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welcome to Clone Town Britain news
nef (the new economics foundation) has led the way in putting the spotlight on the destruction of our High Streets, local shops and independent retailers. This newsletter is to share the evidence we gather and the huge response we receive from local residents and community groups concerned about the creep of identikit town centres.
Because, to really turn the tide, we have to do three things: we have to spread the word; the more people understand the threat, the more will join the fight; we need to change the rules that have allowed the big chain stores to dominate our high streets, and we need to rebuild the genuine local businesses that fall in their wake.
We hope that this newsletter will go some way towards helping a local resurgence. It will be a quarterly update to share campaign ideas and successes and to support the hundreds of local community groups across the UK resisting the advance of clone towns. Please write and tell us what is happening in your area.
W e hope it will help you to win back where you live.
Best wishes
Ruth Potts, editor
ruth.potts@neweconomics.org
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in this edition of Clone Town Britain News
news from the front line: local communities fighting back in Upton Park, Haslemere and Archway.
pressure point: who to lobby to make your voice heard now. Tell the OFT what you think of their provisional decision to refer the big supermarkets to the Competition Commission
building your argument: key facts to strengthen your case locally and nationally
re-building your community: practical ways to win back your local community. This issue - measuring what happens to money in your local area
useful reports and websites
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| news from the front line: local communities fighting back |
| Local shops: why they matter… |
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New research coming out of New Orleans has found that local businesses returned soon after the flood and have become outposts for local neighbourhoods, while many of the chains still haven't reopened. All of the shuttered Starbucks have been spray painted by local residents with the words "We do not care.” |
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Queens Market, Upton Park: local campaigners fight for life of historic market
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Queen’s Market in Newham, East London, has catered to the needs of Newham’s diverse and evolving population for over a hundred years. The covered street market of eighty stalls and sixty shops is a lifeline to people on low income, selling fresh fruit and vegetables. During the day, customers at the market are able to barter over price and as trading draws to a close produce is heavily discounted or often given away. Yet Queen’s Market is under threat from Newham Council’s plan to long-lease the market to developers St Modwens, who want to replace existing shops and housing with an Asda and other shopping units. The Council claims commitment to the market, yet their stated view is that it “suffers from a proliferation of certain uses such as meat sales and fruit and vegetables”… |
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Campaign group, ‘Friends of Queen’s Market’ has held four demonstrations at the Town Hall, and set up stalls in the market where they collected 12,000 signatures for a petition against the sale of a market. A tenacious campaign has secured coverage for their cause in local press, the Evening Standard, the Guardian, the Times magazine and Time Out. Critically, the Friends of Queen’s Market have published their alternative proposals for the future of the market, full of imaginative ideas for low-cost improvements – proposing that the market be run as a trust with charitable status and a management committee consisting of traders, public and Council officials.
Visit their website to find out how you can help
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"The overview of the retail assessment assures us that 'The health and vitality of Hadleigh Town Centre would not be damaged, it would be enhanced'. If that statement were to be true then Hadleigh would be unique, as Tesco would have succeeded in closing down small food shops and changing the face of high streets in every other town in the country where they have opened a store"
Jan Byrne, Chair of the Hadleigh Society. |
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Haslemere Rewards…..Waltham Abbey considers it, and the Tamar Valley takes steps to encourage people to buy locally
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In November last year, traders in Haslemere joined together to launch a loyalty scheme for shoppers who use local shops and services. Now, Waltham Abbey Town Council are considering the idea in a bid to revive falling sales in the town’s independent shops following the opening of a new out of town Tesco supercentre. “The community like it, the shopkeepers like it, and the media likes it, and its given us a good feeling in Haslemere” says Melanie Odell, chair of the Haslemere initiative. West Devon charity Westden is thinking along similar lines in the Tamar Valley. They are planning two workshops for local businesses and consumers to plan ways of encouraging more residents and tourists to spend their money within the Tamar Valley. Ideas include introducing a local loyalty card, setting up a business directory, and creating a ‘Buy Tamar’ logo. |
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Local people join forces to build a better Archway
Local people in Archway in North London have taken measures into their own hands – and are developing a powerful alternative vision to that proposed by their local Council. Initially the Council suggested two options; doing nothing or a full scale redevelopment of the site around Archway tube by a commercial developer. These were the only possibilities given to local people and unsurprisingly the majority opted for redevelopment. However, local group, the Better Archway Forum (BAF) believes that there is another way. The Forum are working to build a community-led ‘human-scale‘ proposal for partial and gradual redevelopment of the site; preserving and enhancing vital community resources. Recent focus groups facilitated by members BAF showed that when given the choice, the majority of local people want to build on, not over the area. As a result, the Council have now expanded their thinking to include the possibility of a partial redevelopment of the site.
BAF are currently seeking ideas for redevelopment of the site in a competition, ending on 23 March. Winning ideas will be used for a community based master plan for the area.
