Our Highstreets deserve better

The visit by John Denham MP a few weeks ago, coupled with the front page of the Medway News and todays GDP figures show that the Tories have let down small business.

It is now up to Labour to save Medway’s high streets, calling for urgent action to help retailers, protect jobs and give people a real say over their local high street.

According to the Local Data Company, 14.6% of retail premises in the UK are now vacant, indicating that approximately 50,000 high street units are empty, with vacancy rates rising. The Javelin Group has predicted that if current trends continue, a quarter of all non-food retail outlets in the UK could be vacant by 2020. This also follows a recent spate of household-name high street retailers going under or having to close premises.

Portfolio holder, Cllr Chitty and Cllr Jarrett last week offered no comment on the situation that they have allowed to hit local traders in Chatham. They have simply failed local business.

Meanwhile evidence from Gravesend and Dartford shows that those centres have not suffered the same decline on footfall that the Medway Conservatives have overseen in our towns

Thousands of jobs on our Medway high streets are at risk. The British Retail Consortium’s Retail Employment monitor in April 2011 found that 29% of retailers planned to decrease staffing levels, up from 8% in April 2010.

Consumer spending remains sluggish as household incomes are squeezed and the government’s VAT hike hits consumers. Nationwide Building Society’s Consumer Confidence Index, released this week, fell by six points in June, returning to a similar level to January.

The government’s VAT hike is hitting the High Street – last year, the British Retail Consortium predicted that the increase would cost 163,000 jobs over four years and reduce consumer spending by £3.6 billion over the same period.

Additionally, many small businesses are struggling to access the finance they need, with lending to businesses contracting in the three months to May 2011 and the cost of borrowing increasing according to the Bank of England this week.

Labour has unveiled a four-point plan to save Britain’s high streets:

• Enact a temporary cut in VAT from 20% to 17.5%, giving struggling retailers a boost and putting £450 back into each family’s pocket.
• Introduce a retail diversity planning clause, putting communities in charge of the future of their local high streets. Local people and local retailers would have a say on any retail plans for their area, giving them the power to put the heart back into the high street.
• Create a ‘competition test’ in the planning system, leading to greater choice and lower prices for shoppers. The test would ensure a level playing field between small and large shops.
• Repeat Labour’s empty shops initiative, enabling councils to pursue innovative uses for empty shops and reinvigorate high-streets, such as using vacant units for cultural, community or learning services, rather than leaving them empty

The Tories have lost the trust of local business people. Labour stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the small trader and entrepreneur.