MPs back nef's call to halt 'clone town britain'

The findings of the influential All Party Parliamentary Small Shops Group's report, High Street Britain 2015, released today, Wednesday 15 February 2006, have backed nef's (the new economics foundation) call to halt 'clone town Britain'.

"Their report puts the credibility of our regulators on the line. Famous economist JK Galbraith once said regulators were, 'Vigorous in youth, rapidly turning complacent in middle age, before either becoming senile or an arm of the industry they are meant to regulate.' "The challenge to the OFT and the Competition Commission is to prove that they can manage a modern economy in which the leading players grow ever more powerful. The Committee's call for an independent retail regulator is welcome, but if created they will need to prove that they can keep the market open for a wide range of smaller, independent operators." said Andrew Simms, nef policy director

"The Small Shops Group's report demonstrates that the local economic diversity underpinning healthy communities is in peril.  Without rules to level the sloping pitch of British retail, for small and independent retailers it's like being a pub football team playing uphill against Chelsea every day.  The costs of choking-off local diversity on our high streets are counted in economic losses, local identity crises under the pressure of 'cloning' and the dissolving of the social glue that holds communities together.  But the report also shows that this dynamic is neither necessary nor inevitable.  The Group has shown a way forward and we now wait for the Government's response."

The MPs made several recommendations which back calls made by nef including:

• An independent retail regulator
• A moratorium on any further mergers and takeovers
• A revision of the “two market” ruling which has allowed big supermarkets to take over local convenience store chains with no investigation
• A stronger code of practice to protect supermarkets suppliers
• Greater powers for local communities in planning and more explicit protection for diversity and vitality of local retailing
• A review of ‘upward-only rent-review clauses’
• A review of the application of the rate relief system applied to independent stores trading on the threshold of viability
• The extension of the use of section 106 to, for example, secure affordable premises for start ups
• Companies to be made accountable for their environmental damage

nef welcomes the recommendation to extend the use of planning laws (Section 106), the call for a moratorium on mergers and acquisitions in the retail sector, and the revision of the 'two market' ruling.  However, the comprehensive codes of practice called-for in the report will need the force of law to be effective.

The Small Shops Group's recommendation that special arrangements be made at the local level to recognise the extra value brought by small and independent retailers is an important step forward.  nef believes that additional support for local authorities is vital, because, lacking support they often lose important planning struggles with the retail giants by default. But, nef believes, if we are to preserve space on the high street for the resurgence of character, diversity and genuinely local stores, we need to go the extra mile and introduce competition policy at the local level to account for the disproportionate power that the major chains wield.

If British high streets are to survive to 2015, we need vigorous regulators with the will to preserve an open market place in which the extra social and economic value of small independent businesses is recognised, and supported.  They could start by following the Competition Commission's identification of an 8 per cent market share as the level at which abuse of power along the supply chain begins, and forcing our biggest stores to divest their interests above that level.

For more on nef's manifesto for thriving local economies and communities:

     Clone town britain: the survey results on the bland state of the nation

     Trading places: the local economic impact of street produce and farmer's markets

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	Publications Clone Town Britain: The survey results on the bland state of the nation Trading places: the local economic impact of street produce and farmer's markets

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	Ruth Potts