Chamber and committees

Does anybody else want to come in on those two points?

We have talked a lot about how we can keep town centres alive. Much of the evidence that we have heard is about improving hospitality and leisure facilities and encouraging more independent shops, including start-up units and so on. We have also touched on some of the barriers to getting people to live in town centres, such as lack of services and derelict buildings.

I am conscious that Allison Orr has been looking at the issue for a long time and has a lot of data. Which initiatives have been successful in our city centres, and what are the barriers to improving leisure and hospitality facilities in our town centres?

Nicoletta, I ask you the same question.

We have talked a lot this morning—

Okay. We have talked a lot this morning about the changing structure of ownership of commercial property. I think that you mentioned something about incentivising investors. Will you expand on what you meant by that?

You can come back to us.

What about the likes of local authorities, local development plans and the classifications—class 1 retail, class 3 hospitality and so on? We have heard some evidence along the lines that there should be a more general town centre category that allows a greater mix. What are your feelings about that?

I am curious to know how many of our local authorities have town centre master plans in place.

One aspect that we are looking at is how to get more people to live in our town centres. One issue that we have is empty property above retail stores.

Ian Buchanan just said that we have to include disabled people in the process and that getting accessibility right at the beginning means that we get it right for everybody. What are the specific challenges relating to the needs of people with disabilities that planners and developers should address when repurposing town centre properties, especially above shops? Many of our traditional high streets have that issue.

Are you aware of any properties that have been converted successfully?