Community action group’s plan to regenerate Ramsgate town with scheme to bring empty shops back into use

A  town centre regeneration group is hoping to reverse the decline of Ramsgate’s high street areas with a push to create ‘meanwhile’ use of its many empty shops.

Ramsgate has some 65 empty shops- a vacancy rate of 24% which is far above the 14% national average- spanning from King Street up to, and including, Addington Street as well as the High Street, Harbour Street, York Street and Chatham Street.

Premises formerly occupied by national businesses such as Wilko, Argos, New Look and Subway sit empty alongside those once housing independents such as Zest, the Polish Bistro, The Modern Boulangerie and Book Bodega.

But Ramsgate Space, founded by town residents Louise Brooks and Georgina Street, is working with the town and district councils, commercial agents, MP Polly Billington and the community to get a new lease of life in those empty units through temporary occupation by businesses, community groups, or creatives.

The Ramsgate Empty Shops Action Group was set up in October last year with the aim of exploring how change could be made in the town.

Well attended meetings were held including a round table event in April this year attended by now MP Polly Billington.

In September this year Ramsgate Space was born, spearheaded by executive directors Louise and Georgina plus directors Emma Jones and Caroline Swain.

Louise and Georgina {pictured above} both have backgrounds in town centre regeneration projects, Emma is founder of Enterprise Nation, which supports thousands of small businesses, and Caroline is a finance and business leader who has worked with Dreamland and Big Bus Tours.

Mum-of-two Louise said: “Ramsgate Space started off when I set up a community group and held a couple of meeting that were quite well attended with members of the community who were keen to drive change in terms of empty shops.

“In April I hosted a round table with Polly Billington before she was elected to start exploring what approach e could take given the resources we had.”

Since September, meetings with councils, town promoter Rebekah Smith, Ms Billington, Heritage Lab, estate agents Miles & Barr and other commercial agents have been under way to look at how a system can be put in place for ‘meanwhile’ use of empty units.

Louise said: “There are 65 empty shops and 40 of those are not being actively marketed. We have been going through Land Registry to understand who owns the spaces and Thanet council’s business rates team will be sharing with us how long the spaces have been empty.”

Louise says new legal powers enacted by the government this month could be a vital tool in taking action where shops have been left empty for a long period of time.

The High Street Rental Auction (HSRA) powers will allow local councils to auction leases on long-term empty properties, creating opportunities for community groups and independent businesses to bring vacant spaces back to life.

Ramsgate Space says prolonged vacancies not only harm local trade but also reduce footfall, invite vandalism, and diminish community pride.

Louise said: “Ramsgate’s high street has seen an alarming increase in vacancies. This month alone, two more shops have closed.

“Persistent emptiness impacts the entire ecosystem—businesses struggle, anti-social behaviour rises and the community suffers. These new powers provide a vital opportunity for us to leverage spaces that landlords have left idle and turn them into active, affordable hubs that benefit everyone.”

Ramsgate Space CIC’s meanwhile use programme involves temporarily activating vacant properties with pop-ups, art spaces, or start-up businesses which can act as an investment tool for landlords, increasing property value, reducing costs and making spaces more attractive to long-term tenants.

Louise said: “Partnership is key to making this legislation a success. Through collaboration between landlords, councils, and community organisations, we can not only address immediate vacancies but also lay the groundwork for long-term regeneration. Examples like Makespace Oxford show how this approach can turn empty shops into thriving spaces that energise the local economy.”

The HSRA scheme will initially be piloted in four areas—Bassetlaw; Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole; Darlington; and Mansfield.

While Ramsgate is not part of the initial rollout, advocates like Ramsgate Space CIC are keen to apply lessons from the pilot to accelerate local adoption.

The mechanism requires councils to serve an eight-week notice to landlords of vacant properties, after which leases can be auctioned within 14 weeks, making spaces available to the highest bidder.

For landlords, the benefits of activating empty properties extend beyond immediate occupation. By transferring liability for business rates to temporary tenants, avoiding depreciation, and demonstrating a commitment to local regeneration, property owners can reap long-term financial and reputational gains.

Emma Jones, CBE, says the scheme also provides a stepping stone for small and start-up businesses.

She said: “Affordable high street access can be transformative for small businesses. Temporary leases give retailers a chance to test their products, grow their brand, and connect with the community.

“This isn’t just about filling spaces; it’s about creating an environment where small enterprises can thrive.”

Louise says that thanks to the work that is already being carried out by Ramsgate Space, there is a bank of information that makes taking action “with immediate effect” possible.

She said: “We need to be able to demonstrate that we have already tried to work with the property owners to activate the spaces and we can do that preliminary work now.”

