Town centres need to broaden their appeal with a mix of leisure facilities, public facilities and homes, a report suggests.
It is one of the recommendations made by an expert group set up to examine how to breath life into Scotland’s high streets.
Malcolm Fraser, the architect who chaired the National Review of Town Centres, said the group has come up with a “range of measures to bring investment and footfall into our communities”.
The review group is urging public bodies to adopt a “town centre first”, meaning they should consider helping local high streets before thinking about developments elsewhere. Housing organisations can turn empty town centre property into affordable homes, while a focus group could be set up to look at business rate incentives, according to the report.
Public bodies should also consider the impact on high streets of any proposals to move services out of town centres.
