Falmouth's BID want to save the British High Street

This month is 'shopping month' on FalmouthPeople and we're going to be looking at the best Falmouth has to offer. 

Falmouth's BID (the Business Improvement District) have recently launched a campaign to  improve and revitalise the Great British High Street. 

In a letter to the Prime Minister David Cameron, the BID said: its "long, characterful high street is under constant pressure from escalating costs and 'out-of-town' retail".

Falmouth's high street has become a boutique shoppers heaven with everything from specialist kitchen appliances and acoustic guitars to top-flight beer emporiums. However the BID feel that they can make the area work better with a 5 point plan that would see better transport links and better parking.

Nigel Carpenter, chairman of the Falmouth BID said: "Currently, our car parking is in the wrong place with poor access, badly signposted with punitive and inflexible charges."

One of the stand out points argues that lowering VAT to 10% for retail, restaurant and tourist related business would provide higher income for local business people and help the UK become more competitive with other European countries. 

"Britain needs to be competitive," according to their plan. 

"Consider that the French have cut VAT down to 5%, the Germans have recently cut it down from 19% to 7%, Spain was already at 8%. The beauty of cutting VAT here is that you will see a return on your investment through more jobs and more economic activity being created which will reduce work related benefits and deliver more tax income to the treasury from the expanding businesses – from farmers to shop fitters – as a result," they added. 

You can check out our galleries of the High Street here and here. If you'd like to join the Falmouth Business Improvement District's campaign, visit them on Facebook by clicking here. 

What do you think? How could Falmouth's High Street be improved? What's your favourite shop on the road? As ever, let us know your thoughts in the comments.