Chief Reporter

Prime Minister David Cameron and retail guru Mary Portas have been challenged to visit the Westcountry by businesses battling to survive on the high street.

Towns across the region are blighted by empty shops, with out-of-town shopping centres being blamed for the demise of small, independent retailers.

Ms Portas – dubbed the Queen of Shops – was last month appointed by Mr Cameron to lead a review into developing "more prosperous and diverse high streets" across the country.

Now both have been invited to Cornwall to see the problems retailers face at first hand, as well as hear possible solutions being proposed.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, under the title "Save the British High Street", business leaders in Falmouth said its "long, characterful high street is under constant pressure from escalating costs and 'out-of-town' retail".

Mr Cameron told the WMN that it was "great that the people of Falmouth and the Western Morning News are getting involved in this review".

The three-page letter, signed by hotelier Nigel Carpenter, chairman of the Falmouth Business Improvement District (BID), outlined five key measures which would "significantly help to save our High Street".

Parking provision needed a radical overhaul to rival the "easy, available, free parking" provided by supermarkets and out-of-town retailers.

"Currently, our car parking is in the wrong place with poor access, badly signposted with punitive and inflexible charges," Mr Carpenter said.

"The car parks are generally owned by the unitary authority [Cornwall Council], who primarily regard them as an income stream. They are managed with no imagination and little consideration of supply and demand.

"The charges/parking arrangements do not seem to take account of the wider economic impact that car parking plays in town regeneration."

Better parking needed to be combined with better transport links "developed by the private sector and supported by imaginative councils".

Town centres also needed "well-funded and professional" management, just like their out-of-town counterparts.

"How can the high street compete," the letter asks. "It starts off with a great theoretical advantage – location, location and location – but then potentially throws it all away with a complete laissez faire, ad hoc approach with no tenancy strategy and the management of the shopper experience delegated to an assortment of non-integrated public sector departments and agencies.

"High streets need managing like the total business of a shopping centre with real business plans focused upon building footfall, improving the public realm and enhancing shopper experience."

Business rates, which are hived off by central government, need to be "kept local" with a "proper connection to business rates and the services we receive with proper local accountability".

The group also argues for a 10 per cent VAT rate – half the current level – for retail, restaurants, hotels and tourism businesses.

"Tourism and its economic multiplier effect is Falmouth's biggest industry," they added. "If the Government is serious about driving economic growth through tourism – which is critical in the Westcountry, the UK's leading visitor destination – then action to cut VAT on tourism is vital.

"The tourism industry acts as a major economic driver and this is crucial in Falmouth, providing income for shopkeepers and farmers alike".

A recent survey showed the extent of problems in Devon and Cornwall, with vacancy rates running at 29.8 per cent in St Austell, 19.6 per cent in Torquay, 18.8 per cent in Tiverton and 18.2 per cent in Redruth.

The high street campaign has been championed by a number of Westcountry MPs, including Conservatives Geoffrey Cox, MP for Torridge and West Devon, and Dr Sarah Wollaston, MP for Totnes.

In her review, due to end by the autumn, Ms Portas will advise on how government, businesses and shoppers can tackle the problem of vacant shops, prevent "clone towns" being created and increase the number of small and independent retailers doing business in local town centres.

Mr Cameron said: "It's great that the people of Falmouth and the Western Morning News are getting involved in this review and considering ways in which we can support the great British high street.

"We believe the high street should be at the very heart of every community, bringing people together, providing essential services and creating jobs and investment; so it is vital that we do all that we can to ensure they thrive."