Scottish parliament told to stop super market invasion

Scottish parliament told to stop super market invasion

	Published : Thu, 24 Nov 2005 01:35 By : Phil Bateman Print this Story

EDINBURGH: Business leaders have urged the Scottish parliament to initiate urgent action to preserve Scotland's high streets and help independent retailers compete with the large supermarkets and out-of-town retail outfits.

They urged the politicians to provide financial help to shopkeepers and introduce tougher planning regulations to protect the character of towns and city centres.

A pressure group, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) in Scotland, has submitted a 10-point plan of action to the Members of Scottish Parliament (MSPs) designed to help the independent traders to compete with super markets on a level playing field.

FSB's Scottish policy convener Andy Willox said independent retailers make a unique and irreplaceable contribution to the character of the high streets and they are vital to local economies, as money spent locally is recycled into other local services.

FSB is even suggesting a new inquiry by the Competition Commission. It said there are more supermarkets and out-of-town retail developments per head of population and Scotland lost a fifth of its petrol stations between 1999 and 2004.

Corroborating data from the department of trade and industry shows that the U.K. as a whole lost nearly 30,000 independent food, beverage and tobacco retailers in the past decade, more than 40 per cent of its total number of such shops. In Scotland there has been closure of 30 general stores every month during the same period.

Willox said the Scottish parliament had powers to help small retailers fight back -- such as planning, rates and business support. The FSB wants the parliament, Scottish executive and local authorities to use these powers to create a better business environment for small shops, he added.

Scottish finance minister Tom McCabe had said last month that business rates were to be cut to the level of those in England in time for the next Holyrood elections.

Willox said the Scottish executive needs to urgently commission research "so we can better assess the impact of any new large-scale retail developments on existing jobs and services."

In England especially though, it seems to late for any such action; the number of 'out of town' shopping centres and supermarkets is now enormous and in some cases this has come at the cost of local shops and small businesses.

On the other hand, the introduction of pedestrianisation of city centres, park and ride and redevelopment has seen rejuvenated city centre shopping in some cases, although this got worse before it got better and relies somewhat on fickle shopping habbits. The fact is that people do get fed up of 'out of town' shopping too.