What more could be done to protect London’s small shops?

With closures accelerating as the economic downturn bites, empty local shops have become an all too familiar sight in London. How could current planning legislation be wielded more effectively to stem the loss of the capital’s small retailers? The Planning and Housing Committee is reviewing measures designed to protect London’s local shops, looking at progress on implementing planning policies to support them and asking what more needs to be done through the London Plan.

The review will focus on how the planning system protects small retailers¹ in neighbourhood centres, assessing the benefits they bring to local communities and the scale of the threats they face. Small retailers account for almost 90 per cent of all retailers in London, employing more than 100,000 people². The Mayor has made a commitment to protect neighbourhood centres by securing affordable retail units and toughening up the London Plan. Local authorities have also implemented a range of measures, and a number of studies and reports have put forward recommendations - but how effective have any of these been on the street?

Your say

As part of the review, the Committee is asking Londoners, and small business owners and employees, to send in their views on how their business or local neighbourhood has changed or struggled, and what support is needed to keep high streets thriving and diverse. Please email smallshops@london.gov.uk with your views by 30 November.

The Committee will publish a report of its findings early next year. They will also feed into the London Plan review process from now until the Examination in Public in the summer of 2010.

A small retailer can be defined as one that employs up to ten people; another common definition is less than 3,000 square feet in size.
In London in 2007 there were 34,708 small retailers employing 102,905 people. Small retailers account for 87 per cent of all retailers in London. Source: Office of National Statistics (2007): Annual business inquiry.

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