Mary Portas to face questions in Westminster over high street review

The select committee for the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has called for the public to submit questions to Portas over her Government-backed review and the progress of the Portas Pilots.

The committee is also set to debate former Focus boss Bill Grimsey’s alternative review into the high street, which is currently underway.

The deadline for submissions to Portas is July 30, while the meeting will take place on September 2. The public is also being encouraged to send in questions via Twitter using the hashtag #AskPortas.

The session will also discuss the impact of out-of-town retail developments on town centres.

Portas has been a key figure in raising the profile of the high street over the past two years after she put forward 28 recommendations to the Government to help save town centres. The Government then awarded 27 Portas Pilots £100,000 each to trial the ideas.

But the pace of the pilots’ progress has been criticised for being too slow, while Portas has been slammed for not going far enough with her recommendations to rescue struggling high streets and for creating a telelvision show, Mary: Queen of the High Street, out of the work.

The question and answer session is separate from the inquiry into the UK retail sector, which is being led by the select committee for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. But it is understood that due to the cross-over session will help inform the inquiry.