GFirst LEP chair to play a pivotal role in boosting the high street

Diane Savory, the chair of GFirst Local Enterprise Partnership, has been asked to play a pivotal role in the Government’s drive to boost the high street.

Diane, the former chief operating officer of SuperGroup, has been asked by MP Mark Prisk to sit on one of three Task and Finish groups for the Future High Street Forum. The forum brings together leaders across business, academia, third sector and local government to better understand the competition town centres across the country face and to drive forward new ideas and policies.

The invitation came following the launch of a new report and toolkit from GFirst LEP, Gloucestershire’s LEP, which is designed to breathe fresh life into the UK’s town centres and high streets. The report ‘Successful town centres - developing effective strategies’ has been delivered by GFirst LEP, the national retail Pathfinder for Government.

Diane Savory, chair of GFirst LEP said: “I am delighted to have been invited onto this group and it shows that Gloucestershire’s LEP is being recognised as a real voice on retail. This gives us a fantastic chance to talk about what we are doing in Gloucestershire and have a say on national policy. Working alongside some key retail figures in the UK we will be ensuring that practical action takes place to ignite our high streets. We need to galvanize our retail businesses, councils, LEPs and other organisations around the UK to ensure that our high streets are the best in the world.”

Building on the work of the Portas Review of the future of the high street, the Future High Streets Forum is complimentary to the work of groups such as BITC’s High Streets Taskforce and the Distressed Retail Property Taskforce and will meet four times a year, supported by the three Task and Finish sub groups that will take forward practical work.

The first meeting of the Task Group will be held on May 22 in London. To view the ‘Successful town centres - developing effective strategies’ report visit http://www.gloslep.co.uk/sector-groups/retail/high-st-toolkit