The team has identified 10 shop spaces that they believe can be brought into meanwhile use over the next year, with the aim of the first unit being in use by early next year.

She said: “Over the next year if we are able to bring back 10 spaces with meanwhile uses.

“Off the back of that we can turn the tide and drive demand for and access to empty spaces.”

Ramsgate Space CIC’s long-term strategy includes securing funding for meanwhile use schemes, engaging landlords and commercial agents, and implementing a plan combining cultural programming with creative enterprise

The hope is to create a vibrant hub of activity and community pride with the new shop uses helping to increase footfall in the town, boosting existing businesses and attracting new ones.

A particularly good location, says Louise, are the ‘two blocks’ of units at the town end of King Street that could be accessible and affordable.

She says bringing spaces back into use is a viable option for regenerating Ramsgate.

She added: “Margate has been through this and come out the other side but it had Turner Contemporary and Dreamland to drive that change.

“Turner Contemporary has driven creative sector growth, Tracey Emin has invested in the town and Dreamland attracts footfall as a major music venue.”

She says although Ramsgate has the Royal Harbour and lots of smaller attractions that “we should be shouting about” it does not have a specific anchor attraction and has been impacted by the exodus of national businesses, and banks, from the high street.

She added: “Smaller businesses often can’t survive without these so we need to create an environment where there are low barriers to entry, low costs and flexible terms and, if successful, they can look at investing more permanently.”

A comparison Louise makes is Brixton Village where the arcade had been deteriorating for years, with 20 empty units, and was planned for partial demolition and redevelopment into a 10-storey apartment block.

After a successful community campaign, in 2009 Spacemakers were invited by London & Associated Properties and Lambeth Council to create an alternative plan.

They designed a project offering 3 months of free rent to anyone with an idea for reusing the empty spaces.

In just one week, they received 98 proposals, with units repurposed for band rehearsals, galleries, shops and cafes. By the project’s end in 2010, the market was fully let for the first time since 1979, establishing a thriving local economy in Brixton.

By 2016 there was a waiting list for properties, with rents on for £40,000+.and property values in the area surged.

For Ramsgate, changing uses of former retail units has already begun with leisure uses moving in, such as Ramsgate Community Cinema at the former Cats in Crisis shop, Sugar Rush community theatre, café, performance space, speakeasy style bar, studios and offices at the former WHSmith and Arts in Ramsgate and Discovery Planet science workshops who also use former shop space.

The return of the Friday market after a four year absence has also encouraged people back into the town alongside initiatives such as the current Ramsgate Lumiere festival which features light installations at town premises.

East Thanet MP Polly Billington says she is keen to see the HSRA scheme used in Ramsgate.

She said: “I’m extremely excited about the possibilities that are opened up by the new powers available to local authorities to force empty properties into use on our high streets.

“These powers create a ‘right to rent’ so that high street lots that have been left empty for far too long can be brought back to life.

“With the energy and commitment of the empty shops campaign in Ramsgate, this has the potential to enable small businesses, creatives and organisations to have a foothold on our high street. I am keen to work with the whole community and Thanet District Council to make the most of these rule changes.”

High Street Rental Auctions

Under this scheme local authorities can take action where landlords have not taken sufficient steps to rent property – auctioning off leases on premises that have been vacant for more than a year – and granting local businesses and community groups the ‘right to rent’ empty commercial lots at market prices.

A local authority must take several preliminary actions before beginning the process:

• Designating a street or area where a High Street Rental Auction can be used, including a 28-day minimum community engagement period;
• Satisfying the vacancy condition and local benefit condition;
• Obtaining information about the premises in question (local authorities may want to capture this information in a vacancy register;
• Engaging with landlords to encourage cooperation between parties; and
• Surveying the premises to assess the suitable high street use and/or the works needed for the premises to reach the Minimum Standard.

The High Street Rental Auction Process begins with a 10 to 12 week Notice Period and then a 12 week Auction Period.

The successful bidder at auction will enter into two legal agreements with the landlord. The first is the tenancy contract, which governs the landlord’s required works prior to the tenancy commencing, and the second is the tenancy itself, which will set out the specific obligations on the tenant and landlord during the term of the tenancy.

Premises are eligible for a High Street Rental Auction where they have been unoccupied continuously for 12 months, or for at least 366 days (non-continuously) within a 24-month period’

High Street Rental Auctions will not be suitable for all high street premises; for instance, large former department stores may be subject to long-term, complex redevelopment plans which may be negatively impacted by being subject to inclusion.

Find Ramsgate Empty Shops group on facebook here

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