It has been well documented that town centres are under pressure, mostly due to more online shopping, but high rents and business rates also add pressure. Nationally and locally, it is the Conservatives that recognise this and who are trying to keep our town centres thriving. Smaller retailers are now paying much less in business rates thanks to measures brought in by the Conservative Government.
High rents can make it difficult for shops to stay viable. Sadly we know this only too well here in Crawley with the Labour-run Council hiking up shops rents by 30% at many of our neighbourhood parades. It doesn’t feel right that when the Conservative Government gives business rates reductions to Crawley’s small shops in order to help them stay open, that our local Labour-run Council then clobbers our neighbourhood parades.
Locally, we Conservatives started the investment to upgrade and improve Crawley town centre. The previous Conservative Administration at Crawley Borough Council that ran until 2014 sent clear messages that Crawley was open for business. We were very pleased to attract a large brand new Morrisons to the town centre.
Things seem very different now. Crawley Borough Council is controlled by Labour Councillors, who for the last few years have been campaigning to make Jeremy Corbyn Prime Minister, where anything that is not run by the public sector feels tolerated at best. An example was last June when Labour Councillors tried to make Metrobank in Queens Square, have to knock down and rebuild their frontage, because it was slightly out from the planning permission that had been granted.
This would have meant weeks of closure and huge expense for a new business in Queens Square. My colleagues and I warned at the time this was a huge mistake and that it sent the most appalling message to our town centre retailers. In November we saw Morrisons close and leave Crawley. Last month, the Planning Inspectorate rightly found in favour of common sense, with Metrobank being allowed to keep their attractive frontage on Queens Square, but this shambles should never have happened in the first place.
Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group
15th January 2020