The mayor of the West Midlands, Richard Parker, has launched a £10 million fund to rejuvenate the area’s town and city centres.

The High Streets and Growth Incubator funding will be shared between several locations, which the mayor said will be announced in due course.

The fund aims to support High Street businesses, bring boarded-up shops back into use and enable bricks-and-mortar stores to compete with the growth in online retailers.

The region has one of the highest shop vacancy rates in the country and the mayor said the move aims to attract shoppers back by improving “tired” public spaces as well as hosting more “special events” and setting up new markets and street food venues.

The funding comes alongside the government announcement to save “hollowed out high streets” with a crackdown on vape and betting shops. The changes include scrapping the “aim to permit” rule introduced under the Gambling Act 2005, which limits councils’ ability to reject new gambling premises when licensing requirements are met.

The mayor said the High Streets and Growth fund would complement large scale town and city centre regeneration projects that are providing new homes, shops, restaurants, and commercial premises including in Coventry, Wolverhampton and Solihull.

The High Streets and Growth Incubator is being funded with government money handed to the mayor and the West Midlands Combined Authority as part of the region’s first multi-year Integrated Settlement. The £2.5 billion four-year funding deal was awarded to the region last year.

“It's been a bruising few years for our high streets and sadly, many have become tired and run down,” Parker said. “That's what this £10m is for. It will bring boarded-up shops back into use, get new market stalls and street food venues onto our high streets, and back the businesses that give people a reason to visit, not just pass through.

“I want high streets that are clean, safe and bursting with life from morning to night. Government is giving councils the powers to clean them up. We're giving them the investment to build something better in their place.”

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