The Government will not bring forward its response to Mary Portas’s high street review despite calls from an MP to speed up the process after a run of retail administrations in the past month.
Rochdale Labour MP Simon Danczuk wrote to housing and local Government minister Grant Shapps on December 31 asking him to bring forward the Government’s response, due in spring.
However, Shapps insisted that the Government would not make an earlier response.
Shapps said: “We are now actively considering [Portas’s] recommendations and will issue a detailed government response in the spring as previously outlined.”
Shapps was allocated a town centre remit in December with responsibility for implementing recommendations for reviving the UK’s ailing high street.
In the past few weeks retailers including Hawkin’s Bazaar and D2 have hit the wall, while the future of store groups including La Senza and Past Times hang in the balance.
In his letter to Shapps, Danczuk said: “In light of this worrying picture I hope you will review your timetable and take action immediately in order to help inject some confidence into the high street and give retailers clarity of policy direction.
“Plans to respond to the Portas review in spring, while ignoring a winter of retail insolvencies, shows staggering complacency and remoteness from the reality on the high street.”
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