Call to action to restrict out-of-town shops amid 'perfect storm' hitting main streets

New restrictions on retail centres on the outskirts of towns of populations of under 10,000, rural broadband, and new efforts to get the attention of central and local government will be required to fight against the decline of regional main streets across the country, say surveyors.

A report, Rejuvenating Ireland’s Small Town Centres, is “a call to action” to stop the forces of decline bearing down on small regional towns from a host of threats, including online shopping, rising costs, and cuts in local authority funding. The representative group, the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, wants what it calls an “Irish towns partnership” to help fight back against the "perfect storm" that has decimated main streets.