As ever Westminster this
week was a mixture of political theatre epitomised by Prime Minister’s
Questions and serious debate such as Care of the Dying, Access to music venues
for deaf and disabled people, Maternity Services, Funding for Tennis, Melanoma,
the Daylight Saving Bill, the Northern Railway Hub, and the Prohibition of
Keeping Primates as Pets – and that’s just a tiny sample.
The Care of the Dying
debate was tucked away in Westminster Hall on a Tuesday morning and, I suspect,
has received little national media coverage. The main emphasis was on
palliative care and many members took advantage to draw attention to the work
of the Hospice Movement. I did just that and acknowledged the wonderful work
that our own St. Andrew’s Hospice does.
I visited them just a
couple of weeks ago and witnessed some of the love and care that exists there.
St. Andrew’s is held in great affection by the local community as is shown by
their generosity in support of the many fund-raising events that are necessary
to keep it afloat.
The State of our Shopping
Centres and High Streets was an important debate that emerged from the
Government commissioned Report authored by Shops Queen Mary Portas. I have to
say that I was not greatly impressed by it. Having served many years as a
councillor I have heard it all before. The Report was really a good-practice
guide; a collection of schemes and initiatives that have been tried in towns up
and down the country. Some will work others will be complete failures depending
on different circumstances.
The High Streets debate
was, yet again, another opportunity for members to draw examples from their own
constituencies about the successes and failures of town centres and the curses
and benefits of out-of-town centres.
In Cleethorpes we are
fortunate in having St. Peter’s Avenue and Sea View Street which give a nice
mix and attract thousands every week. But only a mile or two away at Hewitt’s
Circus there’s the Superstore and some other retailers surrounding it. Have we got
it right? It’s not possible to deny that customers flock to these out-of-town
centres and to have retained a vibrant traditional high street means we have
probably got the mix about right.
Whether this was by
accident or design is debatable. The then Cleethorpes Council rejected the
Tesco development at Hewitt’s Circus which was approved by a government
inspector. Conduct any survey and the result will almost always show a majority
against out-of-town centres and massive support for traditional high streets.
Where then do the thousands who go to out-of-town centres come from?
Shopping habits have
changed and we must recognise this. We certainly need less shop units and need
initiatives to rid ourselves of many of the empty units within the many parades
of shops that line so many of our streets.
I suspect it will be
another Report to line the shelves of councils and government departments. The
customer is king; if we collectively shop at the supermarkets and increase
internet buying our shops will slowly die.
I concluded my speech by
referring to the demise of the Past Times chain of shops:
“Past
Times went into administration a day or two ago; we must hope that high streets
do not belong to times past.”
