During the Blue Collar Conservatism Conference 2020, owner of The Pud Store in Mansfield, Fran Bishop, bemoaned the amount charity shops and pound shops that are in close proximity to each other on the high street. Ms Bishop called for the repurposing of the retail landscape in order to combat a situation that causes frustration among shoppers.

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Regarding the prospect of turnover-based business rates, she said: “Once you do that then you’re going to get more units full because business owners will have more confidence, because they’ll know what is going on.

“Landlords will then be more suspectable with doing deals.

“There are already great incentives already in Mansfield but then its about getting a buzz around the market again with various different stores being there.”

Ms Bishop added: “Also looking at the use of retail stores, this is one of my biggest frustrations.

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“If you have got a 200-yard area, if you have four beauticians there they’re all vying for the same business.

“This is the biggest frustration I have, if somebody takes a retail unit, there should be an application of planning and consent through the landlord not just to let that out, but to allow for what that purpose is going to be.

“I think a lot of time high streets are filled with charity shops or pound shops and the public becomes frustrated.

“Whereas if you spread them out you can then repurpose the retail landscape to have proper anchor stores and then a variety of retail causes.  

“But what that also means is you can use that money for a callout to say, ‘does anybody want to open a new homeware store in Mansfield?’ 

“This is what we need. That then fills the gap and suddenly you have got a really great bustling high street. 

“You might have an entrepreneur that then is really thinking about the about wanting to do that.

“Not everybody like me is just going to open a shop and press for the best.”

All week Express.co.uk will bring you exclusive coverage of the Blue Collar Conservatism Conference 2020, an event designed to listen to the views of grassroots voters in new Conservative seats across the UK. 

The conference comes after a political revolution spearheaded by Boris Johnson saw the Conservative Party win an unprecedented number of seats from former Labour heartlands in the 2019 general election. 

Express journalists will travel up and down the country with Ms Msvey’s team to hear what real people think of the key issues affecting their lives

Regarding the Blue Collar Conservativism Movement’s partnership with the Daily Express, Esther McVey, the founder of BCC, insisted it would provide a springboard from which to conduct a revolution in party conferences. 

She said: “This is the start of doing the traditional party conferences in a very different way.

“It is a Party Political Conference first. Travelling the country reaching out and speaking to the public and then getting Cabinet Ministers to reply.”

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Daily Express Group Editor Gary Jones said: “The Express is proud to partner with Esther and the Blue Collar Conservative Movement to give our readers the chance to have their say on what really matters to them.

“The Express and Blue Collar Conservative Movement share many of the same values in having pride in our country and what we can collectively achieve.

“We very much support the need for fairness and levelling up in our society with all given the opportunity to succeed.

“All too often the silent majority don’t get the chance to voice their concerns and ambitions for the future. Well, now they can.

“Please do let us know what you think about the issues we’re facing today.”