The UK government and local councils are throwing their weight behind struggling local high streets in the hopes that their investments will revive city centres.

Local councils have spent well over £600m on the UK’s struggling high streets over the past three years, according to a recent report from property consultancy Knight Frank. And the UK government announced this week it’s piling another £675m into high street makeovers in the coming years.

The government’s new Future High Streets fund was created to help leaders “transform their local high streets into modern vibrant community hubs”. It’s accepting applications for grants in the coming months.

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In many town centres, shopping centres have become an unloved asset with little interest from buyers, leading councils to step in and snap them up instead.

Since 2016, councils have bought 26 shopping centres, 10 of which were purchased this year alone, according to Knight Frank.

The biggest recent purchase by a local authority was completed by the Canterbury City Council in February when it bought the Whitefriars Shopping Centre for £155m.

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Knight Frank partner Mark Smith, who helped author the report, said local councils are now one of the most active single groups buying shopping centres in the UK, making up about 25% of transactions since 2016. And the share of transactions rose to 50% in the past few months.

“Prior to 2016, stretching back nearly 20 years, we previously only recorded four instances of local authorities buying a shopping centre,” Smith said. “This activity therefore represents the emergence of a truly new wave of capital.”

Bolton Council spent more than £14m this year on the 1960s style shopping centre Crompton Place, according to the BBC.

Ebrahim Adia, the deputy leader of Bolton Borough Council, told BBC News: “We recognise that Bolton town centre is in a bit of a decline. We’ve taken the view that the council has a big responsibility to make sure that we help rejuvenate it.”

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Town centres and high streets all across the country are in crisis, with slow sales being compared to the 2008 financial crisis and Great Recession. Chain stores Primark and Superdry (SDRY.L) , and online retailer ASOS (ASC.L) have all suffered, while Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley said this was the “worst November in living memory” for retailers.

The tough sales year was topped off by a disappointing Boxing Day turnout, as the number of shoppers visiting stores on the day after Christmas fell for the third year in a row, down by 3.1%.

Recently, a government-appointed panel of experts put forward five key recommendations that might get people down to the shops more. This included turning empty shops into community spaces and reviewing parking charges.