Large retail chains urged to pay levy to help revive high streets
"Major retail and leisure chains should pay a one-off levy on UK sales that would raise £550m to help revive Britain's high streets, according to Bill Grimsey, the veteran retail boss, who is fronting a review into the plight of town centres this week...
...Grimsey is calling on national chains with a turnover of more than £10m to invest 0.25% of one year's UK sales from 2014, or about £550m between them, into a local economic development fund to help sponsor startups and new ventures that could entice shoppers back to local high streets.
The fund would dwarf the £18m the government has spent so far on high street initiatives including 24 "Portas Pilots" which each received £100,000 grants to improve their town centres and nearly 330 town teams which have been handed smaller grants.
"I honestly think the time has come for the big chains to put something back and help re-design the high street," said Grimsey. "What we've seen in a lot of secondary town centre locations is that as the chains move out to more lucrative out-of-town sites they're hollowing out the high street."
Grimsey said a central fund could be overseen by independent trustees that would include some of the biggest contributors.
But some industry groups, including representatives of smaller shops, have dismissed the idea.
Michael Weedon of the British Independent Retailers Association said: "A one-shot solution to try to solve the problems is not what's needed. We think addressing the longer term issues by rewriting the way that business rates work will enable the high street to change sustainably."
BIRA's call for change is part of growing pressure on the Treasury to adapt the property-led rates system to reflect a changing retail environment in which major players can exist without stores while small businesses on local high streets are suffering. The British Retail Consortium has called for a complete overhaul of the system after a string of major retail failures this year..."
http://www.theguardian.com/global/2013/sep/02/retail-chains-levy-revive-high-streets Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
