þÿ <! DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> <head> <title>BAALHS CONSERVATION PAGE</title> <meta name="keywords" content="Bedford, Bedford Society, Bedford History, Bedford Archaeology, "> <style type = "text/css" > #s1 {color: yellow } #s2 {font - size:18pt; } #div1 { color: yellow; position:absolute; top: 25px; left: 25px; width:275px; height:180px; font-size:18pt; text-align:left; padding:20px; border-color:red; border-style:solid; border-width:1px; } #div2 { color: white; position:absolute; top: 15px; left:325px; width:535px; height:250px; font-size:22pt; text-align:center; padding:25px; padding-top: 45px; border-color:red; border-style:solid; border-width:0px; } #div3 {color: yellow; position:absolute; top: 235px; left: 25px; width:275px; height:35px; font-size: 12pt; border-color:red; border-style:solid; border-width:0px;text-align:center; padding:8px; } #div4 { color:white; position:absolute; top: 300px; left: 35px; width:850px; height:1500px; font-size:14pt; text-align:justify; border-color:red; border-style:solid; border-width:0px; } #div5 { color:yellow; position:absolute; top: 1830px; left: 35px; width:850px; height:100px; font-size:16pt; text-align:center; } body { background-color: #336600; color : black } </style> </head> <body> <div id = "div1" > <p>BEDFORD<br> ARCHITECTURAL<br> ARCHAEOLOGICAL<br> & LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY</p> </div> <div id = "div2" > <p>CONSERVATION MATTERS<br><br> by David Fletcher<br><br> <b><small> Honorary Secretary <br>of the Society's Conservation Sub-Committee </small></b></p> </div> <div id ="div3" > <p><a href="index.htm"><b><span id ="s1">RETURN TO HOME PAGE</span></b></a> </div> <div id = "div4" > <p>Following the Government s announcement that it has asked Mary Portas (who may be known to some of you as BBC TV s Queen of Shops ) to investigate the recent decline of the British High Street, the Conservation Sub Committee was invited to write to her, expressing its views on the matter. Here is the letter I wrote in response to this invitation.<br><br> <b>TROUBLE IN THE HIGH STREET: AN OPEN LETTER TO MARY PORTAS.</b><br><br> Dear Ms. Portas,<br><br> I am the honorary secretary of the Conservation Sub Committee of The Bedford Architectural, Archaeological and Local History Society, incorporating (since 2008) The Bedford Society which was formed to protect and conserve the town s built environment.<br><br> Whilst we have reservations concerning the headline grabbing practice of importing celebrities  to cure society s ills (was it Richard Branson who was enlisted to rid our streets of litter?), we welcome the fact that the Government is addressing a very important problem, (albeit about twenty years too late) and wish you lots of luck. We have long been aware of the architectural, environmental and social collapse of Bedford town centre and have fought hard to do all we can to halt this decline. In recent years this decline has accelerated dramatically in Bedford, as it has in many other towns. The effects of this decline are all around us and are immediately obvious to any resident or visitor, but the complex relationship between cause and effect makes a meaningful analysis of the problem more difficult. Is the proliferation of shabby vertical drinking  establishments with overlong opening hours, (the result by of Mr. Blair s absurd and vain attempt to create a Continental café culture ), a product or a cause of urban decline? Do young people get drunk in our high streets because they are such appalling places in which to live, or are they appalling places in which to live simply because so many youngsters one encounters there are indeed drunk? Is the proliferation of second rate or boarded up retail outlets, the surfeit of takeaways, the absence of accommodation and the ubiquity of charity shops a symptom of our High Street s malaise or the reason it is so ill?<br><br> The answer of course is that one factor leads directly or indirectly to another, and Bedford High Street (and I suspect every other high street of its type), finds itself in a grotesque downward spiral. It is probably too late, but for what it is worth, here are some ideas which, in the unlikely event of their being implemented might help to reverse this accelerating descent:<br><br> (1). Planners must cease immediately to give planning consent to new out-of-town shopping centres.<br><br> (2). The imbalance between the limitless amount of free parking available to out of town stores and the limited and costly parking facilities available to High Street shoppers, must be addressed. Long term town centre parking should be free at weekends. The resultant loss of revenue should be balanced by the introduction of some form of local tax imposed on the profits of out-of-town supermarkets and levied on a per parking space  basis. This would make High Street shopping relatively more competitive and diminish the hugely unfair and crippling price disadvantage at which town centre shops have to operate.<br><br> (3). Council tax banding should be adjusted in favour of over-the-shop  living accommodation. Revenue losses in this respect could be negated by business rate increases on big supermarkets which must face up to the fact that they have operated for years in a financial climate which is artificially balanced in their favour. Such tax rises can be further justified as a form of green  tax, recognizing the enormous environmental damage caused by the hundreds of millions of unnecessary car journeys, taken every year in a quest to fill our shopping baskets with underpriced food imported from the four quarters of the world, much of which ends up in our rubbish bins.<br><br> (4). The harmful effect of the link between rents and business rates on small shops, is never discussed in the media and must be addressed  if a landlord increases rents by 10% per annum, on a 5-year lease the rent will cost an extra 50% at renewal. Turnover (let alone profit) doesn t usually rise by anything like 10%. Currently Business Rates are fixed nationally (why?) and are related to rent levels. Most shop leases are full repairing and insuring  leases, so the tenant has to pay for everything; the landlord often fixes the insurance at a high premium (some landlords have their own insurance companies) and passes the bill to the tenant. In Bedford almost the whole of the town centre is owned by absentee investors or institutions. They have no interest other than collecting the rent, and generally don t respond to any attempt by the tenant to communicate.<br><br> (5). No new town centre pubs, clubs or bars.<br><br> The above measures have not, of course been costed, but are at least self financing.<br> NB The Bedford Townscape Initiative has succeeded in obtaining lottery funding and has been able to address at least some of the foregoing. We congratulate it and wish it well in its work.<br> Thanking you for taking the time to read this letter.<br><br> With best wishes,<br> David Fletcher, MRICS,<br> Hon Sec Conservation Sub Committee BAAHLS,<br>27th August 2011.</p> </div> <div id = "div5" > <p>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br><br> <a href="http://www.2012queensdiamondjubilee.com"/><span id = "s1">Click here for Queens Jubilee 2012 </a></span><br> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p> </div> </body>