The impending departure of John Lewis is a tragedy for Peterborough, and my heart goes out to all those who work there. I have long warned that there was going to be a shift in the economy, and we must do what we can to be prepared for it. It’s one matter to consider the future, it’s quite another for the future to arrive, and as swiftly as it has done.
I certainly hope that the administration will do what it can to help the people who have worked for John Lewis; I fear it won’t be easy. It’s not just a matter of the jobs they were doing, it’s also the company: everyone who works for John Lewis is a partner in a trust which owns the firm. This structure has generated an admirable company culture; however, even that couldn’t protect it against the changes occurring in the economy. Many people have been compelled to shop online; now that the pandemic is lifting, they’re not necessarily keen on going to the town centre to shop.
Furthermore, John Lewis is a victim of market distortions. If the government really cared about retail, they would end the vast tax inequality that exists between John Lewis and its purely digital competitors. How can John Lewis possibly compete against a giant online retailer that can shift its assets for tax purposes? John Lewis is firmly here in the UK; it cannot transfer its resources with a click. We need higher taxes for purely online businesses to level the playing field.
Local government further hobbled John Lewis: to go visit the store, you either had to rely on public transport (which there is not enough of), or use parking, for which you had to pay. Local government showed an unwillingness to address these issues.
Changes in these conditions would have put John Lewis in a better position. However, we also need to think about the future of retail and our town centre, and we should plan accordingly.
One reason why people would go into a town centre is because of the experience: they are not only there to shop, but to have a coffee, linger in a park, perhaps take in some entertainment. We need to think about how we achieve this. One method would be to try to encourage smaller, independent retailers and restaurants which offer something more than can be acquired by a mere online purchase and ordering a takeaway. However, this would require the council to look at business rates and reduce them accordingly.
We also require more culture, arts, and other events to draw people in: if we rely solely on the stores’ presence, we’ll be committing the same error that led to John Lewis’s closure. We should also address the costs of parking one’s car and the availability of public transport. I am also concerned that the town centre isn’t sufficiently friendly to people with disabilities; this is one of those “penny wise, pound foolish” moves that we’ve come to expect from the Conservative administration.
We should also address the other side of the equation, specifically, the local economy which feeds retail. We need to upskill the people of Peterborough so they can get better paid jobs. We are presently locked into a low-wage economy; unless we start creating more high-wage roles, fewer retailers like John Lewis will want to come to Peterborough. We can also increase local purchasing power by building more council houses: this will lower the cost of rent, and thus provide more disposable income.
Furthermore, John Lewis is not an isolated case but part of a wider trend that is indicative of a bigger problem. The reality is that, in a low-wage economy such as Peterborough’s, with the highest levels of poverty in the region and falling levels of disposable household income, the purchasing power needed to support these businesses is in ever shorter supply. Earlier this week, the retailer Next also confirmed its intention to leave Queensgate. More may follow in future and then what next? We cannot go on with the same ideas, and the same mindset that has failed our city for the last two decades. We need a new vision, a new plan, and a new administration to make it happen.
We’re all reeling from John Lewis’ departure; the Labour Group is ready to pitch in and work to help the city dust itself off and rebuild. We can. If elected this May, we will.
Cllr Shaz Nawaz, Peterborough City Council Labour group leader