Rejected petition: Help give local councils more ability to control the shops in our High Street.
Rejected on
Our High Streets are losing retail variety and becoming increasingly dominated by empty properties or non-retail uses. While councils say it cannot control private landlords, residents deserve a thriving town centre and local councils should be able to control what shops are in their town centre.
I live in Brentwood which is a great community but our high street is steadily in decline. The council who want to help but are limited by the control they can have on private landlords who often leave properties empty until a lease ends or rent them to the highest bidder but have no concern on what the local community wants or needs. This is common across the whole country. Help us get action and maybe a Lululemon!
Why was this petition rejected?
It’s not clear what the petition is asking the UK Government or Parliament to do.
Petitions need to call on the Government or Parliament to take a specific action.
We're not sure exactly what you'd like the Government or Parliament to do. We are not sure what you mean by 'control what shops' are on the high street, as it is up to individual businesses whether they decide to open a shop in a particular location or not. We are not sure exactly what powers you think local councils should have that differ from existing powers.
You could start a new petition explaining clearly what you would like the Government or Parliament to do, such as allowing local councils to issue new fines for landlords of vacant properties, or new veto powers over businesses opening shops.
You may also wish to visit the following links which provide details of recent Government announcements in this area:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/boarded-up-high-streets-brought-back-to-life-with-210m-boost
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.