Overseas owners of empty high street shops problematic

Spread Eagle Court (pictured) is just one of a number of long term empty buildings but the city council say it has been difficult tracking down some owners

Gloucester City Council is struggling to find the owners of some of the empty buildings in the city centre.

The council's chief executive said that was because many owners had addresses overseas.

Millions of pounds has been invested in the changing face of the city's high streets with the forum and university campus.

The authority said it was "actively repurposing" areas of the city with 18 new businesses having opened in the city centre in the last year, while its shop vacancy rate was below average.

Wilkos has been shut since 2023 but the store was sold at auction earlier this year

Despite all the investment the city has seen in recent years with the opening of the food dock, the forum and the new city campus there are still areas of the city which are not looking their best.

During a recent Business and Trade Committee meeting in parliament Chief Executive of Gloucester City Council John McGinty said he thought the high street was "still thriving in Gloucester" but it was "having to adapt" and challenges remained.

"We are writing to overseas addresses and we're not getting any responses and we have very little way to follow that up to try and actually get some action to do some coordinated work in that street" Mr McGinty said.

Another issue for those taking on buildings in the city was its historical nature.

Being a Roman city there was a lot of history waiting to be found for anyone regenerating parts of the city.

This was seen recently with hundreds of skeletons found at the old Debenhams site which is now the city campus.

Archeological work can delay building work and increase costs if finds were significant.

What can be done about it?

Gloucester's Labour MP Alex McIntyre (pictured) has launched a survey looking at empty shops

The changing face of the high street is an issue all over the country.

"It's now charity shops, vape shops, mobile phone shops and no other proper shops to go proper shopping" said Gloucester resident Richard Hale.

It is an issue that is being looked at in the halls of Whitehall as well as the city of Gloucester.

The government recently announced £5bn of extra funding for the most "overlooked" high streets - but Gloucester wasn't included.

The city council was introducing "meanwhile uses" for vacant units, providing space for arts and community projects.

Councils also recently got legal powers to rent out empty high street shops at auction - something that was also being looked at in Gloucester.

The city's Labour MP Alex McIntyre has also launched an "open for business" survey to find out what people would like to see from their shops.

"We know from speaking to so many residents across the city one of the things that [residents] they are frustrated by is seeing the amount of empty shops on our Gate Streets, the street drinking and anti social behaviour and the fact they don't feel like it's their city anymore."

Despite a number of empty shops in the city centre the council say the overall vacancy rate is below average and falling

Compulsory Purchase Orders are another weapon in the local authority armoury but they can be expensive and time consuming.

However the government is giving councils more powers to purchase property.

Within the coming months the council is also expected to reveal more about their plans for Greyfriars Quarter, another regeneration project which got government backing.

A spokesperson for Gloucester City Council said, "we are actively repurposing areas of the city centre as public tastes and preferences regarding retail continue to change."