West End Letters: retail | rents | explanation | Cllr Paul Dimoldenberg Leader of the Labour Group

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West End Extra - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published: 13 February 2009

Get real on retail rents

• THE Conservatives say they have an “economic recovery programme”, but it seems it only applies to the West End!
What other explanation can there be for Westminster City Council’s decision to give £250,000 to major retailers in Oxford Street to support West End marketing activities while the council refuses to halt planned 25 per cent rent rises for struggling Church Street shopkeepers?
For the past six months, my Church Street ward colleagues, councillors Barbara Grahame and Aziz Toki have been making the case for real help for the small shopkeepers who were shocked to receive 25 per cent rent increase demands last July.
Despite the overwhelming economic evidence that we are living in very difficult economic times, the council has refused to withdraw the planned increases and the only way the shopkeepers are going to get any reduction is if they beg the council for help.
Yet in Oxford Street the council boasts that it will spend “at least £250,000 this year” supporting marketing initiatives for stores like Selfridges, John Lewis, Marks and Spencer, the BHS retail empire and a host of other retailers.
As ever, the city council is hiding behind an absurd line of argument.
When I asked why it was not possible to freeze Church Street rents I was told it can’t be done because it would not be fair on other retailers. So what’s fair about Oxford Street retailers getting a £250,000 hand-out from City Hall while Church Street shopkeepers get nothing?
Has it got anything to do with the dreadful state of the council’s finances after the Conservatives invested £17million of our money in now-failed Icelandic banks?
All the economic evidence points to the fact that Church Street shopkeepers are likely to be the first of many retailers in financial difficulty over the next six to twelve months.
The council’s approach to rent levels needs to reflect this fact of life.
Rent levels considered fair six months ago look very different today.
Only real financial assistance will work.
Cllr Paul Dimoldenberg
Leader of the Labour Group

Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, West End Extra, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@westendextra.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Wednesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld.
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Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

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