West Midlands high streets vow to carry on, despite second Portas Pilot knock back

West Midlands towns were left disheartened after missing out on the second wave of Portas Pilot towns – a government high street regeneration project led by retail guru Mary Portas.

A further 15 town centres – Ashford, Berwick, Braintree, Brighton, Hatfield, Royal Leamington Spa, Liverpool, the Waterloo area of central London, Forest Hill in south London, Tower Hamlets, Loughborough, Lowestoft, Morecambe, Rotherham and Tiverton – will share a £1.5 million cash pot to revive the UK’s high streets. 

Although Wolverhampton beat off stiff competition to win a share of the pilot money back in May, other West Midlands towns – including Dudley, Walsall and West Bromwich – were turned down for a second time. However, the towns are determined to implement some of their plans, despite not being selected for the Portas Pilot.

James Merrick, equity partner at retail specialists Johnson Fellows, said: “Recent news reports suggest Walsall Council is set to go ahead with a night time market, while West Brom is working with big companies like BT and Tesco.”