Plans to prevent high streets becoming crime-ridden ghost towns to be unveiled by Government

'More empty shops should be used by communities as art galleries, cafes or advice centres in an effort to stop the recession turning high streets into crime-ridden ghost towns, the Government is urging.

The latest guidance on effective town centre management is available online

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears will use a seminar of councils, business leaders, landlords and town centre managers to set out a series of measures aimed a making it easier for local groups to take over vacant stores.

They are expected to include speeded-up planning procedures, extra powers for local councils to intervene and standard short-term leases as well as funding worth up to £3 million to subsidise innovative schemes.

'Town centres are the heartbeat of every community and businesses are the foundation so it is vital that they remain vibrant places for people to meet and shop throughout the downturn,' she will say.

'Empty shops can be eyesores or crime magnets. Our ideas for reviving town centres will give communities the know how to temporarily transform vacant premises into something innovative for the community - a social enterprise, a showroom for local artists or an information centre - and stop the high street being boarded up.

'Our town centre first planning rules and business rate deferments are also helping small businesses in more direct ways during this difficult time.'

Ms Blears and Culture Secretary Andy Burnham will look around the centre of Stockport ahead of the meeting.

The proposals were welcomed by Margaret Eaton, chairman of the Local Government Association, although she stressed that the top priority should be finding new commercial tenants.

She said: 'Rows of boarded-up shops are a sad reflection of the recession the country is mired in. Not only do they signal a local economy in decline, they also become a hotspot for anti-social behaviour and drag down the whole feel of an area.

'If ever there is an image that symbolises the times we are in, it is desolate town centres with rows of empty shops where once there were small local retailers, a Woolworths or a Zavvi. Decisive action must be taken to stop our high streets turning from clone towns into ghost towns.

'The best option is for new or existing businesses to move into empty premises. Where new occupants for a shop can't be found, councils need to take the lead to stop our high streets sliding into decline. The millions of pounds spent resuscitating this country's town centres must not go to waste during these bad times.

'Empty shops could be used to provide a whole range of services that would benefit local people during the recession. Be it an information centre or a bring-and-buy sale, these things could be done without spending significant amounts of money.

'The aim would be to get businesses back into these shops but, at the very least, councils would be able to make sure that buildings aren't allowed to fall into a state of disrepair that ends up blighting a whole town centre.

'Councils could step in and use some vacant shops by, for example, providing a one-stop shop for people hit by the recession to get information about jobs and benefit entitlements.'