A better world is possible - Global Commons Institute

Copyright Bruce Nixon 2010. All rights reserved. This electronic copy is provided free for personal, non-commercial use only.
www.brucenixon.com
secure the network's future, create 11,000 jobs and establish the form of relationship-banking "abandoned"
by the country's biggest banks.
Local businesses make up 99% of UK business. They are engines for innovation, growth and job creation.
50% of their turnover goes back into the local community compared with 5% from supermarkets. Small
companies were not responsible for the financial collapse. Their aggregated savings exceed their debt.
Being able to walk to local shops saves CO2 emissions and helps create healthier people and happier
communities. Superstores put local shopkeepers out of business. So people have little alternative to using
them. Superstores make a major contribution to CO2 emissions by encouraging people to drive to get a
lower price. Their distribution system results in enormous transport emissions. Mirroring the global system,
of which superstores are part, all the social and environmental costs are not taken into account.
In our town, most small retailers have succumbed to competition from supermarkets, big chains and online
shopping. It is a real loss. They are part of the rich fabric of our communities. Many provide advice and small
items not generally available from superstores. We lost an excellent fishmonger, replaced by an ice cream
bar. Our independent book shop has gone, replaced, significantly, by a security and safes business. Of two
local food shops that remained, one has just closed; the other is struggling. Both have offered healthy
organic and ethically sourced food, won countless national wards and contributed with generosity to our
community and its health.
Small retailers face unfair competition. Small local shops cannot survive whilst it is easier to drive than walk,
safer to drive than cycle. Large retailers provide free and easily accessible parking. Councils argue that
business rates are set by Government and they can’t give preferential rates to small businesses. In a
recession the chances of survival are even worse for small retailers specialising in ethical and organic food,
which only costs more when externalised costs are excluded. Organic sales in UK have fallen by 30%.
Of course it is the underlying system that created this situation. An inquiry is needed into the unfair
competition suffered by small retailers from supermarkets and not merely supermarkets relationships with
suppliers and farmers. Italy, France and Germany have passed legislation to restrict large stores in favour of
smaller shopkeepers. The Lib-Dem Conservative coalition has just announced the go-ahead for a new code of
practice governing relations between grocers and suppliers enforced by a Supermarket Ombudsman
proposed by MP Tim Farron with all-party support. This will not go far enough. Small retailers need special
support from councils in the form of dedicated car parking and fairer rates. Once again, creating a healthier
society ultimately saves money.
There is growing awareness of the importance of sustainability and locally produced food, often better and
cheaper, direct from farmers or in local markets and farmers markets. Stressed people with limited budgets
need affordable, easy and convenient options. A government with joined up thinking, serious about climate
change, peak oil, social costs and fair competition, needs to enact legislation to provide tax incentives, lower
business rates, designated parking and other forms of support for small retailers, local and organic food.
They need to enable better local bus services and infrastructure that makes it more attractive to shop locally
and travel on foot or bicycle.
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