Green Party candidate for North East Constituency, Caroline Allen today laid out policies designed to support Islington’s shopping streets.
Green mayoral candidate Jenny Jones said: “Decades of big-business government have left our high streets holding on by a thread.
“As Mayor I would give communities and councils more power to keep jobs and money in their local economy.”
Caroline said ‘I’ve seen the change in local shops, there are more chains, more empty shops and I know these changes this have a wider effect on the local economy. It is well recognised that small local businesses provide much more than just what they sell. Small businesses are very likely to use the services of other local firms, such as solictors, builders and are much more likely to be engaged in the community.
The policies include:
1. Using planning policy to ensure that by 2020 all neighbourhoods will have a range of essential local services such as chemists within walking distance, and we will use planning policy to achieve this.
2. Increasing small business representation in the community by ensure micro and small businesses are properly represented on London’s Local Enterprise Partnership.
3. Working with boroughs and trade bodies to Encourage Londoners to “buy local” and commission research into “buy local” schemes.
4. Ensuring small and local businesses aren’t disadvantaged by congestion and parking and consulting them on the future of the congestion charge and a ‘pay as your drive’ scheme, which would reduce time and money spent in traffic jams.
5. Preventing the construction of purpose-built car parks for supermarkets wherever possible and ensure local shops aren’t disadvantaged by parking standards.
6. Lobbying the Government to give local authorities much stronger powers to prevent chain stores taking over independent shops, and to control the saturation of certain business types such as takeaways, betting shops and payday loan companies.
Caroline Allen said: “The social economy is vital both in terms of creating work locally and providing services that reflect local needs.
“As such it provides a real and tested mechanism for inclusive growth. In the post crash world we live, it is essential to recognise the importance of this sector. Our policies seek to provide greater support and development of social enterprise in London."