Reopening the High Street with an Integrated Model

The deserted high street of Shaftesbury in Dorset.
Usually, it is full of people and cars, however, due to the current pandemic, it was like a ghost town. The stay safe road markings have obviously been adhered to.
Image by Nick Fewings (@jannerboy62) on unsplash https://unsplash.com/photos/9V3_fkI8Ewc

By Dr Julian Zarb*


When we eventually start to reopen our High Streets we must be sure that this is a process which belongs to all the key stakeholders – the local authority, the local businesses and the local community.  We want the High Street to reflect the local community, to be a social as well as a cultural hub for people not simply a commercial centre that lacks the personality and the identity of that locality. 

As a member of the High Streets Task Force my role will be to listen and not just to hear stakeholders; I will have to ensure that all stakeholders take real ownership of the plan to re-open the High street – THEIR High Street, not mine, not the HSTF’s High Street, but the High Street that the local community feels they can identify with.  A few weeks ago I was watching an interesting time-series on BBC 2 about the life and the demise of the corner shop. We need to look at the corner shop, not simply as a convenience metro shop but as a point of contact for locals, somewhere where they can meet a familiar face, talk to them and get real personal service and hospitality again.  High Streets are about this local environment and in this next article I will share with you the process that I have designed after some ten years of research on the implementation of an Integrated Approach to Planning (Figure 1).

Figure 1 – Tourism Planning Triangle Model (Zarb: 2015)

The figure above shows how any tourism plan can be developed, managed and implemented with the integrated approach of all the key stakeholders rather than in the traditional top-down process or even the bottom-up approach.  Each stakeholder has a particular role to play at each stage of the planning process.  The re-opening of the High Street needs to be successfully implemented using the integrated approach and the “Tourism Planning Triangle Model” where each stakeholder can bring to the group three qualities – Empirical Research, listening and Experience.  Putting these qualities together will most certainly strengthen the output that must result from this synergy. At the centre of the model is the High Street Project.  The focus must be on creating a socio-cultural project rather than the inanimate socio-economic commercial centre.  Each Stakeholder needs to deliver an output towards this goal through the Knowledge, Action and Culture.  There needs to be a sense of belonging and Civic Pride from the community; a sense of commitment and planning by the business community and sustainability and identity by the Local Authority. These outputs can only happen if the stakeholders feel comfortable through: Commitment, Trust and Synergy.

High Streets need to be redesigned before they are re-opened; local communities need to develop that design which best suits their character and identity.  We know that the larger stores, the multinationals and the international units are seriously considering redeveloping their presence online rather on the High street.  Perhaps here, the small SME and the personal corner store can make a comeback if the local community and the stakeholders agree.  A walk or a drive to the High street should now be seen as a visit to a friend rather than an inanimate journey to a soulless store or shopping mall.  Using the integrated approach model will help us work with the stakeholders and not simply work for the community – this is a national project we must all take ownership of.

*Dr Julian Zarb is a researcher, local tourism planning consultant and a visiting senior lecturer at the University of Malta. He has also been appointed as an Expert for the High Streets Task Force in the UK.  His main area of research is community-based tourism and local tourism planning using the integrated approach.