Radical new plans have been proposed to restore Bolton’s devastated town centre by “naming and shaming” landlords of boarded up empty stores.

This comes after the crisis facing the borough’s high street was laid bare last month by a report which found that Bolton, which has been one of the worst hit areas by the pandemic, has three times the national average of empty shops.

Now Bolton Council is calling on the government to give them new powers to take more hard-line proactive action against landlords of empty premises, which councillors say can become a magnet for anti-social behaviour which damages the economy further still.

Council have limited powers to tackle landlords including fines for failing to hand over details, such as names and address of anyone with an interest in the property.

Cllr Richard Silvester, who proposed the plans, said: “In one case the maximum fine handed out to a landlord was £500, which is just ridiculous.

“Many of these landlords are in other parts of the UK or even in other countries, many of them tax havens, so they really need naming and shaming if we’re going to get our high streets tidied up, not just in Bolton town centre but all across our borough.”

Councillors voted unanimously for the proposal.

The plans also propose jump starting the local economy by scrapping business rates in favour of a new system that is “fit for purpose” according to Cllr Silvester and by developing spending plans like the government’s Levelling Up fund to be spent at local level.

This comes just weeks after a Take Back the High Street: Why now report revealed that Bolton has experienced a 57 per cent increase in vacancies since 2011.

Persistent vacancy rates, where a shop has been closed for more than three years, have also soared from 9.2 per cent to 16.8 per cent since 2017, three times the national average.

As such, Cllr Silvester hopes the government will heed Bolton’s call and that the borough could help lead the way for other towns afflicted by similar problems.

He said: “All we can do is lobby the government and I hope that other councils around the country will pass motions like we’ve done and then hopefully the government will act.”