Matt Baker not convinced pound shops are the High Street's saviour

Empty shops on Yorkshire Street

About one in five High Street shops affected by the biggest retail collapses of the last five years is still vacant, new research suggests.

Accountancy firm Deloitte found that the High Street was outperforming retail parks and shopping centres when it came to re-occupying empty shops and concluded that the High Street was "showing great resilience".

However, with pound shops acquiring one in five of the empty properties, and Poundland taking more than anyone else, Matt Baker, Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk's right hand man, said he is "not convinced growth of pound shops is a great sign of the High Street reinventing itself."

Convenience stores, including those run by supermarkets, have also expanded strongly, accounting for nearly 12% of the space, with close to three-quarters of them on High Streets.

The vacancy rate for Rochdale is 21.9%, according to The Local Data Company, which monitors more than 2,000 town and shopping centres and retail parks, which compares favourably with the north-west of England average of 32%.

Deloitte found that the average vacancy rate for the High Street is 20%, but it rises to 29% for shopping centres and 37% for retail parks.

The firm analysed data from 27 major company administrations since 2009, many where it had an involvement in the process.

Then, using data from the Local Data Company, it traced the fate of nearly 5,900 shops.

Nearly a third of these premises were never vacated.

Many retailers did not disappear from the High Street, although they did come out of administration with fewer shops.

More than 4,000 stores were vacated in one form or another.