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Supermarkets and regeneration

Supermarkets and Regeneration: 21 June 2000

Mr. Hilary Benn (Leeds, Central): We are having this debate principally because supermarkets have been successful. The hon. Member for North Wiltshire (Mr. Gray) did us a service by reminding us of that fact. Like others, I welcome planning policy guidance note 6, as I do the report, because it fires a powerful warning shot across the bows of any person who is contemplating trying to row back from the decision taken by the previous Government, which I hope that the current Government will continue to support with equal vigour.

The hon. Member for North Wiltshire referred to the fact that the average weight of a load of family shopping is more than 80 lb. We must make it easier for people to continue to benefit from the service offered by supermarkets without necessarily having to use their car. I should like there to be more home delivery services in operation. Tesco leads the field in a modest way; 250,000 people have signed up to its service. I have used it twice and, speaking from experience, I would be keen to give up the pleasure of that weekly trudge up and down the aisles if my purchases were delivered to my home. Let us be imaginative. Why cannot we build into the planning system for new developments a requirement on the supermarket owner to provide a home-delivery service? Some people would welcome the chance not to drive their car to the supermarket, but to have their purchases delivered by van. That may release a few parking spaces.

One characteristic of inner-city areas is the absence of shops, especially in those areas that are in severe decline. The few shops that remain in such areas symbolise the problems that they face, given that they are steel-shuttered and, in a sense, as beleaguered as the communities that they try to serve. I represent a constituency with one of the lowest levels of car ownership in the country. The debate about people's freedom to use their cars for shopping does not arise for many of my constituents. If they cannot go by bus to shop, they are denied the range of choice that supermarkets provide, including the right to low prices.

Early this year, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation published an interesting study into the extra costs of being poor in Britain today. A representative bought 20 goods from a supermarket at a cost of £17.88. He then went to the local shop where the same basket of goods cost £29.11. Shopping is 50 per cent. more expensive for poor people who live in areas that do not give them access to a choice of goods at low prices than it is for others. The poorest fifth of households spend nearly a quarter of their income on food; the richest fifth of households spend 14 per cent.

The Leeds Co-op recently opened two stores in my constituency, one of which is a refurbishment in the Selby road. The other is on the Lincoln Green estate, which was the subject of Fergal Keane's "Forgotten Britain" documentary on BBC television about a month ago. The arrival of the store, which is in a former public house--in which there may be some symbolism--has given a lift to the area. It is a small, modest shop, which opens long hours. It has a range of produce, such as fresh fruit, which may not have been available in such quantity previously. It has given a boost to the area, and has played a part in the redevelopment and regeneration process of a run-down inner-city community. I never thought that I would regard the Co-op or any other supermarket as an instrument of inner-city regeneration in that sense. In this modest example, however, that is unquestionably the case. Other supermarkets should recognise that in addition to providing successfully for the market, about which other hon. Members have spoken, they have a responsibility to inner-city areas.

To the extent that PPG6 has encouraged more supermarkets to consider developing inner-city areas, it has been well worth while. To the extent that the report encourages supermarkets to do more of that--and the Government to ensure that they do more--it will also have been extremely useful.