It’s Time to Take High Street Crime Seriously

Leaders of business improvement districts (BIDs) across the UK – including FOR Cardiff – have called on the UK Government to take serious action to address crime on our high streets.

In asking for a ringfenced uplift in policing around flagship high streets, a clear plan for criminal justice system reform, a nationwide multi-agency approach for tackling organised crime and a standardised framework for reporting business crime, these organisations are clear that it is time to take high street crime seriously.

FOR Cardiff was one of the BIDs making this call. Alongside our colleagues from Leeds to Liverpool and from Birmingham to Bristol, we brought the direct experiences of Cardiff businesses to the table. We know that vibrant and thriving high streets and town centres are an important part of healthy communities and successful economies. We also know that, in the age of online shopping and instant delivery apps, our high streets need to adapt to be places that people want to visit as they are no longer places that people need to visit.

High street crime is a direct challenge to creating the kind of places people want to spend either their time or their money.
Collectively those BID leaders represent thousands of businesses trading on our nation’s most recognisable high streets – including Cardiff city centre. Every year they are delivering millions of pounds of investment and activity to support our high streets at a local level.
, In Cardiff, this includes funding for the CityNet radio scheme, delivery of the Cardiff Against Business Crime partnership, and targeted campaigns that help businesses respond to safety concerns in real-time.

These BIDs have also identified a range of national scale challenges that must be met to allow these flagship destinations to truly thrive. BIDs deliver programmes such as Cardiff Against Business Crime, which co-ordinates a network of businesses aiming to tackle and reduce the crime that impacts them. – This work is useful and important, but it needs to be supported by strategic level intervention that prevents crime from happening in the first place.

The South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner has recognised the challenges facing high streets, noting in the newly published South Wales Police, Crime and Justice Plan 2025-2029 that nationwide high street crime has reached a new high. We are working on the partnerships to address this on the local and regional level. Now we need the nationwide buy- in to truly see results. Projects such as the CityNet radio network and targeted multi-agency interventions can only go so far — they are treating the symptoms not the cause.

The asks of High Streets UK also include an important request to standardise an approach to reporting business crime. FOR Cardiff speaks to frontline staff in retail and hospitality businesses every day and it is clear that the challenges that these staff face are repeated nationwide. The message to businesses is always clear – , crime needs to be reported for it to be appropriately tackled by the police. But reporting business crimes like shoplifting can be time consuming and disheartening to staff who know the police response is likely to be limited. Of course, this frustration pales in comparison to the feelings of those who have been assaulted in the workplace. Businesses need to quickly and efficiently record details of crime to better assist the police in dealing with incidents as they arise.

The UK’s flagship high streets should be places where everyone feels safe and welcome, whether that’s locals spending the day shopping, the commuting workforce, the increasing density of people that live right in the heart of our city centres or tourists from elsewhere in the UK or overseas.

Tackling high street crime isn’t just a business issue – —it’s about ensuring our public spaces feel safe and welcoming for everyone who lives, works, shops, or visits.