00:00High streets across County Durham have been feeling the strain for years.
00:05Once busy shopfronts are now boarded up or left vacant,
00:08a new figure is sure just how serious the problem has become.
00:11As of June 2025, the county-wide average vacancy rate stood at 22.73%,
00:17significantly higher than the national average of 14%.
00:21In Bishop Auckland, the situation is even more stark,
00:24with more than a third of retail units, 35.3%, lying empty.
00:29One of the highest rates in the region.
00:32Now, Durham County Council is stepping in with new powers aimed at turning the tide.
00:37The council will pilot high street rental auctions, or HSRAs, in Bishop Auckland and here in Stanley.
00:43The scheme allows councils to auction short-term leases of up to five years on privately owned properties
00:48that have stood empty for more than a year.
00:51It's a way of bringing unused buildings back into productive use
00:54and encouraging new businesses to move into town centres.
00:57The council has stressed that enforcement through the scheme will be a last resort,
01:02only used when attempts to work collaboratively with landlords have failed.
01:07Alongside the new powers, existing business support,
01:10grants, loans and other enforcement measures will continue to play a role.
01:13The aim is to tackle long-standing vacancy rates and breathe new life into high streets
01:18that have struggled to keep up with changing shopping habits and economic pressures.
01:23But what do locals think? Will the rental auctions truly make a difference?
01:27Do people still regularly visit the high street for shopping?
01:30I like to think that I do still go to the high street a lot, especially when I'm with people,
01:35because I don't think online shopping brings the same connection.
01:38And like, for example, I've just been out today with my girlfriend to go to the shops
01:41when we could have easily ordered this stuff online.
01:43I'd say mine's definitely not.
01:45But mine is so, so busy.
01:47Beg and I am from Camden, which is in London, so all the shops there are still kind of booming.
01:52Yeah, I'm opposite end of the spectrum.
01:56I'm from a seaside town down in Devon, and that's just died off.
02:00There's a lot of tourists that people can't afford to go down there anymore.
02:02You know what I mean?
02:03So it's just everywhere's just died off and the shops can't afford to keep running.
02:06So it's just closed down.
02:08I think it is worth visiting and especially as a community,
02:12you should make an effort to still, you know, support the local businesses on the high street.
02:17So although, you know, people are going online these days as well,
02:20I think it, my one is still thriving, but that just down to the community, I suppose.
02:25No, you go into the high street, you get the stuff same day.
02:27You get to see it, try it on, see if you like it or not.
02:31The HSRA pilot comes as part of a wider regeneration push
02:35that will see Stanley, Peter Lee, Crook and Towelow play a leading role
02:38in shaping their own futures through the government's Pride in Place programme.
02:43Each of these communities will receive £2 million a year for the next decade,
02:47giving them long-term funding, certainly to plan ambitious projects and improvements.
02:54Local people will be at the heart of deciding how the money is spent.
02:57The HSRA pilot comes in favour of the
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