High streets risk becoming a “looting ground” for criminal gangs, the boss of John Lewis has warned, as the department store calls for a Royal Commission review into dying town centres.
Dame Sharon White, chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, has said high streets are being blighted by a rise in shoplifting and anti-social behaviour, following years of shop closures which have left town and city centres with boarded up storefronts or “seemingly endless” rows of charity shops and vape vendors.
Writing for The Telegraph, she is calling on ministers to set up a Royal Commission to investigate the health of towns – and how to revitalise them – for the first time since the Victorian era.
More than 6,000 UK shops have shut their doors in the past five years, according to industry figures, as shoppers increasingly prefer to shop online.
Alongside rising crime, Dame Sharon said “unfair” business rates, sclerotic planning rules, and the Government’s imposition of a “tourist tax” were also to blame for the declining health of the high street.
She added that clean air zones, like Sadiq Khan’s Ulez scheme in London, and other traffic changes needed to be implemented “in a way that doesn’t leave anyone behind”.
Without a “comprehensive plan” to stop the rise in thefts from stores, high-streets risk “becoming a looting ground for emboldened shoplifters and organised gangs”, she said.
Her warning comes after the Co-op revealed it had recruited undercover guards to patrol grocery aisles, following a 35pc jump in thefts and anti-social behavior in the first half of this year alone.
A Royal Commission, an independently-run public inquiry, would be best-placed to look at high streets in the round, the John Lewis boss said, adding: “High streets are more important to us than the sum of their parts; they help define our towns and cities and create civic pride.
“They are vital to us as a nation and, which is why, piecemeal decisions on individual problems will not work.”
Royal Commission members are appointed by the King to gather evidence on the topic and produce a report on recommendations.
The last time a Royal Commission was ordered into the health of towns was 180 years ago, during the reign of Queen Victoria.
It was centred around public health concerns. The inquiry led to the Public Health Act of 1848, which was instrumental in helping improve sanitary conditions in England and Wales.
It would mark the first Royal Commission since 1999, when Tony Blair established one on the reform of the House of Lords.