Rural Scotland People, Prosperity and Partnership
THE VILLAGE SHOPFor many people, the village shop is one of the defining characteristics of the rural community. Even when the community is too small to support a pub, a church or a school it will have a shop and still be a recognisable village. It provides an essential service, often stocking an enormous variety of goods, and providing a range of services. It is often also the community meeting place, a local landmark and a centre to what otherwise may be a quite dispersed community. But it has to be remembered that the shop is also a livelihood for the shopkeeper. Many rural shopkeepers feel that the burden of non-domestic rates is a significant threat to their continued viability. There is supporting evidence in recent research carried out for the Department of the Environment in respect of England. This shows that, while for most businesses rate bills are small in relation to total turnover, they impose a more substantial burden on the smallest businesses, particularly retail ones. We believe that a similar situation exists in Scotland. We see no case for subsidising the general run of shops which fail to attract sufficient custom to remain viable. However, the small general store or post office in a rural village has a special social function. It often provides an invaluable, and irreplaceable, service for local people without cars or ready access to public transport. Its demise would be a severe blow to the community. We therefore intend to introduce, at a suitable legislative opportunity, a new rate relief scheme targeted specifically on general stores and post offices in villages. We will consult widely on the technical details, but meanwhile we envisage that, to qualify for consideration, the shop would need to satisfy a number of conditions as to location, size, purpose and importance to the local community. It would not, however, be necessary to demonstrate that the ratepayer was suffering hardship. In most parts of rural Scotland, local authority surveys have shown that there is a continuing decline in local services. The post office, the shop, primary school, doctor's surgery and petrol station are often mentioned as being of importance, with the village shop and primary school chief among them. The absence of these facilities can dissuade people from moving into an area and their closure can have serious effects on people's lives. Joint use of local facilities, such as the local school, library, shop or post office must be encouraged. As a practical example, Tayside Regional Council has set up a monitoring system of changes in five basic rural services to provide early warning of closures. Several regional authorities operate village shops schemes which offer advice and financial assistance for training, legal costs, improving premises and the quality of service to customers. We published a draft National Planning Policy Guideline in 1995 which suggested that:
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