Gill Sponsors Bill in Parliament to Protect Small Shops

New figures released by the Liberal Democrats show that since 1997 over 20,000 specialist shops including bakeries, butchers and corner shops have closed, at an estimated rate of around 50 per week.

Leicester MP, Parmjit Singh Gill is now co-sponsoring a Bill in the House of Commons to protect the future of small shops in Leicester.

Commenting, Parmjit Singh Gill said:

"Small shops are the very life blood of our community here in Leicester, where they provide job opportunities and a diverse range of goods and services to local people."

"Small neighbourhood shops are particularly important to those who cannot get to out of town stores, such as the elderly and those without transport."

"Labour has presided over a dramatic collapse in the number of small shops since 1997, with many local shopping parades becoming ghost towns as independent retailers are strangled by increasing amounts of red tape and crushed by the disproportionate burden of business rates."

"It is imperative that we act now to save small retailers in Leicester from having to permanently shut up shop, which is why I am a co-sponsor of the Small Shops (Protection) Bill in Parliament."

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

1. The Small Shops (Protection) Bill is a Ten Minute Rule Bill which was introduced in the House of Commons by Liberal Democrat Small Business Spokesman Brian Cotter on Tuesday 8th February.

2. The Small Shops (Protection) Bill would create a more level playing field for independent retailers by:

1 Requiring local authorities to develop sustainable retail plans to support small shops.

2 Giving local communities the final word on whether to allow the construction of a large shopping centre exceeding a certain size.

3 Requiring local authorities to track local spending and favour local retailers whose businesses leave more money re-circulating in the local economy.

4 Providing rate relief to small shops to redress the disproportionate burden that business rates place upon them, whereby the smallest retailers can currently pay more of their profits in rates than

the largest supermarket chains.

3. The New Economics Foundation Report, "Ghost Town Britain II: Death on the High Street" (2002) concluded that between 1997 and 2002, small shops closed at a rate of 50 per week.

http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/uploads/2hk0dtqtzv0run55afsofu4515122003114309.pdf

The Foundation also says that based on current trends, Britain will have lost a third of its neighbourhood stores by 2010.

Assuming that small specialist shops have continued to close at a rate of 50 a week since 1997, this means that almost 20,800 shops have closed since Labour came to power.