Commercial Property Advisors (CPA) welcomes measures trailed in the spring Budget, to establish a Future High Streets Fund.
It is less convinced that a blanket "Digital Sales Tax" will automatically inject new life into bricks and mortar stores.
CPA considers that the high street requires a smarter approach.
In the past, local councils wooed national stores like Marks and Spencer, believing they would act as a magnet around which smaller, often local, enterprises would flourish.
Now, with so many large stores closing, is it not about time to reverse the formula? Knowing that consumers seek out the non-standard, often quirky, artisanal product- think speciality bread, confectionery, or curios- should we not be offering incentives to bring back local businesses to our town centres?
One such incentive could be an app which directs the digital tax paid by online operators, directly to rewards redeemable in genuinely local, quality-approved enterprises.
CPA, as a uccessful specialist in rates reductions, has consistently championed the high street, and is convinced that innovation alone can save our local shops, and restore footfall once generated by corporate chains.