Greening campaign would push up Roehampton business rates

Businesses in Roehampton are struggling, but as anyone who knows Roehampton can testify, Roehampton was struggling long before the recession: and it's struggling precisely because it has been abandoned by its Conservative Council, Conservative Councillors and Conservative MP.

I've been campaigning on the decline of Roehampton Village for years - in the good times as well as the bad. I wrote more than two years ago about these problems when the banking disaster was unforeseen and the Tories were pushing for even greater deregulation of the banks. Where was the Conservative concern then?

At that time Threshers, two flower shops and three pubs had closed in the space of a year. The Conservatives' so-called regeneration plans for Danebury Avenue ignore Roehampton Village. In fact, the massive superstore they want to build - larger than Sainsbury's in Putney - will drive even more small local businesses out of business.

The Conservatives could have made Roehampton an enterprise zone whenever they wanted. They haven't.

They could have included Roehampton village in their regeneration plans. They didn't.

They could have made Roehampton a centre for start-up businesses. They won't.

They could have supported local businesses so that those that start-up don't close within a few months. They haven't.

Too often there has been an imaginary barrier created dividing Roehampton Village from the Alton estate. The Conservatives bear a large share of the responsibility for that divide by treating Danebury Avenue's shops differently to the village's. The reality is that they're in it together, for both national reasons and the disinterest of the Conservatives who represent Roehampton and run the council.

The only way to revive Roehampton is by supporting businesses throughout the whole of the area. The very worst thing that could happen to Roehampton right now is for the Conservatives to wallop more business rates on its shops and stores. Which is exactly what Justine Greening is campaigning for in trying to reverse the revaluation of business rates. Yet again, Putney loses out because its current MP would rather play politics and attack the Government, instead of do the right thing by local businesses.