‘More housing needed’ to bring empty Barnstaple shops back to life

More homes built around the outskirts of Barnstaple would solve the housing crisis and bring life back to the town centre, a North Devon councillor has claimed.

Lead member for housing Councillor Graham Bell was reacting to concerns about vacant high street shops at a strategy and resources committee meeting of North Devon Council on Monday (April 13).

He said regenerating flats above shops to revitalise commercial premises was not the solution, they needed to substantially swell the population by building around the edge of Barnstaple, which would drive growth.

He said Barnstaple was “massively above the average” for its number of empty short term shop lets – around 17.5% – and nearly 9% of long term lets were vacant over a three year period despite it being “a fantastic town.”

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Cllr Bell said: “We need to start to thinking, not simply about shop top properties, but perhaps large chunks of housing, bringing the outskirts of Barnstaple into housing use rather than continuing to hope that River Island will come back or we are going to have a resurgence of BHS (British Home Stores) in the area. These things are not going to happen.

“By converting entire parts of the town into housing it will bring the homes we need and perhaps regenerate the core of Barnstaple.”

Cllr Ricky Knight said vacant shops and broken guttering in the town centre were disappointing aesthetically and went against all the great work being done by the Barnstaple Place Partnership Board.

He said it was looking to improve the vibrancy of the town with community-led events and regeneration projects, boosting culture and making the town safer with initiative like street marshals.

Cllr Malcolm Prowse, lead member for regeneration and economic development, said tracking down the owners of vacant shops and getting them to respond was a challenge and huge efforts were going into that.

He also said the area was in a high flood zone and water was “lapping at the front doors” so that needed to be “fast tracked” if they had any hope of solving empty units.

He added: “We need to find a way to allow the upstairs of shop properties to be used. The residential side will pay for the capital value of the property which will bring the building back into life anyway and you can let the shop for very little money… that’s our top property.”

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Giving an update on the work of the Barnstaple Place Partnership, town centre manager Hannah Harrington said to improve the look of vacant shops colourful vinyls with nice images and information about the town would cover windows.

Vice chair of the committee, Cllr Peter Leaver welcomed the report and said there was a real buzz and life about Barnstaple which he didn’t necessarily see in his day job visiting small towns all over the south west.

The partnership board, a mix of public and private sector organisations including councils and police, was set up in 2024 to deliver successful place management of Barnstaple to ensure it is a thriving place for all to live, work, visit and play. It is a community-led rather than a council -led approach.

“The partners have done well to keep Barnstaple going in what are undoubtedly tough times for retailers and hospitality sectors,” said Cllr Leaver.