Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill

Following on from the Queen’s speech the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill has been published.

The Bill is wide in scope and covers the proposed changes to the Pavement Licence regime.

However it also sets out for the government a number of missions- it would appear that this will be the benchmark for assessing the levelling up.

An area of significance within the bill is in relation to local empowerment. It is stated to “empower local leaders to regenerate towns and cities and restore local pride in places. The Bill strengthens and adds to the tools that can be used to deliver regeneration and make good use of previously developed land. It will reinvigorate high streets by making changes to outdoor seating permanent and allowing local authorities to fill vacant commercial property, such as shops, through high street rental auctions.”

This may provide an opportunity for easy start-ups and for pop-up bars and micropubs which would have had long lead in times for the setting up of legals.

Perhaps more worryingly the bill references “We will also look to bring forward measures to ensure the police have the powers to ensure communities can feel safe and secure where they live.” Whilst we all appreciate the need for policing there can sometimes be unintended consequences on the commercial operation of premises when new safety measures are implemented.

This legislation promises to do a lot the question is will the government let it do so.