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pressure point: who to lobby now to make your voice heard
Tell the OFT what you think of their provisional decision to refer the big supermarkets to the Competition Commission
In a monumental u-turn – having dismissed the idea almost out of hand just nine months ago - the OFT has announced that it is ‘minded’ to refer the big supermarkets to a full Competition Commission investigation lasting around 18 months.
“The announcement is long-overdue good news for local communities, small independent shops, suppliers and farmers around the UK,” says Andrew Simms, nef policy director, “But it will be a pyrrhic victory unless the scope of any review is broadened to include the local economic, social and environmental impact of the big supermarkets. So far, the regulators have failed to count the extra value that genuine local shops provide in terms of economic benefit and the social glue that holds communities together. Not doing so creates an in-built bias in favour of the large supermarkets who can manipulate prices.”
The OFT want to hear from ‘any person on whose interests (the OFT report).is likely to have a substantial impact.’ In short, just about anyone in the UK. The deadline for making your voice heard is 6 April 2006.
email the OFT telling them that you support their proposal to refer UK grocery retail market to the Competiton Commission for a market investigation.
You might also want to:
- Welcome the inclusion of planning issues in the investigation - and suggest that the Competition Commission must look at whether planning policies at national, regional and local level are strong enough to allow communities to say "no" to new supermarkets to provide a level playing field in which small retailers have a fighting chance.
- Stress that real consumer choice is only guaranteed by a diverse retail base – which means implementing regulatory measures to preserve space in the market for a range of local, independent retailers - not just a choice between the big four supermarkets.
- Urge them to include the impact on farmers and small suppliers of supermarket's buyer power in the investigation – supermarkets disproportionate power allows them to squeeze small suppliers - this issue has not been adequately addressed and farmers and small suppliers continue to go out of business.
And if you have time to personalise your message, you could also include:
- local examples of big supermarkets using their powerful position to change plans in their favour, or gain planning permission for a new store in the face of local opposition.
- examples of independent high street shops closing, or suffering after a new supermarket opened to provide evidence that supermarket dominance is reducing consumer choice
Send your response to: chris.jenkins@oft.gsi.gov.uk or marie-louise.coster@oft.gsi.gov.uk
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building your argument: key facts to strengthen your case locally, and nationally
Use the ‘Local Multiplier’ to prove the value of your local shops
Developers argue that big chain retailers bring money into a local area. nef’s analysis of the way that money flows in a local economy, shows the opposite is true. When money is spent with chain retailers, very little actually stays local. In fact, they hoover money out of an area. Local authorities, planning agencies, regeneration bodies and regional development agencies need to monitor local money flows to help guide local retail development, so that encourage development which keeps more money circulating in the local economy for longer. It can also be a powerful weapon for local groups opposing a new development.
Encourage your council to follow Barnet's lead... or Hackneys
There are powers local authorities can use to restrict developments. Barnet Council refused permission for a Tesco Express in Finchley, less than a mile from two supermarkets citing the shop's likely harmful-effects on the town centre. The council's planning manager, Anne Watkins, said that the store would have “a significantly greater harmful impact on the vitality and viability of nearby town centres than the existing lawful use”. Local proximity protection is another powerful argument local authorities can use. The London borough of Hackney states that: “The Council will use its powers and its role as landlord where possible to protect essential facilities. The following uses will be considered ‘essential local shops’: food shops such as baker, butcher, greengrocer, grocer, and specialist ethnic food shop.”
Get to know the planning process
Friends of the earth have produced an invaluable guide to opposing a supermarket planning application, providing advice on how and when to make sure that your voice is heard: How to: oppose supermarket planning applications.
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re-building your community: practical ways to win back your local community
Using the ‘Local Multiplier to prove the value of your local shops
“The problem is not necessarily that too little money flows into a neighbourhood. Rather it is what consumers, public services and businesses do with that money. Too often it is spent on services with no local presence, and so immediately leaves the area.”
nef has developed a tool that local communities, or just about anyone who cares about what is really happening locally, can use to measure just how necessary a diversity of local firms is for a healthy town and neighbourhood.
LM3, or Local Multiplier 3, helps measure exactly how efficiently your local economy keeps money circulating in your area. By quantifying the additional value created by genuine local businesses LM3 provides really powerful arguments to use with local authorities and large development agencies. nefworked with Northumberland Country Council to measure the local impact of their procurement spending. LM3 revealed that for every £1 Northumberland spent with a local supplier it was worth £1.76 to the local economy (because the initial £1 stayed in the area, and 76 per cent of it was then re-spent locally) compared to only 36 pence when the same £1 was spent with suppliers outside the area.
If you complete an LM3 analysis of your local shops – let us know by emailing info@neweconomics.org
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You can keep up to date with innovative ideas from nef by becoming a supporter. We will keep you in touch with our work and the issues that inspire it through our quarterly newspaper, Radical Economics, alert you to new publications and offer you the opportunity to attend special events. Join online at www.neweconomics.org or call us for more information on 020 7820 6300
illustrations by Andy Potts eletter designed by Pete Taylor
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