Are our high streets doomed?

Government shopping tsar Mary Portas certainly thinks so, and today she suggested that some high streets should be bulldozed and empty units converted to housing.

She said: “There are towns where it’s dead, where the horse has bolted. I think there’s some towns where we have to look at a rejuvenation and a regeneration that will be different, and whether that’s housing, or looking about how you can change some of the towns, that has to be done.”

Her comments came as a new survey showed that one in three shops are empty in some parts of the country and there is an increase in the gap between the best and worst performing towns.

Nationally, one in seven shops have remained vacant over the past year and there is unlikely to be a significant improvement because of the current economic climate, according to the Local Data company.

In Shropshire the figures show that 15.1 per cent per cent of shops in Shrewsbury are currently vacant, a rise of 3.4 per cent, and in Telford the figure is 15.2 per cent, a rise of 8.5 per cent.

But Craig Henn, of commercial property surveyors Towler Shaw Roberts, which has offices in Shrewsbury, Telford and Wolverhampton, said the vacancy rate in Shrewsbury was higher three or four years ago.

He said: “I think in the last six to 12 months a lot of shops have been taken up. That is exactly the same in Telford.”

Mr Henn said about two years ago there were fears Wellington could become a ghost town but the situation was now more positive.

He said in some places, such as Shifnal, Newport and Albrighton there was a even a need for more shops on the high street.

Andy Brown, chairman of Market Drayton Chamber of Trade and Commerce, said: “We have got a number of empty properties, including a couple of boarded-up ones. Creative Drayton is in the process of making them respectable and making sure they are not an eyesore.”

Matthew Hopkinson, director at the Local Data Company, said: “This report shows how fragile the British high street is in parts of the country.”