Scotland's Ghost Towns

That the Parliament is alarmed by the devastating impacts of out-of-town retail parks, shopping malls and superstores on local retail businesses; is concerned by recent reports that the independent retail sector in Inverness is struggling to survive, with the loss of 22 small shops in the town centre so far this year, and believes that Inverness exemplifies a Scotland-wide problem; notes that the New Economics Foundation’s report, Ghost Town Britain, states that “the decline of both small shops and wholesalers is closely linked to the ever-tightening stranglehold exercised by a handful of supermarket chains over the country’s food retailing”; regrets the detrimental effect on local economies, producers and communities of the big four supermarkets’ control of 75% of food retail in the United Kingdom, and urges the Scottish Executive to take all or any steps within its powers to stop the loss of local butchers, bakers, grocers and other small-scale retailers vital to the life of our communities.