Get Supporting Local Business in Plymouth

I HAVE now been a Plymouth resident for coming up to three months.

I differentiate this from my time here as a student for four years, by which I try not to cause any offence to the student community.

And from living in Bristol for the last two years, one major difference I’ve noticed in Plymouth is the number of high street shops boarded up and closed. This really is a great shame.

I know the economic climate is still difficult and the number of people in retail jobs continues to drop with increasing speed. Some reports show a staggering decrease in retail jobs of more than 20,000 compared to this time last year.

But there must be something that can be done to try and turn the dire state of our high streets around in Plymouth.

Plymouth sometimes gets a raw deal when it comes to shopping kudos, with many making the joke that Exeter is the place to be as it has a John Lewis.

I love House of Fraser, and a good quality high street isn’t just about the national chains, loved by the British people or not.

Indeed, many chain stores are currently able to attract rents of just £1 per year, so long as they agree to pay business rates in a bid to help out their landlords who would find it difficult to fill them if they left.

I enjoy independent retailers and think that we have a great opportunity in Plymouth to promote small-scale entrepreneurs within our empty store spaces.

I should probably add that while retail jobs and average spend on the high street is decreasing, the national trend for retail units being filled is increasing.

However, these trends are showing a continued move from non-food retailers to food retailers, with grocers accounting for most of the national 2.3 per cent growth in retail outlets.

Whether this growth is filled by independent butchers, for example, or the new Tesco Express stores (such as on Mutley Plain), I don’t know.

But I know that many start-ups find it nearly impossible at the moment to take on a shop front, as it were, due to the upfront cost.

Banks still aren’t quite back up to full speed on lending to small businesses, and liquidity isn’t great for many. So how can we promote small scale, creative entrepreneurship in Plymouth?

My first suggestion would be that the city council looks at providing start-up local business rate relief or incentives for new businesses (in addition to national small business rate relief) .

While reducing council income to begin with, this will no doubt lead to more spend (and therefore VAT), more jobs (and therefore income tax) and more thriving businesses (and therefore more business rate income).

I’m sure the equation isn’t quite that simple, but I do think the premise is important. They might also take example from other commercial landlords around the country and looks at the rent rates too.

There is, of course, more to it than tax. While it might sound a little fluffy, culture is also very important.

We need to develop a culture in Plymouth where people feel empowered to start up their own business, knowing that the community will support them in trying to make it happen.

This doesn’t mean we support rubbish business ideas, but that we work together as Team Plymouth to make the most of the space we have and harbour the most of the potential we have in our people too.

The City Centre Company has played a powerful part in the regeneration of the use of our city centre and, should it be successful, the waterfront Business Improvement District plans will hopefully do the same to our waterfront area.

But while all of these policy changes, BID applications and culture advances provide problems in themselves we can all help, with relative ease, by changing our approach and mindset and supporting local small businesses in the first place.