4th Apr 2008
Mayor and Assembly candidate visit Queen's Market with local shopping pledge
We won't have London swallowed up by malls and supermarkets
Green candidate for Mayor of London, Sian Berry, joined Heather Finlay, Assembly candidate for City and East London, to visit Queen's Market in Newham on Friday 4th April to meet with traders and shoppers.
Siān also launched the Green Party's pledge to protect and promote local shopping, not let London's high streets and markets be swallowed up by shopping malls and big supermarkets.
Instead, they will require all new developments to make at least half their floor space available to small businesses at affordable rents, and will use the Mayor's planning powers to preserve the vitality of existing local markets and high streets.
Sian said:
"Local shops and markets, providing fresh, affordable food, as well as a wide range of other goods and services, are vital to the health of our city. As Green Mayor, or as Green Assembly members we'll do everything we can to protect these shops and markets, and provide more space for small businesses in new developments.
"We won't have London swallowed up by malls and supermarkets that don't provide the range of goods - or the good value - of places like Queen's Market."
According to figures issued by the Mayor of London, 51 major retail developments in London have been approved by the Mayor in the last five years with a total floorspace of over half a million square metres.(1)
Green Assembly members have raised concerns that unless large retail growth is curbed, local independent shops will struggle to survive against the corporate might of identikit shopping malls filled with bland high street chains.
Heather said:
"It is not surprising London has lost more than 7,000 individual or family owned shops in the past six years when 51 new supermarkets and shopping centres have been approved by the Mayor. Unless the Mayor and local authorities recognize fully the value of keeping independent shops and local services on high streets, they will continue to disappear and be replaced by supermarket chains, estate agents, phone and pound shops."
Where good local high streets and markets already exit, the Greens have pledged to focus on enhancing these areas and ensuring a wide range of retailers and local services that meet local needs, rather than new large-scale superstores and shopping malls.
The Greens also argue that preserving local shopping is also key to creating a greener city, where people have less need to travel.
Sian added:
"Once the small independent shops and local services disappear from our high streets, local residents often have to travel further to shopping malls, putting further strain on public transport and over-congested roads."
According to the Future Foundation's report on shopping miles, the average person in the UK travelled 843 miles for the purpose of shopping, 714 of these were in a car either as a driver or passenger.(2)
Queen's Market in Upton Park is a thriving and profitable covered street market. It has been in existence for over a century and is the heart of a vibrant community that draws in people from across London and beyond. Famed for its affordable and culturally appropriate produce, it is much more than just a market, it is a living information exchange and a communal space. Queen's Market is an important centre of employment as well as bringing millions of pounds into the local economy.
For several years, the market has been under threat from development, and Friends of Queen's Market have opposed the development and worked to make sure Queen's Market is not only saved, but also cherished and promoted. The campaign has seen success, with Asda-WalMart pulling out of the hugely controversial Wales/St Modwen scheme, but the threat of development still remains and the campaign will continue.
(1) Darren Johnson, Green Party member of the London Assembly, asked the Mayor (Question Number 2509/2007) the following question at the 14th November meeting of the London Assembly:
How many applications for major retail developments have you approved in each of the last 5 years, and what was the total retail floor space of each application?
Answer by Ken Livingstone
Records show the number of planning applications each year which included more than 2,500* sq.m of retail floorspace and where the Mayor provided his decision not to direct refusal is as follows:
2002 8 applications providing a total 72,227 sq.m 2003 6 applications providing a total 56,800 sq.m 2004 14 applications providing a total 263,714 sq.m 2005 10 applications providing a total 83,736 sq.m 2006 13 applications providing a total 82,252 sq.m
(we have taken 2,500 sq.m as 'major' retail development for the purposes of this exercise.)
(2) Future Foundation, Chapter 4 shopping Miles, March 2007. 'Figures from the National Travel Survey also show an increase. The average person in the UK travelled 843 miles for the purpose of shopping in 2002/2003 and 714 of these miles were in a car either as a driver or passenger. This has increased by almost 100 miles since 1989/1991'.
