Black Country high streets among Britain's most empty

Dudley has almost a third of its shops standing vacant and is the most empty for a medium sized town.

The 32.4 per cent vacancy rate is three per cent worse than last year.

Walsall is second worst in Britain for a large town with 28 per cent of shops empty - an increase of 1.1 per cent on last year.

Wolverhampton is eighth, although there has been a slight improvement on last year, when it had 27.3 per cent of shops empty.

West Bromwich still has around a quarter of its shops standing vacant but is no longer in the bottom 10 for medium sized towns according to the figures from the Local Data Company.

Staffordshire is faring better with some areas on a vacancy rate of around 15 per cent.

But this is still higher than the national average of 14.2 per cent.

Matthew Hopkinson, director at The Local Data Company said London, the East Midlands and Yorkshire and The Humber had seen a decrease.

He added: "All the other regions saw a rise in vacancy, with the West Midlands seeing the largest rise.

"Some of the worst performing centres saw a significant drop in vacancy in the second half of the year, which has to be good news.

"The picture is one of increasing polarisation of performance between town centres, shopping centres and retail parks in every part of the country.

"Online is driving growth for a majority of retailers and so 2013 is all about the supporting role that shops will have as 'customer experience' centres and showrooms as much as transactions through their tills.

"Inevitably this means fewer shops will be required as our net closures data shows, and as such one can expect this divergence in performance to grow."

Walsall Council leader Mike Bird said:"The internet is here to stay and the high street is changing. But we are confident with Primark coming in to the town, it will bring footfall to the town centre and bring new developments."

Primark is due to open as part of the multi-million pound redevelopment of the Old Square Shopping Centre, which will also see the creation of a new Co-op.

Dudley Council has hit out at the figures, describing them as 'inaccurate' and the impact potentially 'disheartening'.

It says the rate of empty shops in Dudley is 18 per cent based on its own surveys.

Councillor Shaukat Ali, cabinet member for regeneration, said: "We know our town, we know where its heart lies and we are committed and determined to do more for our town by attracting new business and supporting existing ones."

The council claims the figures are based on out-of-date boundaries and do not take into account traders, such as those in Plaza Mall, maybe closed for the day of survey.