Roundtable: How to Design a Healthy High Street - Linking Health and Economic Growth

This roundtable was chaired by Jen Hartley, Head of Economic Development, Newcastle City Council. It gave an opportunity for councils to share insights into how councils are changing the way they see their role in designing a healthy high street and how health can be linked to economic growth.


  • Date: 31 January 2023
  • Chair: Jen Hartley | Head of Economic Development | Newcastle City Council

Welcome and introduction

Case Study

Newcastle is one of the UK’s major cities and the core of the North East, with a population of 300,000. It is part of the North of Tyne combined authority, with a new devolution deal being implemented in seven councils that will bring together the whole of the North East.   

High streets in Newcastle were already in decline prior to 2020, with the pandemic further impacting this. However, the pandemic has also seen people turn more to local area, with council keen to keep this change. The councils’ priorities also include tackling the cost-of-living crisis, with Newcastle suffering from high levels of child poverty, as well as achieving net zero. 

In 2022 Newcastle embarked on its high street transformation pilot, in partnership with the combined authority. This pilot saw £1.5 million to transform high streets within the city, with a key example being Shields Road, which has been consistently voted one of the worst high streets in the country. The plan was developed in collaboration with Newcastle University, with health at the heart of the project.

The portal ‘common place’ has been used to find out what improvement’s residents wanted to see, with more engagement than anticipated, including from hard-to-reach groups. From this a plan for what to include was drawn up that included: 

  • An improvement in opportunities for active travel and an increase in connectivity
  • Looking at the ownership of empty properties, to try and bring them back into use 
  • A look at what independent traders would be interested in occupying a property, with a focus on healthy eating

If the pilot is successful, it’ll be rolled out to other areas, such as Heaton. 

It’s important to note that it’s impossible to do everything, especially with a limited budget, so looking for private investment and independent stores, and taking on a custodian role is key.

Challenges

Discussion 

  • Corporate control of high street properties has resulted in high streets being similar across the country with these having failed.
  • Use of shops for pop ups or community use is okay but what people really want is businesses, however pop ups can be used to bring vibrancy and encourage businesses.
  • Lack of public transport routes into town centres can make getting to the high street difficult and reduce footfall. 
  • A lack of diversity of businesses can reduce footfall, as there aren’t as many reasons to go to the high street.
  • Many vacant properties are owned by investment firms, not the council, making vacancies quite difficult to fill.
  • Retail is no longer a big driver for people going to high streets, with the development of a night-time economy being essential. 
  • The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a reduce in footfall during the week, as people continue to work from home.
  • Councils can sometimes be seen as a bit too paternalistic and need to ensure the public is consulted on any plans. 
  • It can be difficult to measure the benefit of health in the high street, despite it being the right thing to do, making it difficult to build a business case.
  • A one size fits all approach to high streets doesn’t work, with settlement size, location and demographics being key considerations.
  • Engagement with town and parish councils can be difficult, this is frustrating due to knowledge held by these organisations.
  • Bike theft can be an issue that discourages the use of active travel to town centres.
  • The high street itself needs to be thought about, not just how to get there.

Good Practice 

Dorset

Dorchester also saw a decline in weekday footfall, due to the pandemic and an increase in people working from home. A pilot was launched in which the former district council office was transformed into an NHS health hub, to fast-track assessments. This has now been made permanent and expanded, with the result of increasing footfall and helping the health of residents.

Wiltshire

Wiltshire is fortunate to have the funding to be able to pilot different things in town centres, having a towns programme for this purpose.

North West Leicestershire

North West Leicestershire are breaking ground on their plan to redevelop four squares and join them up, so it is possible to travel between them in an active way.

East Hertfordshire

East Hertfordshire has around £10,000 to spend on high street improvement. This will likely be spent on joining up green spaces and installing benches. It highlights that masses of money don’t need to be spent on improvement, but public consultation is key.

Opportunities

Discussion 

  • Many councils have been using e-scooters and bikes to increase active travel to and from the high street. 
  • Making town centres more attractive could encourage travel.
  • Linking up green spaces has made town centres more attractive and active travel between areas easier.
  • It important to enable communities to feel some form of town centre ownership, making the space more inviting.
  • A joined-up approach needs to be taken across all council departments, as every area impact town centres, it also allows for more effective use of funding.
  • Some councils are looking into the 20-minute neighbourhood principals to steer high street planning.
  • Concierge parking for bikes has been successful in some areas.
  • Every town is different and therefore needs its own strategy.

Good Practice 

Essex County Council 

Essex county council have been piloting a scheme called Pedal Power, this gives free bikes to locals for a year in Clacton and Jaywick and if they can prove they’ve used them for good intentions they can keep them. Residents are also taught bike maintenance and bike safter, this has been quite successful. 

South Tyneside

Events are being advertised as ‘bring your bike’ to try and encourage people to use active travel to access the high street.

Runnymede 

Have taken advantage of funding from the shared prosperity fund to regenerate shop fronts and the market, to try and make the area more attractive to increase footfall. Temporary bollards have been introduced in some areas, this allows for certain areas to be closed to traffic for events, this worked particularly well during the diamond jubilee celebrations.

Gloucester 

A public realm scheme is being designed to increase public dwell time, with measures being removeable for events.

Hinckley and Bosworth

The leisure has been brought back to a central location, just off the main shopping area, this has had the effecting of 850,000 visitors being brought into the town centre.

Lincolnshire 

The introduction of a pop-up museum in Holbeach has brought some people back into the area, with the potential of this becoming permanent.