The future of shopping centres in municipalities of South-East Brabant is the topic of a new large-scale investigation.
The number of empty retail spaces in most towns and cities has been on the rise. The upcoming investigation aims to determine what can be done to prevent this. The corona crisis has also been a large contributing factor to the increasing number of empty retail space.
Stijn Steenbakkers, representative of Economics, told ED that external investigators would help municipalities find ‘creative’ solutions to this problem. Steenbakkers does not want to speculate on the possible improvements that will take effect after the summer holidays. “We requested designers take a look at the problem with a fresh perspective. Let’s allow them to do their jobs, then we’ll discuss it further.”
The 21 council representatives of Economics in South-East Brabant decided the investigation needed to be conducted. The decision was made during their regular meeting. It’s a part of the plan to fight the economic consequences of the corona crisis.
The council representatives allocated €2 million to the plan. The plan awaits final approval from the general cooperation board of the Eindhoven Metropolitan region (MRE), due in September. The funding comes from the budget surplus that MRE had last year.
“The money could have been returned to the 21 affiliated municipalities,” remarked Steenbakkers. “Then we would loose sight of the bigger picture. Now plans have been made to use a reasonable amount of money to fight the effects of the corona crisis.”
Besides the investigation, the money will be used to further the digitisation of South-East Brabant. This is necessary for medium- and small businesses as well as projects relating to continued education.
Source: Studio040
Translator: Ame Harris
