Independently Minded

“London mayor, Boris Johnson, has recognised that planning policy is one of the new battle grounds critical to supporting smaller independent retailers.

The mayor plans to protect small retailers from the march of larger chains by guaranteeing “affordable” retail space, which could mean property developers in London will have to set aside a proportion of new retail space for independent shops.

This is an admirable proposal from the mayor and I will watch with interest to see whether or not this kind of enforcement can have a positive impact upon the growth and development of smaller retailers in London.

What Mr Johnson’s plans highlight very clearly is the importance which policy makers are now placing upon the issue of planning as an essential part in protecting our high streets and town centres.

At the heart of this lies the Government’s plans to create tough new planning rules to help councils better protect small shops and create more vibrant town centres.
These new proposals aim to strengthen Planning Policy Statement 6: Planning for Town Centres. This represents the Government’s ‘town centres first’ policy, aiming to give councils more scope to refuse out of town development proposals which threaten the survival of high streets and small shops. These revised planning rules would mean that:

- The ‘sequential test’ that requires the most central town centre sites to be developed first would be kept.

- A tougher new ‘impact test’ would give councils a better tool to prevent big developments that put small shops and town centres at risk.

- This test would examine more factors including retail diversity, consumer spending, loss of trade, impact on town centre investment, regeneration and job creation to ensure town centres and high streets are protected against harmful development.

- The ‘need test’ would be removed, which can unintentionally stifle diversity and consumer choice in towns. 

Whilst planning is critical to the future of smaller independent retailers, we cannot forget that it is just one part of an incredibly complex situation. ActSmart members tell me the burden of red tape, rising staff costs, business rates and parking laws are posing an equally tough challenge to the future of their businesses.

Therefore I support Boris in his efforts – which just might be a great example for other towns and cities – but I hope he doesn’t think that’s all we need.”

Mark Brown is director of ActSmart, a business support resource for specialist independent retailers. For more information call 08704 288 404 or visit www.actsmart.biz.