Our fantastic town centre is at the very heart of our town, and I am working to improve it on a regular basis.
My inbox is always filled with constituents who provide their feedback and concerns with our town centre, and I regularly share this feedback with Colchester Borough Council.
It is important that our beautiful town centre and high street are kept clean, and ever since my election I have been pushing Colchester Borough Council to clean up our streets. It has been very pleasing to see the cleanliness of the town centre improve in recent years, and I will continue to stand up for my constituents' concerns and hold the Council to account on this.
Investment in our town centre and high street is so important. High street stores are a crucial part of our community, often forming the backbone of local economies. Given the challenges our high street faces from changing consumer behaviour, steps must be taken to protect them. That is why I welcome Government support through the "Our Plan for the High Street", announced at the Autumn Budget.
While high street stores are already benefiting from reforms and reductions to business rates announced since 2016 - worth more than £12 billion over the next five years - more remains to be done. The Chancellor has announced that retail properties with a rateable value below £51,000 will have their business rate bills cut by one-third for two years from April 2019. This relief will be worth almost £900 million to retailers, resulting in an annual saving of up to £8,000 for up to 90 per cent of all independent shops, pubs, restaurants and cafes.
Although our high street stores will welcome the news of business rates relief, more needs to be done in the longer term to support a sustainable transformation of our high street. That is why I am glad the Autumn Budget also announced a £675 million Future High Streets Fund, which will support local areas like ours to develop and fund plans to make high streets fit for the future. The Fund will also establish a new High Streets Taskforce to provide hands-on support to local areas and best practice.
Modernising planning rules is also vital in helping to support the transformation of our high streets. As such, I am glad that two consultations will be launched towards achieving this; the first will consider ways to support the conversion of properties into offices or homes, as well as a new mixed-use business model, while the later focuses on how to more effectively use tools such as Compulsory Purchase Orders to support the high street.
Our town centre has some rich and vibrant history, containing landmarks such as Castle Park and the Roman Wall. It is refreshing to witness the Roman Wall lit up at night, and I will continue to lobby Colchester Borough Council on behalf of my constituents to ensure our historical landmarks in our town centre are properly maintained, promoted and enhanced.
