Mr. Glyn Roberts:

In our document we have tried to outline 50 solutions. If we are to create 21st-century town and city centres and revitalise the retail sector, we need a radical change in policy in terms of what the Executive does and how retailers do their business. We have said we need a more joined-up approach, including on the part of the Executive, to urban regeneration. It does not help in Northern Ireland that there are three Government Departments responsible for town centre regeneration. We must examine this.

We have made progress on rates. The small business rates relief scheme has been extended for the second time and it will come into play on 1 April. We now have the empty premises relief, for which we lobbied heavily. If a new business takes over an empty premises that has been empty for a year, it must pay only 50% of the rates normally due in the first year. We all know that the first year of any business is critical. If one is paying only 50% of the rates in the first year, it is a help. The relief has helped approximately 69 new businesses, including restaurants and shops.

We need a proper joined-up vacancy strategy. We need an effective audit of vacant sites in towns and city centres. We also need more engagement with some of the retail chains. Local authorities to be created in the next year or two will have a substantially greater role in regeneration and planning. It is a question of engaging with retail chains to tell them a certain empty building would be a perfect location for their shop. We need more pop-up shops. We need to determine how to create the next generation of retail entrepreneurs and how we support them. We must get car parking facilities and a range of other facilities right. I hope this is all contained in the document.

The biggest change must come in the mindset of traders themselves. They must stop seeing online business as a threat and regard it as an opportunity. They must ensure they have world-class customer service and embrace new ways of doing business. The reality in retail is that the only constant is change. If retailers do not embrace change, they will go under, sadly. A constant process of reinvention and innovation is required. We must rethink fundamentally our approach to the centres of towns and cities. That is why we are concerned that the hospitality sector is being hit so hard. An integral part of any town or city centre is a strong night-time economy and café culture. Town and city centres must be made into destinations. This is why we are particularly concerned that, out of the two sectors that have been hit, the hospitality sector has been hit the hardest. This is why the marketing campaign we are trying to get off the ground is very much targeted at the hospitality sector. Overall, we want footfall in Belfast city centre. If Dublin were going through what Belfast is going through, every Deputy in this House, irrespective of what part of the island he was from, would be seeking to determine how the problem could be solved. It is a question of focusing on everything I have mentioned. This weekend, we will use social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, to galvanise people from any part of the island to come to the city centre to support us.