by Malcolm Hyde, regional director of the CBI South East

Walk down most high streets and you’ll see that the internet has revolutionised the way we shop. One in seven shops lies empty, and there are forecasts 5,000 more will close within the five years. Sitting behind this is a situation where the growing burden of business rates is loading more pressure on the high street at a time when we should be reinvigorating them.

At the same time, we are facing a shortage of quality office space in city centres as the number of new business start-ups grows to nearly pre-recession levels, and firms want more energy-efficient spaces.

'Our towns and cities are ripe for new developments that can support modern working practices'

Our towns and cities are ripe for new developments that can support modern working practices.

The opportunity is there and the benefits are clear. In Leeds, £4.3bn of major development during the past decade has boosted employment in professional services, and the city’s earnings growth has outstripped the UK average over the past decade.

For some, regeneration is seen as something for the public sector to worry about. But given the pressures on our high streets, the dwindling supply of quality office space and the need to increase house building, it’s a high priority for the businesses I speak to each week.

With public budgets stretched, authorities can’t afford to bankroll development projects as they might have in the past.

What we need is a new approach that is focused on local business strengths, built on strong partnerships between the public and private sectors and responsive to the local factors driving development in towns and cities across the UK. The CBI’s latest report Locally Grown, makes the case for physical regeneration through a series of case studies.

In Camden, local leaders have put empty shops to good use as pop-up art galleries and creative spaces. Iconic projects like i54 South Staffordshire and Media City UK in Salford have successfully reinforced local sector strengths in automotive and creative industries.

In Aberdeen, they are now planning to build twice the number of houses than at the peak of the market in 2007, and the building programme in Milton Keynes has kept housing affordable even though its population has grown faster than any other city.

Of course you will be thinking that Kent doesn’t have a Leeds, Kent is not Camden – but exact fits are not the point. With City Deals becoming more widespread and the prospect of devolved budgets through Lord Heseltine’s idea of a ‘single pot’, the incentives for local leaders to set out ambitious economic strategies are growing.

It’s essential that the public and private sectors work together to ensure this opportunity is not squandered.