The British Independent Retailers Association has been inundated with calls from members across the country concerned that post-lockdown accessibility issues are significantly impacting trade.
In many cases, local councils are ploughing ahead with road closures, high street pedestrianisations, and the removal of car parking spaces – all essential for shoppers to reach independent shops.
As previously revealed, Bira has called on Boris Johnson to intervene and ‘reopen our high streets’.
The plea follows Bira’s exclusive membership survey which revealed that three quarters (75%) of respondents said trade is being detrimentally impacted by lockdown road closures.
The poll revealed that of those affected, 55% said trade had been impacted ‘significantly’, while a further 20% admitted the closures had affected trade ‘a little’.
Andrew Goodacre, Bira’s CEO, said: ‘It appears that many local authorities are doing their best to further accelerate the decline of their high streets with road closures, and removal of car parking spaces. The pavements are generally not that busy, and people still do not want to use public transport. The local authorities are doing a good job of supporting retail parks instead of their local business communities.”