Comment: Breathing new life into the high street
Small retailers are trying to lead the recovery. It’s up to the coalition to help them.
By Geoffrey Cox QC MP
Times are tough for our independent retailers. Just as many other small businesses, they have suffered disproportionately from the recession. They face increasing competition from the internet, unfair competition from the supermarkets and large chains, high fuel prices and parking charges, not to mention the changing behaviour of a buying public who themselves are doing all they can to save money.
It is tempting then, when speaking about our small shops on the high street, to simply reel off a litany of woe, of high business rates, bad planning, indifferent local authorities, and red tape. This is far too gloomy a picture however. In fact, in market towns and shopping areas around the country our independent retailers are organising incredibly innovative and successful schemes, taking on regeneration and rejuvenation projects and generally making our town centres a cleaner, nicer and friendly place to visit and buy goods.
To highlight just two examples in my own constituency of Torridge and West Devon, in the town of Holsworthy local traders have joined together under the banner of the chamber of trade to create the ‘Holscard’, a loyalty scheme that entitles regular shoppers to discounts and special offers, while Tavistock has its annual, highly successful, food festival.
This is not to say that independent retailers could not do with more help from government, both local and central. Small shops could receive extra consideration in the planning process, charity shops, which receive generous concessionary business rates, could be required to sell only donated goods rather than new products, small business rate relief could be made automatic, businesses willing to take on an empty shop could receive a rate holiday, and local councils could stop treating parking charges as a source of revenue and do more to assess the damage high fees can do to local businesses.
All these points are small, perhaps even trivial by themselves; but taken together they could breathe new life into our high streets and support the excellent rejuvenation efforts undertaken by local communities.
We have already seen some improvement. The reversal of the planned increases in small company corporation tax and in employer’s national insurance is welcome, and the government’s decision to double the level of small business rate relief in England will be music to the ears of retailers across the country.
One local businessman I saw a few months ago joked that the best way to start a small business under the previous government was to buy a big one and wait. Ministers need to make sure that this joke is not still told in the years to come. I remain confident that they will not be found wanting in that regard.
Geoffrey Cox is the Conservative MP for Torridge and West Devon.
The views expressed in politics.co.uk’s comment pages are not necessarily those of the website or its authors.
