Small Business and the High Street

- Independent shops are vital in Coventry. You can walk to them, and you meet people you know in them. Local shops sponsor and promote community events.
- People drive to out-of-town retail parks, and people drive to huge supermarkets, but people can walk/cycle to their local high street
- The Green Party favours abolishing council tax and replacing it with a Land Value Tax (a yearly assessment of rental value). In the meantime, Coventry tax rates should encourage investment by small businesses in environmental improvements (rebates for insulation, use of renewable energy).
- Coventry City Council should use its planning powers more effectively to safeguard local post offices and pharmacies by refusing planning permission for these services to large retailers
- Improved public transport will encourage shoppers back to high streets

In terms of beautifying the high street, Transport 2000 has promoted the use of Community Street Audits:

"On a street audit, small groups of local people examine the street in detail and their findings are written up into a report. Problems identified include broken pavements, redundant guard rails, a lack of trees, illegal parking, traffic speeds and poor lighting for pedestrians. These problems are fed into the redesign of the road to ensure they are resolved as far as possible and previous mistakes are not repeated in the new design. Community street audits have already been carried out in Bradford, Bakewell, Evesham, Hull and Southwark and have received enthusiastic support from local people."