Green Party London Assembly candidate for Brent and Harrow Shahrar Ali & Green Party
Mayoral Candidate Darren Johnson launching new report at Wealdstone High Street, Harrow.

Green Party Candidate for London Mayor, Darren Johnson is putting thriving local shopping parades and healthy high streets at the heart of his vision for the capital. He was joined by Green Party Assembly Candidate Shahrar Ali on Thursday 15th April to launch an action plan to revive local shopping parades and high streets.

Over 20% of local outlets such as grocers, corner shops, pubs, post offices and banks have closed over the last ten 10 years. The new report, ‘Where have London’s local shops gone? - A recipe for the revival of local shops’, says radical action is needed to bring them back to life.

“When a supermarket moves into an area, it can mean a net loss of around 250 jobs. Local independent shops are being killed off and when they die, a whole range of local businesses that supply them with goods and services suffer too.” said Darren Johnson.

The report finds that almost every London neighbourhood can point to a shopping parade which over the last two decades has ceased to provide a range of shops selling fresh food and other basic necessities (such as baker, greengrocer, general store, butcher, post-office, chemist). Much of the blame lies with the spread and dominance of supermarket and chain stores. Bad town planning decisions and lack of government support for local shops and businesses further exacerbate the problem.

Green Party London Assembly candidate Shahrar Ali said, “Wealdstone’s once flourishing centre has been the focus of numerous regeneration studies and recipient of not a few retail projects since 1999. Yet small, independent retailers are struggling to compete with a bypass which quite literally leads motorists straight on to the St Georges Shopping Centre in the centre of Harrow. We must consider the long-term impact on our local street vitality of acting out of desires to shop in faraway concrete complexes.”

To tackle the problem, Greens are proposing a package of measures to promote healthy high streets and vibrant neighbourhood shopping parades. These include:

* Refusing planning permission for large supermarkets and big chainstores where they would significantly harm the local economy
* Introducing a levy on parking spaces in large out-of town shopping centres
* Reducing business rates for small locally-owned shops
* Working with banks and the Post Office to provide banking facilities or a cash point in all local shopping parades
* Making sure that all district centres have a place for market stalls selling local produce

Darren concluded, “My vision for London is a city of villages, each with a thriving local economy, strong local voice and quality local services. We should be working to ensure that everyone has the basic facilities they need within a 15 minute walk from home.”

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