Teignbridge Matters: A future for retail?

Read Anne Marie’s views in her weekly column; an advertisement sponsored by Conservative supporters.

A future for retail?

Christmas is approaching, festive goods are already in the shops – and some have already started buying Christmas presents! Small businesses are the lifeblood of our community and it is our small and local shops that make our towns unique. Family-run stores like Newton Abbot’s Austins and Ridgeways are very special and all too rare - we must make sure that together with our smaller local retailers they are part of our future.

Mark Prisk, Shadow Minister for Business and Enterprise, recently visited Dawlish and Newton Abbot to listen to businesses’ concerns. One of the biggest issues raised was the hike in business rates resulting from the revaluation based on April 2008 property values, the height of the boom years. Some businesses are looking at rises of over 300 per cent! We have to find a way of introducing transitional arrangements to reduce this burden. If we don’t, some shops will go under.

When the Federation of Small Businesses suggested an annual inspection for compliance, the government replied that it couldn’t do that because they wouldn’t be able to find an inspector who would have a working knowledge of all the regulations at his fingertips - yet they expect every small business to! Running a small shop is hard work and involves long hours. Lets make it easier not harder – for example only half the businesses entitled to small business rate relief claim it- we should make it automatic. And let’s get rid of so much of that red tape!

Help in a recession

The recession has squeezed retail particularly hard and available credit would make a big difference. The creation of a loan guarantee scheme that works and which would apply across all sectors and to all sizes of firms would help get things moving. We should allow VAT payments to be deferred for six months. And of course VAT goes back up to 17.5% on 1st January – a pint will change price between glasses if you are celebrating the New Year in! This will be a real challenge for our publicans!

Let’s help new businesses get started. The set up costs and costs of employment are what stop people going into business. Maybe if we simplified the employment process and gave new businesses a two year National Insurance holiday for their first ten employees, that would help get them going. And for existing businesses we could cut Corporation tax and reverse the proposed increase in National Insurance.

Retail Crime

For many small businesses the costs of retail crime are a significant overhead. Levels of shoplifting are the highest they have been since 1997 - up 10 % last year alone, driven in large part by the recession. Out with the police in Newton Abbot, I have seen what happens first hand. The crime is not technically committed until the would-be thief leaves the shop so those prevented inside the shop and those that succeed are not part of the crime statistics. So my guess is the figure is bigger and that is why 2000 shops a year are closing as a result. Change is needed to help the police crack this.

Parking

Parking charges hit local shops hard and are a disincentive to shoppers who have the choice of free parking at most supermarkets. Some towns have established schemes through which the shopper can redeem the cost of parking by shopping at local shops – either they give a discount direct or the shop stamps a card which triggers a refund or discount. If you increase the attractiveness of shopping locally, you raise parking revenue and you raise traders’ profits. This has to be worth exploring further.

Next time… Local Government

Getting in touch

Please do feel free to get in touch at annemarie@annemariemorris.co.uk or 01626 368277. You can text me on 07712 004733 and follow what I am doing on my website: www.annemariemorris.co.uk. I would love to meet you at our next event– see www.newtonabbotconservatives.org.uk