Shaping the Future of Thanet's High Streets
Have Your Say on Proposed Rental Auction Scheme
Thanet District Council is committed to revitalising our high streets and town centres, ensuring they remain vibrant hubs for our community and local economy. To achieve this, we are proposing to implement the new legislation under the High Street Rental Auction (HSRA) scheme, a proactive approach to tackle the issue of long-term vacant commercial properties.
What is the High Street Rental Auction (HSRA) Scheme?
The HSRA is a permissive power granted to local authorities to bring persistently vacant premises back into active use. By facilitating a rental auction, we aim to connect landlords with potential tenants, injecting new life into empty units and boosting the overall high street experience. This scheme can also help overcome barriers where lender conditions might otherwise prevent market-rate tenancies.
How Will it Work?
For a property to be eligible for a High Street Rental Auction, it must be located on a designated high street or in a designated town centre and be considered suitable for a high-street use. These uses include:
- Shops or offices
- Services for visiting members of the public
- Restaurants, bars, pubs, cafés, and other food and drink establishments
- Public entertainment or recreation venues
- Communal halls or meeting places
- Manufacturing or industrial processes compatible with the above uses
Your Role in Designating Thanet's High Streets
A crucial first step in implementing the HSRA scheme is to designate the specific streets and town centre areas where this tool could be utilised. We believe that local knowledge is invaluable in this process. Therefore, we are now launching a 28-day community engagement period to gather your feedback on our proposed designated areas.
We want to hear from you about which streets and areas within Thanet you believe are most important to our local economy due to their concentration of high-street uses. Your insights will help us ensure that the HSRA scheme is targeted effectively to where it can have the greatest positive impact.
To help you visualize the proposed designated high streets and town centre areas, draft maps illustrating these locations are available for your review. You can access these images by clicking on the following links:
Phases
Transparency and Next Steps
Once the designation process is complete, Thanet District Council will maintain and make publicly available a list and map of all designated high streets and areas. This designation will also be recorded as a local land charge, ensuring transparency for property owners and prospective tenants. Please note that the Council can review and vary these designations in the future as needed.
Importantly, once the boundaries of designation of these areas is known, we will proactively engage with landlords of properties that may fall under the HSRA scheme. This engagement will focus on encouraging them to bring their vacant properties back into meaningful use through existing avenues. We are committed to exploring all viable alternatives and fostering collaborative solutions before considering the use of High Street Rental Auctions. Please note that the Council can review and vary these designations in the future as needed.