High Street Rescue Plan Published

Following research into the most effective ways to halt the decline of small independent shops on the high street, the commission is calling for the Government to:
1. Play a leadership role in promoting town management partnership initiatives that encourage local communities to work together to protect and improve the quality of their high streets.
2. Allow local councils to ensure out-of-town retail developments work with, not against, the needs of local communities; it should allow them to retain the vital needs test, and consider the promotion of planning options that allow a diverse retail mix to flourish.
3. Encourage more local authorities to promote joint initiatives with businesses and the police to tackle crime and disorder; options for strengthening local responses to key visible forms of disorder that damage high street vitality should be considered.
4. Seek to preserve the conditions in which small retailers can compete fairly, in recognition that unfair trade disadvantages are disproportionately damaging to the small independent retailer.
5. Encourage councils to give stronger consideration to the impact of parking provision and charging on high street and town centre vitality; new options could include opening up the car parks of local authority and other public buildings to shoppers and visitors at weekends.
6. Review business rates and rent arrangements, with a view to ensuring they are fair to independent retailers, and that more is done to promote the rate relief available to the smaller shops, much of which goes unclaimed.
“The commission’s proposals directly address the problems faced by high street retailers,” comments Phil Orford, chief executive of the Federation of Private Business. “Unlike the Competition Commission, which appears to have its head buried in the sand when it comes to recognising the very real threats to smaller shops across the UK, the Parliamentary Enterprise Group is facing these serious concerns head-on. The FPB is now calling on the Government to listen and act to remove the significant barriers to survival and growth for small firms.”
The British Retail Consortium has also applauded the report. “We welcome many of the Commission’s proposals and applaud their decision to drop earlier anti-customer plans, such as forcing charging for suburban shop car parks,” says director general Stephen Robertson. “We want thriving town centres,” he continues. “Town centres should be supported by making them more attractive, more accessible and safer places to shop.”