Burnham puts £210m behind high street revival ahead of Labour's first conference as PM

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has unveiled a £210m package aimed at regenerating the UK's high streets and community centres, with money earmarked to bring empty and neglected buildings back into public use and to keep struggling businesses from shutting down. The announcement comes as the Labour leader arrives in Liverpool for the party's annual conference, his first in the role as prime minister.

The funding is drawn from an allocation already set aside by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government for high street support and regeneration, and is split into several targeted strands. Burnham said the aim was to return empty spaces to use, converting them into the kinds of facilities residents say they want to see — community hubs, health centres, shared workspaces and cafés — rather than leaving them as permanent eyesores on town centres.

The largest single element is a £125m derelict buildings fund, designed to convert mothballed and dilapidated properties into usable space. A further £85m pot will allow communities themselves to take over neglected sites, including former pubs, clubs and shops. Alongside that, £65m has been allocated to rescue businesses and buildings judged to be at risk of closure, while an additional £20m is intended to help groups establish co-operative businesses and take on empty units.

Burnham framed the scheme as a measure of economic progress that can be judged at street level, arguing that people assess whether the economy is working by looking at their own high street rather than at abstract data — asking whether shops are opening or shutters are coming down, and whether an area feels like it is moving forward or being left behind. The prime minister said the new money would place decision-making power with local people who know their communities best.

Communities Secretary Angela Rayner said the programme demonstrated a government commitment to turning long-abandoned, boarded-up buildings back into places residents are proud to visit. Her framing echoed the prime ministerial emphasis on local ownership of the regeneration process.

First Secretary of State Louise Haigh went further on the devolution angle, saying the funding would give local people the resources they need to make change in their own areas, and described the scheme as an example of what devolution means in practice for communities on the ground.

The package also builds on a policy Burnham announced in the summer, when the government confirmed 20% cuts in business rates for pubs, clubs and other social venues, taking effect from April. Together, the rates relief and the regeneration money form a two-part approach: reducing the fixed costs of the venues that anchor town centres, while providing capital to bring dilapidated premises back into use.

The announcement did not go unchallenged. Peter Kyle, the business secretary to former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, said Burnham needed to act with greater urgency to support growth, using his arrival at the party conference in Liverpool to make the case that the government was moving too slowly on the economy.

The Conservatives pitched their own alternative for "stronger high streets", pledging to abolish business rates for thousands of businesses and to protect what they describe as key pillars of community life, including post offices, pubs and pharmacies. The contrast between the two approaches — targeted regeneration funding and business rate relief on one side, a sweeping rates abolition on the other — is likely to feature prominently in conference coverage.

Analysts of the announcement note that the most distinctive element is the route by which communities and co-operative groups are being given money to acquire and run premises themselves, rather than waiting for private developers or councils to act. If the co-operative and community take-over strands work in practice, they could reshape ownership patterns in town centres, keeping key buildings in local hands even as the high street continues to face pressure from online retail and out-of-town shopping.

Questions are likely to centre on delivery: how quickly the funds can be drawn down, who qualifies, and whether local authorities and community groups have the capacity to manage and run the buildings they acquire. For a government that has placed affordability at the centre of its programme, the success of the scheme will ultimately be judged by whether shutters stay up in town centres rather than by the size of the commitment announced.

Burnham is expected to use the conference to underline his plan for the country, with the high street package serving as a visible example of an agenda centred on making everyday life more affordable. The contrast between his optimism about local regeneration and the Conservatives' criticism that he lacks urgency on growth is set to frame the political debate as the conference gets under way in Liverpool.