About you
3. What is your name?
Name
Ann MacMillan
Keeping town centres alive
6. How are Scottish high streets and town centres changing? What are the strengths and weaknesses of Scotland’s town centres?
Please provide your response in the box provided.
A lack of diversity in shops - our own town centre is full of hairdressers/ nailbars/ barbers/ takeaways/ pubs/ charity shops. I have to travel to nearby places to buy even knickers! No consideration is given before planning applications are passed to how many of a particular type of premises are already in the area. Parking issues mean people will go to out of town retail parks where there is plenty of parking and it is free.
7. How do we encourage people to live in town centres? What types of policies are needed?
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I live in a town centre. My biggest problem is being able to park. Also local retailers using our bins rather than paying for their own uplifts.
8. How can equality and diversity issues be addressed in policies that create and sustain resilient town centres?
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Diversity in coverage of different types of retail services is essential. I cannot buy underwear/ clothes/ shoes locally unless from one of the miriad of charity stores.
9. Independent and small businesses, and community and co-operative operations enhance local resilience and wellbeing but can often be marginalised in town centres. How can this be changed?
Please provide your response in the box provided.
Making units more affordable would be a good first step. Our local council would rather a unit sat empty at full rates than offer a discount :( Having say a creative hub where folks could rent space monthly would be good as many creatives are self-employed and cannot afford to take on a full lease.
10. What is the role of culture and leisure in town centres? How can these be leveraged to increase wellbeing?
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Having some sort of leisure facilites can only be good for town centres. It would encourage people to stay local rather than having to travel to out of town ameneties.
11. Who or what can drive change in Scottish town centres?
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Local councils must shoulder the great responsibilities here. They are the ones who set rent/ rates for the majority of properties. And also for the type of businesses leasing them. It is therefore in their hands whether or not these are affordable and resilient.
The new realities of Scottish retail
14. How has the structure and nature of Scottish retail changed over the last decade (topics of interest include: proportion of spend with Scottish headquartered retailers, growth of independent retail, urban and rural trends, etc)?
Please provide your response in the box provided.
I have felt that there has been a massive move from town centres to out of town retal parks. Also a massive jump to online shopping. Most people I speak to about this would love to buy locally produced items from independent retailers, but cost is a huge issue.
15. How has the role of physical retail stores changed and what are the consequences of this for Scottish high streets and town centres?
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Bricks and mortar stores are becoming less popular as onine shopping prospers. The consequence of this is many big names have left the high streets, and small independent retailers cannot afford to take on the leases meaning more empty units, so less footfall, so less spend, so more empty units :(
16. How can the retail sector deliver fair, secure and quality employment? What’s the gender impact of the move away from traditional retail?
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Moving away from zero hours contracts would be a good start. These are useless for people who have a house to run. How can you budget when you have no idea what your wage will be each week?
Ecommerce activity in Scotland
18. What are the implications for businesses of increased online shopping and digital activity in the customer journey?
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Businesses need to provide a reason to leave home and travel to a physical shop. Increased online shopping - especially during COVID - will be hard to reverse.
19. Have Scottish small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) realised the full potential of online retail? What are the opportunities and barriers?
Please provide your response in the box provided.
Some SMEs have responded to the online potential, but many have not. The opportunites are ovbiously a far wider audience for their goods and the ability to sell way beyond the local customer base. However, lack of ability to build a functional website and the knowledge required to engage with e-commerce are huge barriers. Also the knowledge/ expertise and budget to be able to be found among the "big boys" online is a major stumbling block.
20. How are Scottish SMEs supported to develop and grow ecommerce activity? Is this support satisfactory? What other policy interventions, if any, are needed?
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There are a range of courses etc available to help develop and grow, but many of these are also online. There is not always the one-to-one support that folks mght benefit from. While it is helpful, the support is not entirely satisfactory. Making known what is availabe to help and having a dedicated advisor would help. Many SMEs are totally unaware of the help that is available to them