£10m fund to save UK’s high streets goes on stunts – or in the bank
Now dont get me wrong, I know how hard it sometimes is to turn ideas into reality, but if this article is true, in view of the crisis faced by our High Streets, we desperately need a new injection of local dynamism and capacity amongst some of those local players seeking to solve the problem. It tells us:
Public money handed to local councils to revitalise their high streets has been spent on apparently frivolous items including a £1,500 Santa Claus and £1,000 reindeer.
The Government gave 100 local authorities millions of pounds last March in a high-profile initiative designed to attract shoppers to town centres.
But a year later most councils have spent precious little of the £10m High Street Innovation Fund on creative ideas. More worryingly, they seem to have wasted much of the initial expenditure on short-term and whimsical items, which would typically form part of their overall budget.
In addition to the Santa Claus and reindeer, one council spent £5,124 on a portable stage and PA system, while another spent £37,000 on a salary for a business manager.
Among the 72 councils that responded to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, they have spent just £519,363, or 7.2 per cent, out of the £7.2m awarded to them. Many councils, such as Birmingham, Bolton and London’s Westminster, the heartland of MPs, had not spent a single penny from their £100,000 grant by 31 January.