Liberal Democrat peer Brian Cotter is proposing a new Bill to protect the future of independent retailers and enable local communities to have a voice and a significant influence, where new supermarkets are planned, or existing large retail outlets wish to expand to the detriment of the local area and people.

Lord Cotter’s Retail Development Bill passed its second reading in the House of Lords on Friday 22nd February and progresses to its committee stage. There are three main proposals in the Bill:

· Business rates review, with three classes of shops
· Each local planning authority will have to produce a plan of retail development for their area. This will help to give safeguards to resist the over expansion of large supermarkets, where they are not appropriate.
· Creation of an Office of Retail Planning to see there is a final arbiter to ensure the Retail Development Plans are formulated and carried forward.

Lord Cotter proposed:
“Are we to wait to see our communities, our villages and our local neighbourhoods wither and die or can something be done about it? I do not think it is overstating the case to say that we are in danger of losing the heart and soul of this nation - a fact drawn attention to by reports produced in the past few years on Clone Town Britain and Ghost Town Britain.”

Lord Cotter continued:
“A key aspect of the Bill is the creation of retail development plans by the local authority, specific to each part of the country, taking into account local wishes and ensuring choice, diversity and convenience for local people and ensuring also that retail developments suit the character of an area. This should prevent the over-expansion of supermarkets where they are not needed or wanted and allow the local community to become involved in the future development of an area. When a supermarket has applied for planning permission, an impact assessment should be carried out to analyse the impact on the local community’s services.”

Lord Cotter discussed business rates:
“For many years now, there has been great concern over the business rates bill that small shops have to face, meaning that they pay a disproportionate amount. It is suggested that small shops can pay anything from 15 to 30 per cent or more of their turnover to meet the business rate cost, whereas it is said that supermarkets pay only 4 or 5 per cent. For the first time through this Bill, there will be the creation of three classes of shops. It will then be possible to examine this situation, and the Bill calls for a business rates review. Effectively, small shops will be class 1 and supermarkets class 3. The review will take into account how rates impact on the profitability of a business and its ability to support its owners and employees and whether the burden is disproportionate. Without anticipating a review, it seems fairly clear that at the moment it is disproportionate.”

Lord Cotter on the extent of local shop closures:
“We have an urgent situation which needs addressing. It is estimated that 2,000 local shops are going out of business every year, while the grocery market is being saturated by the big four supermarkets. They dominate 75 per cent of the market. A recent survey by the Association of Convenience Stores found that 69 per cent of people supported the idea of the local community becoming more involved with local planning decisions, a key ingredient of this Bill.”

Click here to read Lord Cotter’s speech proposing the Bill
Click here to read Lord Cotter’s wind-up speech at the end of the debate