Debate contribution: High Street and Town Centre Rejuvenation

Debate contribution by Mr Colin McGrath on 4 November 2024.

MLA

Mr Colin McGrath

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

4 November 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

High Street and Town Centre Rejuvenation

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4625987

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you very much, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. We are pleased to welcome the motion, offer our amendment and support the other two amendments. Whilst it is a further non-binding motion from an Executive party, the main strand is to offer support to small businesses on our high streets, and the SDLP welcomes the ability to join in that support for them. While there are differences in the nuances, it is important in this debate that we focus on what we agree on, which is that we support our high streets and the businesses that are there. It would be unhelpful for the House to divide on this under a small sub-issue that is something that is taking place in another area. We need to focus on what we can do and send out the clear message that we support our high street businesses. We agree with many of the points that have been raised. There has been mention of the high street task force. It has been around for many years. When I was the Chair of the Executive Office Committee, about four years ago, it was getting around to being established and beginning to look at the work that it was able to do. It was an opportunity for the Executive to show solidarity and tangible support for our high street businesses, but it has been found to be lacking and, if it is lacking, then it is failing our small businesses. Regardless of what is lacking — be it content, the implementation, motivation or pace — the one message that we are sending today is that we feel that the high street task force is lacking and, therefore, needs to evaluate what it is doing to be able to try to improve outcomes for our small businesses.

Absolutely; I cannot disagree with that. Many of our contributions today have referenced that. We have also acknowledged that the high street is changing. COVID had a big impact on shopping habits. Online shopping is now the norm, and that changes the configurations and types of businesses that we need on our high streets. High rates mean that many small family-based businesses are struggling to afford to be able to stay open, and, with many bigger businesses being located on the fringes of towns or in retail parks, the task of high street businesses is made much more difficult. We need to be able to try to support them. The bigger businesses that are located in the out-of-town retail parks can afford to keep themselves going. It is the local, family businesses that we need to support. Our amendment asks for work to be done on the reform of the non-domestic rates system. We all know what we hear when we go on to our high streets and talk to the businesses. They tell us — clearly and loudly — that the rates bill is their biggest bill. It cripples them: they have real struggles to pay it; it is a massive amount; it comes in every month; and they struggle to pay it. They have said that, if there is one thing that we could do to help them, it would be "Sort out the rates". They say, "If they were lower, we could survive. We can adapt to the changing environment, but take the rates bill and make it lower for us. That will be of great help". I also want to talk about the importance of interventions in times of difficulty. This time last year, we were coming to the end of a process in Downpatrick: we were up to our waists in water, and the town was ravaged by floods. When we went to the businesses, many of them said, "We're still having to pay rates. We can't get anybody into the town — nobody is coming into a town that's flooded — but we still have to pay rates".

Then, there were the businesses that were right at the edge of the flood. They were not affected. They were not able to claim any help or assistance because they were not flooded, but the footfall was zero. The streets were sealed off, yet they still had to pay rates, and they said that it was that move that absolutely crippled them when they needed help and assistance from the Executive. Here, nearly a year later, the Executive have been found totally and utterly wanting. We need a reform of rates that helps with the levels that are paid but, at the same time, is flexible enough to enable us to step in whenever businesses are in their moment of need.

I welcome all the amendments. There are many of them, including one from the SDLP, but I hope that we can focus on sending a clear message from the top of this hill: we want to support small businesses and our high streets and help them to be able to prepare for the future.

829 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:28 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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