The government has published new guidance on rejuvenating shopping parades as part of its response to Mary Portas’ high street review.

Launched by communities secretary Eric Pickles, the report provides ‘practical advice’ for communities and shop owners on how to revive their local shopping parades. It focuses on making parades safer, restoring pride in parades, and rallying around the community, with shop owners and communities advised to work together.

Eric Pickles said: “We’ve taken action to back local firms and small shops and today we are offering up ways to rescue run down shop parades by kicking out the louts, set up savvy services for shoppers and restoring the local pride in parades.”

The guidance received a mix reaction from retail groups. Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) chief executive James Lowman said: “By providing this guidance, the government is giving long overdue credit to local shops and helping them by giving practical advice on how to work together and thrive.”

But he said there was more government could do, such as calling in for review out of town developments that go against local plans.

The Rural Shops Alliance said the report did not put forward any clear strategies. “There is a general thread that owners of these ‘local treasures’ (as Eric Pickles terms local shops in his foreword) should engage with their communities and should co-operate with each other. That’s it, really,” said RSA chief executive Ken Parsons.

See the guidance here