Britain’s secretive Budget process, community bicycles and department stores’ falling revenues prompt comment from John Gummer
This could be a very busy period for estate agents. In the days, indeed the hours, leading up to the Budget next week, the pundits are predicting a race to complete property deals. That’s because housebuyers have woken up to what EG readers have known for some time – that stamp duty hikes may well be on the way. So does this mean some late nights for conveyancing lawyers? Probably. Completion may mean that you avoid an expected rise in stamp duty by between 1% and 4% for properties above £250,000.
Once again this rumour and counter rumour highlights the stupidity of the British Budget system. Secrecy is all. Indeed, one of my earliest political memories was the picture in the Evening News of Dalton resigning as Chancellor of the Exchequer because an incautious remark to a journalist from the Evening Standard had revealed a detail of the Budget before he had announced it.
What this means is that decisions are taken without proper consultation. Gordon Brown and Ed Balls will converse, a few lucky senior treasury officials may even be consulted, but the decision on what’s best will be taken with no input from the people their decisions may most affect.
It would surely be better if we had a proper public discussion in which the Chancellor laid out the problems and the options and allowed us all to contribute to the solutions. That’s the system used in other European countries and indeed in the European Union itself. Of course, this will require a change in government and civil service thinking. It will also mean a change in the way we, the public, look at these things. At the moment, if the government sets out the options, the press shouts “Shock! Horror!” at whichever of the possibilities it most dislikes and the discussion is thrown off course. We don’t understand the principle of openness in which alternatives are aired before decisions are made.
If Britain could get over its antiquated attitudes, we would get a Budget based upon knowledge and not guesswork. What’s more, people would feel that someone was listening – even in the Treasury.
On your bike
The Association of Town Centre Managers appears to be revivifying a very old idea. Remember community bicycles? The idea was that every happy town dweller would pick up a free, council-owned bicycle, ride it to their destination and leave it there for someone else to do exactly the same. Cambridge tried it relatively recently and how the local crooks giggled. All the bikes disappeared in a trice. They then bought a second lot of “green” bikes and they went even quicker!
However, that was then, and this is a very futuristic now. The ATCM has revealed a new scheme called “Smartbike”, operated by bus stop provider Adshel. The difference is that the eponymous bicycle is clever enough to stop local petty hoods taking it for a ride. It lets you take it out of the docking station only when a registered user makes his advances with a personalised card. The use of both docking stations and brainy bikes is absolutely free and it seems they have so far managed to make quite a success of the operation.
It ought to become increasingly popular unless some unhelpful legislator insists we all wear compulsory helmets and special leggings in case we get wet!
Departmental decline
It looks as if another good covenant will be less safe from now on. Retail Intelligence has produced a report suggesting that department stores are faced with an uncertain future. It’s the competition from discounters, hypermarkets and online stores that are cutting away at margins and footfall.
In mainland Europe, even countries with a traditionally strong department store sector have seen their customer numbers dwindle. In Germany, retail sales for all such outlets fell from 4.73% of the total in 1995 to 4.36% in 1998. That is a significant blow and department store gurus are looking for an answer.
I am pleased to say that there may be a designer silver lining to this cloud. The report says that department stores can benefit from “the concept of retail theatre, the exclusivity of brands and high levels of d
