A new £125 million Derelict Buildings Fund will sit at the centre of a £210 million package aimed at bringing boarded-up and long-vacant high-street property back into productive use.
The package announced by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government also includes £65 million for communities seeking to rescue or refurbish buildings and businesses at risk, £10 million for High Street Rental Auctions and a £10 million regional Co-operative Development Programme.
But there is an important catch in the headline figure: the Government says the £210 million comes from MHCLG funding already earmarked for high-street support and regeneration. It should not be treated as an additional £210 million spending commitment on top of previous high-street announcements.
Derelict buildings get the biggest share
The £125 million Derelict Buildings Fund is intended to help local authorities bring vacant property such as former shopping centres and cinemas back into use, with the Government giving health centres and civic spaces as examples of possible outcomes.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the condition of the high street was a more tangible measure of growth for residents:
“People don’t measure growth by looking at a spreadsheet. They measure it by looking at their local high street.”
That gives the package a direct land-use and regeneration angle. Long-term vacancy can involve acquisition, refurbishment, change of use, redevelopment and, in some cases, wider town-centre masterplanning.
What has not yet been published is equally important. The 25th September announcement does not set out allocations, an application process, detailed eligibility rules or specific conditions covering acquisition, compulsory purchase, remediation or planning costs.
Funding does not remove the need for planning permission where development would otherwise require it. Nor does an award predetermine a planning application.
The £301m question is not yet neatly reconciled
Earlier Government statements described the forthcoming High Streets Strategy as being backed by £301 million. Parliamentary answers in July said that envelope included the £61 million Pride in Place Community Right to Buy Fund, £10 million for High Street Rental Auctions and funding for High Street Innovation Partnerships.
The newly announced £210 million therefore cannot safely be added to £301 million. MHCLG’s own final note says the £210 million is from funding already earmarked for high-street support and regeneration.
At least one overlap is clear. The £10 million for High Street Rental Auctions had already been identified within the £301 million envelope, so the same £10 million cannot be counted twice.
The rest is less clear. The new announcement describes £65 million for communities to rescue or refurbish buildings and businesses at risk, while the earlier package included a £61 million Community Right to Buy Fund. It does not say whether those sums overlap, nor does it identify the £125 million Derelict Buildings Fund as the previously undesignated balance of the £301 million.
Until MHCLG publishes a full reconciliation, the defensible position is that £210 million of previously earmarked support has now been given a more detailed purpose, but the precise relationship between every new pot and the earlier £301 million package remains unresolved.
Rental auctions are already changing landlord behaviour
The £10 million HSRA commitment also needs context. High Street Rental Auction powers have been in force in England since December 2024. In a Parliamentary answer on 4th September, MHCLG said it does not hold comprehensive take-up data because councils are not required to notify the Department, but it was aware of more than 40 councils that had either implemented the powers or were actively preparing to use them.
In June, ministers told Parliament that more than 60 high-street units had been reoccupied without an auction needing to be held, after the powers prompted engagement with landlords.
The Government said the £10 million would be available to local authorities across England over two years for refurbishment grants and associated costs. A September Parliamentary answer said further detail on the funding was still to come.
There is also evidence of the process moving beyond theory. Broxtowe Borough Council has used the powers to seek a tenant for the former Old Rock pub in Stapleford after Government-backed refurbishment, while North Northamptonshire has approved an HSRA area in Wellingborough.
Planning Geek’s Class DB guide explains the permitted development route associated with temporary use following a High Street Rental Auction.
Regional reaction focuses on local control
West of England Mayor Helen Godwin welcomed the package and said high streets were the heart of our communities
, adding that she hoped her region would receive a share of the new Co-operative Development Programme.
The Guardian also reported a positive reaction from Co-operatives UK. Chief executive Rose Marley described the £10 million co-operative programme as a game changer
, saying the funding recognised how giving communities more power can improve lives.
There is also a practical warning from the community-business sector. Power to Change, commenting earlier this year on the £301 million High Street Innovation Partnerships, said councils can struggle to use powers such as rental auctions because of limited specialist capacity and legal and financial risk. That matters if the new funding is expected to turn powers on paper into occupied buildings.
High Streets Strategy still to come
The Government says a full High Streets Strategy will follow later in 2026. That document should provide the clearer framework now needed around eligibility, allocation and how the different funding pots fit together.
For councils, the immediate significance is that derelict buildings, community ownership and enforced re-letting are being treated as connected regeneration tools rather than separate programmes.
Further reading: MHCLG announcement, Parliamentary answer on the £301m package, Power to Change on High Street Innovation Partnerships and Planning Geek’s Class DB guide.
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