8.5% Supermarket levy - quite a small change, but good for local business

The Green Party has suggested to Bristol City Council that it support a campaign for an 8.5% levy on the business rates of the largest supermarkets.

There are 12 of these in Bristol, and such a levy would raise £1.6m pa

This is part of a campaign by Local Works who want councils to submit proposals under the Sustainable Communities Act

Anyway, I have set up a petition for this on the BCC website - so please sign up if you support it

In some ways, I'd love it if this were a big anti-supermarket measure - but actually it isn't.

Back in 2006, DTZ estimated the size of the convenience retail market in Bristol as £622m. They estimated at the time that those revenues would reach £655m by 2011, and £690m by 2016. It is estimated that 85% of food shopping is done in supermarkets - so that works out as a £556 million for 2011.

(If you take the average sped by families on food shopping - spread over 200,000 households in Bristol - you get a broadly similar figure). It also excludes 'comparison' shopping.

The point being that £1.6m out of half a billion is not a great deal. - something like a penny of every £3 spent.

But the prize of this then becomes what you do with it.

As a Green, I want to see a strong local economy - more local shops, using locally sourced products. We know local shops spend more locally and use local people for things like their accountancy needs.

So, as far as I am concerned, this is a proposed small-scale redistribution of wealth from rich business to poor - in order to promote more local, sustainable shopping.

So - the Greens have submitted a motion to the council to ask the council to submit the proposal. It is reasonably unlikely to be taken, but if it is, let's hope people support it.