Cardiff city centre and beyond.”
The four asks in more detail:
Business rates reform:
FOR Cardiff says the fact that over half of all properties charged business rates in Wales are eligible for some level of relief is “evidence that the model is outdated and supports neither businesses nor the public purse because they aren’t linked to ability to pay”.
Its Thriving High Streets manifesto says that the current system “forces businesses from the high street and disincentivises growth” and is “in need of a complete overhaul, not tinkering at the edges”. It recommends a “modern approach to business rates that supports vibrant high street businesses of all sectors and provides genuine incentives to locate in multi-functional, urban areas rather than car-dependent retail and business parks”. Such an approach, it says, would support the Well-being Goals of the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act which are supposed to sit at the heart of all policy in Wales.
Funding for High Streets improvement projects:
FOR Cardiff is asking the next Welsh Government to direct specific revenue funding to support the evolution of high streets to complement the capital contributions of ongoing policies like Town Centre First. It cites wide-ranging reviews of town centre regeneration schemes, including by Audit Wales in 2021, that have highlighted the need for revenue funding to support high street projects.
Community empowerment:
Communities in Wales have the least power in the UK to take charge of important buildings on their high streets, with no community right to bid or buy and no powers of high street rental auction. The Pride in Place funding recently announced by the UK Government enables communities in England to purchase assets, while we have no such power in Wales. While FOR Cardiff accepts that the appropriate levers will be different for Wales than they are for England or Scotland, it holds that these should be explored and developed by the next Welsh Government.
Continued proactive development of the South Wales Metro:
The future vitality and viability of Cardiff city centre and high streets across the wider Cardiff Capital Region depend on the next Welsh Government continuing to proactively develop the South Wales Metro programme.