Building schools in city centres and increasing cultural attractions and public services will be key to their recovery, according to a national taskforce.
The Scottish Government said it will “seek to incentivise and encourage” local authorities to put more museums, libraries and health services in urban centres to support a plan to attract more residential development.
One of the proposals for Buchanan Galleries is to replace the shopping centre with a public building, “at its heart”.
A report by the City Centre Recovery Taskforce says a key priority will be to consider what amenities are needed to encourage more people to live in city centres, which will have positive spin-offs for retail and other businesses.
Local authorities will be encouraged to increase “revenue raising opportunities” but the report does not provide any further detail.
Councils have already been given the power to introduce a workplace parking levy – with the funding raised to be spent on local transport strategies.
Concerns have been raised that councils can levy as much as they want on businesses per car parking space under the scheme and it will also be up to local authorities to decide the threshold of spaces for vehicles a business has before the tax kicks in.
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The Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) said there was “much to get behind” in the report including increasing city centre living but said it was concerned that revenue raising powers could heap more financial pressure on shop owners. Business rates for retailers, hospitality and leisure premises have now been re-instated.
The report, which involved all seven of Scotland’s cities, warns that vacant units are undermining attempts to attract visitors, residents and tourists into city centres.
More than a quarter of retail sales now take place online compared to just 3% in 2007.
While city centre footfall is roughly back to pre-pandemic levels in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow, weekday and night time footfall remains below pre-lockdown levels in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
As of March 2022, Scotland’s two biggest cities had seen only limited return of workers and the report says the hybrid model is likely to be a permanent shift.
Councils will be encouraged to offer retailers incentives to trade from a city centre retail unit rather than an out-of-town site.
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The report suggests greater use of ‘pop up’ shops and the removal of the 28-day restriction.
Other options which could be considered by councils are “maker-spaces” or collaborative work-spaces in vacant units which allow people to make use of machinery that may be too expensive for home use.
David Lonsdale, Director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said: “While we’ve yet to fully digest the report and discuss its findings with members, there seems much in it that the retail industry can get behind - the recognition that city centres must remain economic hubs, the impact that continued hybrid working will have, and the plans for more city centre living and a campaign to return visitors to our city centres.
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“Hopefully the visitor campaign will happen swiftly to entice commuters, shoppers and tourists as their return is vital to bringing back the footfall and energy that is desperately needed in our city centres.
"That said, we feel there should have been a stronger emphasis in the report on keeping down the cost of doing business in our city centres. “
“We are also wary of the suggestion that city councils should have more revenue raising opportunities and what that might mean in practice, especially if it led to higher taxes on business.”
Professor John McKendrick, Director of the Scottish Poverty and Inequality Unit at Glasgow Caledonian University added: “It’s changing city centres to what town centres already tend to be and aspire to be.
“If we want to strengthen residential mix in city centres, then we will need more of these everyday facilities and there has already been a growth over time of supermarket provision in Glasgow City Centre.”
The report also states that local authorities which are “reliant on parking revenues” could be offered more support as part of efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of city centres.
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