Prisk, who co-chaired the Forum's first meeting yesterday, asked the Forum to help accelerate the programme of local mentoring established in response to Mary Portas' review of the High Streets.
He also asked them to support the expansion of initiatives such as Love Your Local Markets and pop-up shops across the country and to research into a practical toolkit to help town teams "futureproof" their high streets.
The Forum has been established in response to the Portas review and aims to implement new ideas and policies in line with recommendations made in the review.
Its members include property, retail and business leaders including representation from the Post Office, Boots UK, John Lewis, Costa, the British Independent Retailers Association, the Association of Town and City Management, the Association of Convenience Stores and the British Property Federation.
“Over the last year this government has worked hard to help boost the high street, including initiatives to simplify planning, revamp the public realm, cut the business rate burden and revive local markets," said Prisk in a statement.
“Now, the Future High Streets Forum will take a joint the lead in driving forward these initiatives and providing the strategic leadership needed to analyse the competition and tackle the difficult problems which conventional high streets need to address,” he said.
