Roeselare: a lesson in reviving the high street

Roeselare, a town of 62,000 people in West Flanders, Belgium, has become the unintentional poster child for town centre regeneration since adopting the recommendations of the first Grimsey Review back in 2013. Its thriving high street, laden with new tech, green space and independent local businesses, serves as an indicator of what’s possible at home. With the UK’s town centres continuing to go through significant structural upheaval, EG joined a delegation of district councillors on a visit to the town to find out what UK civic leaders can learn from Roeselare’s successes and failures, and how differences in property culture and law have enabled the Belgian town to succeed. The way that we do our shopping has changed completely over the past decade, and the effect that it has had on our high street has reached fever pitch. Ten years ago, the iPhone had just celebrated its first anniversary, Amazon languished at 45th place in the rankings of the world’s largest retailers, and retail spend online stood at 4% (it now tops 21.5%). Company voluntary arrangements and administrations have plagued the sector since 2018, and the ongoing transformation of retail has left some serious questions for industry leaders to address. The organiser of the study tour, the District Councils Network, is a cross-party member-led network of 191 district councils, and a special interest group of the Local Government Association. It is led by councillor John Fuller. “Members are keen to learn from Roeselare about the importance of civic leadership in driving forward plans – and the conditions which allowed such widespread transformation to be achieved,” says Fuller, explaining the purpose of the trip. All of the councils represented on the tour are bidding for a share of the Future High Streets Fund, a £675m pot for councils to revive their town centres and high streets. And if they’re successful, they want to make sure they can deliver something akin to the change that Roeselare has delivered. Identity, place and purpose Bill Grimsey, former chief executive of Wickes and author of the Grimsey Review I & II, encourages those present to think about identity. “Every town has a mark of local heritage – celebrate it and incubate new and young businesses. We need to unpick the fabric of our clone towns,” he says. With erosion of heritage, identities of places have been disrupted, according to Chris Shellard, development director at Lee Valley Estates. He says that creating community is where any regeneration has to start. “Without the people in place, from top to bottom, you’ve got nothing,” says Shellard. The face of Roeselare’s success is its mayor, Kris Declercq. Recently re-elected, his passion and excitement for the long-term project is infectious. “Collaboration between politicians and town-centre stakeholders is vital, and courage among all leadership is required,” he says confidently. Declercq refers to the local council as being the “visible hand” – as opposed to Adam Smith’s invisible economic alternative – and says UK towns need to get “back to the agora”. The visible hand Roeselare has traditionally been known for high-quality food production, manufacturing and retail. Faced with the prospect of store closures and declining footfall, the town council took the recommendations from the first Grimsey Review, and tailored them to the unique history of Roeselare, setting out a plan to restore and transform the town. As a symbol of commitment, more than 300 local retailers and councillors signed a pledge to follow the plan. That pledge is displayed as a reminder in the town’s council offices. The ambitions laid out in the plan are measured through three key goals: supporting local businesses, matching consumer expectations and changing perceptions. Structurally, the plan has included some significant changes to support to local traders, including the launch of the B(L)OOMS programme, a series of tax redemptions and financial support designed to stimulate trade, not stifle it. A few examples include a refund of property tax for new retailers, amounting to 75% in the first year of trading, 50% in the second and 25% in the third. A refund of €15,000 (£13,500) is also available to retailers that move their businesses into the town centre, and funding of up to €7,500 is available to organisations that open a second unit, or owners who live above their store. [caption id="attachment_990443" align="aligncenter" width="847"] ARhus Knowledge Centre[/caption] All of these funds are provided by the Flemish government, with businesses then asked to repay a relative share of proceeds back into the town fund. The B(L)OOMS programme has proved to be very popular: 28 approved long-term applications, including 18 from new retailers, four mergers of commercial buildings to make the most of vacant space, and 11 pop-ups. Shop vacancy has stabilised and footfall trends are positive. Among the expected influx of new coffee shops and food and beverage outlets, this has enabled some other unique retail offerings to bloom. An independent homeware store, a breastfeeding station and baby shop, and a large, empty department store have been brought back into use following collaboration from multiple DIY businesses, all through the programme. The number of new entrants to the high street is unprecedented. Landlords are also expected to fulfil their side of the agreement. If a shop lies empty for one month, they receive a written warning. If it is still empty after six months, a fine is charged. Retailers and property owners used to see each other as competitors but in Roeselare the team, led by Declercq, has tried to create relationships that are open and symbiotic, working with each other and not against each other, for the benefit of the town. With high street fragmentation such an issue in the UK, perhaps it is something that could be taken on board here. A new Bizlocator app has been built to connect prospective tenants to vacant landlords too. Physical changes Aesthetically, the town has undergone some remarkable changes in a relatively short time. Improvements include developing and enhancing public spaces, reducing visible parking areas in favour of greenery, widening pavements to encourage more outdoor seating, upgrading public toilets and creating environments that are more accessible for parents and children, as well as older citizens. The town is remarkably clean and feels safe – there is no littering or loitering and no graffiti. The local authority has increased powers to fine up to €300 for antisocial behaviour, including not recycling properly. There are even window dressers on hand to spruce up fascias. In the same way landlords are incentivised with a stick to fill their shops, tenants face the same warning over garish or unfitting shopfronts. A shopfront that does not fit with the Roeselare story for one month results in a warning. Leave it looking shoddy for six months and a fine will be charged. Incubation and fostering of new technologies has been at the heart of Roeselare’s transformation. Providing a thriving resource and knowledge centre in the centre of the town, the ARhus Knowledge Centre provides citizens with a hub to develop their IT skills. The introduction of free Wi-Fi across the town has increased dwell time, and a new Citie app was created to offer access to information about parking, shop opening hours and a loyalty scheme with rewards linked to shopping and leisure facilities.  Shop-and-go, a 30 minute sensor facilitating short-term parking in the town centre, has also proved popular with residents. All of these targets are evaluated regularly. Community facilities have been a resounding success, with ARhus visitors jumping by 52% over four years, the number of new and independent businesses has grown rapidly and footfall is shooting up year on year. But the implementation of the plan has not been seamless. “Initially, people weren’t interested in tech,” says Declercq. “We rolled out the town centre apps probably too quickly. Young people used it but young people have no spending power.” “What we learnt is to look for what people want first before delivering,” he adds. Proof in the pudding Roeselare is booming. The project has been an unrivalled success, with stakeholders of all levels deeply invested in the plan and clearly benefiting from it. But the work isn’t over. Vanessa Dehullu, team leader of the economic department of Roeselare, says they are now working on a second town centre plan as it needs to “keep evolving and changing”. The structural differences between the UK and Belgium are clear to see in Roeselare, and the unfolding recalibration of retail, met by the insolvencies of the past two years, have perhaps switched attention away from regeneration projects, and on to administrations. Grimsey says a CVA “is like morphine, it’s not a cure – it only eases the pain until you die”. Empty shops will continue to appear, and town councils, landlords and occupiers need to understand the high street isn’t about retail any more. As Declercq says: “We are still filling vacant shops, but it is becoming harder. We need to be more creative and continue working hard to create a real community. Simply opening a shop and waiting for customers doesn’t work anymore.” To send feedback, e-mail james.child@egi.co.uk or tweet @JamesChildEG or @estatesgazette