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Keep Trade Local Campaign
Written by Neil Hopkins
, Monday, 28 April 2008
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) recently launched a national campaign and online petition to save small shops from extinction.
The House of Commons estimates that by 2015 there will be no independent retailers left in the UK. This means the closure of over 50,000 small businesses and the demise of the UK high street.
If you value your local community, please sign the FSB's Keep Trade Local petition at: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/keeptradelocal/
Mrs Audrey Whitney, Chairman of the Arun, Chichester & Midhurst Branch of the FSB, said:
"You only need to look at your local high street to witness the slow death of the local community. The grocers, butchers and newsagents that contributed to the lifeblood of our towns have been replaced by empty facades, fast-food outlets and charity shops."
For some years now, small shops in town centres and rural areas have come under pressure from poor local planning decisions, free out of town parking, unfavourable business rates and sharp practices by super markets.
This matters for a number of reasons. Thriving small shops attract customers, which increases the footfall for surrounding businesses. No local shops can mean no post office, no pub and fewer local services.
Small retailers also return well over fifty percent of their profits to the local community. The same cannot be said of supermarkets. Shopping locally is better for the environment. The average person now travels 893 miles a year to shop for food. Shops on your doorstep mean fewer car journeys and less time spent in traffic jams.
For these reasons, the FSB is campaigning to secure the future of small shops across the UK and to safeguard the choice and competition that people expect in the market place.
The FSB wants to see local retail planning decisions reflect the needs of the local community; it wants a review of business rates in town centres; and an end to unfair commercial practices, such as below-cost-selling.
Supermarkets are a fact of life and their success should be applauded, but there is no reason why they should not coexist with a thriving local high street as they do in other countries like France."
If you value your local community, please sign the FSB's Keep Trade Local petition at: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/keeptradelocal/
The House of Commons estimates that by 2015 there will be no independent retailers left in the UK. This means the closure of over 50,000 small businesses and the demise of the UK high street.
If you value your local community, please sign the FSB's Keep Trade Local petition at: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/keeptradelocal/
Mrs Audrey Whitney, Chairman of the Arun, Chichester & Midhurst Branch of the FSB, said:
"You only need to look at your local high street to witness the slow death of the local community. The grocers, butchers and newsagents that contributed to the lifeblood of our towns have been replaced by empty facades, fast-food outlets and charity shops."
For some years now, small shops in town centres and rural areas have come under pressure from poor local planning decisions, free out of town parking, unfavourable business rates and sharp practices by super markets.
This matters for a number of reasons. Thriving small shops attract customers, which increases the footfall for surrounding businesses. No local shops can mean no post office, no pub and fewer local services.
Small retailers also return well over fifty percent of their profits to the local community. The same cannot be said of supermarkets. Shopping locally is better for the environment. The average person now travels 893 miles a year to shop for food. Shops on your doorstep mean fewer car journeys and less time spent in traffic jams.
For these reasons, the FSB is campaigning to secure the future of small shops across the UK and to safeguard the choice and competition that people expect in the market place.
The FSB wants to see local retail planning decisions reflect the needs of the local community; it wants a review of business rates in town centres; and an end to unfair commercial practices, such as below-cost-selling.
Supermarkets are a fact of life and their success should be applauded, but there is no reason why they should not coexist with a thriving local high street as they do in other countries like France."
If you value your local community, please sign the FSB's Keep Trade Local petition at: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/keeptradelocal/
