In October 2010 I began to write a book which I entitled "Days of Thrift" which I published as an ebook on Amazon in it I looked at, amongst other things, the state of Britain's High Streets and how they were boarded up, derelict and failing because the way people shop and what they expect from their shops had changed radically.
I felt that the only way we could change this state of affairs and develop prosperous High Streets again was to completely change their nature and in making that change we would regenerate entire neighbourhoods.
You see I don't believe in "trickle down economics" where the wealthiest in society are allowed to make money without responsibility and the rest of us, now and again, when it suits the uber rich, are given the crumbs and told these little tokens will grow our economies. What we need is what I call "bottom up synergy".
I used the High Street as my example of "bottom up synergy". At the moment every High Street I know of has boarded up shops, for rent signs, to let signs and decay everywhere you look. What if we renovated the empty properties, changed them into social housing - flats and maisonettes run by Housing Associations interspersed with work shops for artists, green businesses, specialist boutiques and shops which sold local produce and stayed open longer hours. The local area's economy would benefit from the workers coming in to do the renovations, the new families living in the street would shop locally, the new businesses would prosper if they were given incentives such as lower rents and rebates on the business tax for the first 3 years.
Entrepreneurs and innovators would be attracted to the area and work for local people would be generated. Easing parking restrictions and encouraging green transport such as rickshaws and free bikes in the area would also create a feeling of difference from the usual shopping experience. If street artists and buskers were encouraged to create their art in the High Street, open air markets were developed and fairs set up all showcasing local products and crafts these activities would generate revenues for future projects, produce a vibrant place to live that anyone would be proud to call home and invigorate the local economy.
Of course there is a place for the big stores but they have already found their niche in the out of town retail parks.
Mary Porter was asked by the government to make a report about the state of the High Street, she has made her report and it does not make good reading we have to find a new way forward. I haven't got all the answers, no one does but we have got to discuss this problem and combine our best ideas to create a better society than the one we are living in right now.
I live in 2011, the start of the twenty first century I do not want to regress to the 1920s, the start of the last century for my standard of living and opportunities, we can do better than that.
