BRITAIN RISKS BECOMING A GHOST TOWN NATION AS SMALL SHOPS ARE FORCED TO CLOSE - BROOKE

6.15.53pm GMT Wed 15th Feb 2006

Commenting on the report of the All Party Parliamentary Small Shops group, "High Street Britain: 2015" concerning long term prospects of the United Kingdom's small retail sector, local MP Annette Brooke, who owns a small shop in Poole with her husband said:

"Far from being a 'nation of shopkeepers', this report reveals the rapid disappearance of 'traditional' local small shops."

"Small businesses represent the very heart of our communities and provide essential services to local people, particularly the elderly or those without transport who cannot afford to visit out of town shopping centres for their daily needs.

"We are in danger of losing the "social glue" that binds communities together. It is clear that the loss of small shops will damage the UK socially, economically and environmentally."

"The Government must take urgent action to help struggling small firms with the burden of red tape and business rates in order to ensure their long term survival."

The publication "High Street Britain: 2015" examines the factors influencing the closure of so many small shops and business in both rural and urban communities across Britain.

In the past decade, the nation has lost nearly 30,000 independent retailers, including a 30% reduction in the number of independent food, drink and tobacco shops, amounting to about 50 closures of such specialist shops each week.

Alarmingly, general stores are closing at a rate of one per day and with about 345 post offices closing annually, in spite of interventions and the endeavours of committed locals, some villages have no bank or post office left.

Such a decline in the number of local shops means that many of the most vulnerable groups in society, the elderly, the infirm, young people and mothers with children, often are forced to travel further for their goods and services.

Among the recommendations made in the report, Annette Brooke MP particularly supports:

• The establishment of a retail regulator

• The introduction of comprehensive codes of practice across the retail sector

• The transformation and innovation of the Post Office network

Locally, she supports:

• The introduction of a new requirement for all local authorities to adopt a retail strategy within the Unitary Development Plan

• The development of regeneration units in all local authorities within the UK

• The development of retail focused regeneration units in all RDAs within the UK

• The delegation of greater decision-making power to people locally (consumers and communities)

• The implementation of measures to restrict the environmental impact of shifts in the retail sector.

ENDS