The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has welcomed moves to bring shoppers back to high streets, but says that government's plan to increase business rates by 5.6 per cent in April is still a major concern.
On Saturday (February 4th) 'Queen of Shops' Mary Portas and local government minister Grant Shapps launched a competition to choose 12 towns to become 'Portas Pilots'.
Winning bidders will create town teams, made up of the key figures in the local community, including councillors, landlords, shopkeepers and local MPs.
These teams will then be supported by the government and Portas herself and will benefit from a share of £1 million worth of funding to carry out recommendations for improvement.
Portas, whose 'Queen of Shops' TV programme helps to revitalise struggling businesses, said that she was "thrilled" that the recommendations she put forward in her government-commissioned review are being implemented.
"I hope my Review has inspired people with another vision of tomorrow where our high streets are re-imagined as destinations for socialising, culture, well being, learning as well as shopping," she said.
However, the BRC is more sceptical about the benefits of the scheme and wants the government to tackle issues affecting the whole of the retail industry in the UK, such as the planned rates hike.
BRC's director of business Tom Ironside said: "Town centres do need to be actively managed and the government is right to recognise investment is often needed, although £1 million will not go far.
"But this is no magic bullet and must be accompanied by other steps, as swiftly as possible."
With these new rates set to put a squeeze on retailers, companies may want to look at reviewing their shop insurance policies in order to make sure they have the most competitive deals possible and have all their bases covered. 
