Support Town Centres

That the Parliament welcomes calls from the Forum of Private Business for shoppers to support their town centre shops and shun “parasitic” out-of-town shopping centres and retail parks; supports efforts to protect small and medium-sized retailers which are vital to ensuring the diversity and independence of the retail sector; notes that money spent in town centre shops is retained in the community, bringing growth and prosperity to the local area, whereas money spent in retail parks disappears out of the area, supporting only a limited number of low-paid jobs and leading to local economic decline; condemns the short-sighted policies that have led 20,000 high street shops to close in the United Kingdom since 1997 and laments the consequent emergence of “clone town Britain”, and calls on the Scottish Executive and local authorities to do everything in their powers to support locally owned businesses and ensure that they are able to compete with retail parks on a truly level playing field.