MP Adam Dance calls for urgent action to save rural high streets

Adam Dance MP has called on the Government to take urgent action to stop the decline of rural high streets, following his speech in a Westminster Hall debate on the closure of high street services in rural areas.  

Speaking in Parliament, the Yeovil MP highlighted the wave of closures affecting communities across South Somerset, from banks and businesses to pharmacies and cultural spaces, and urged the Government to act before it is too late. 

He said:

“As in many rural areas across the country, high street services in my constituency of Yeovil have slowly vanished, including banks, businesses, pharmacies, as well as culture and leisure facilities.” 

Adam raised the recent closures of Lloyds Bank in Ilminster and Chard. While Crewkerne has secured a banking hub, Ilminster and Chard have been denied one, despite having the same need for local banking services.  

He urged the Government to reassess LINK’s criteria for banking hubs, ensuring that rural geography and travel times are properly considered so that communities are not unfairly left without essential face-to-face banking services.  

Local businesses are also feeling the strain, with the popular Kazbar in Yeovil among those forced to close. Adam highlighted the broken business rates system as a key driver of closures and called for a Commercial Landowner Levy to tax land value fairly, rather than penalising productive investment.  

The Member of Parliament also raised concerns about the pressure on community pharmacies, which play a vital role in rural healthcare but face increasing financial difficulties. With an estimated 1,200 pharmacies closing nationwide in the last seven years, he called on the Government to exempt pharmacies from the upcoming rise in Employer National Insurance Contributions in the 2025-26 funding contract negotiations.