Charlotte Leslie on Same Sex Marriage

Post Script: I note that, according to the Spectator, Charlotte Leslie went through both lobbies at tonight's vote - which is one way of registering an abstention. 

139 Conservative MPs voted against the Bill, greater than the number of Tories who supported it. 22 Labour and 4 LibDems voted against the Bill. The Bill was passed by 400 to 175, a majority of 225.







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Mary Portas and Westbury on Trym: Lessons to Learn or Red-Haired Herring?

Mary Portas has delivered her report on the future of high street retailing to the Prime Minister today and wants to pilot some of her ideas in ten retail locations around the country.

Does the Queen of Shops have practical wisdom for Westbury on Trym, or is her business model unsustainable in the Age of Austerity?

Inevitably, such a report will be summarised by the media into bite-sized chunks. In fact, 10 Downing Street's Press Office has produced its own summary. Her Retail Majesty's recommendations include:

• strengthening the management of high streets through new ‘town teams’
• ensuring a "town-centre-first" approach in planning and encouraging large retailers to show their support for high streets
• looking at disincentives for landlords leaving properties vacant and empowering local authorities to step-in when landlords are negligent

The final item on this list may resonate with local businesses in Westbury on Trym, many of whom have seen their rental prices rise dramatically in recent years. The closures of gift and card shop Me to You in Charlton Court and the memorably-named K Stabb shoe shop have been blamed partly on these price rises.

Meanwhile, Westbury's love affair with coffee shops seems to be showing no sign of abating, with a new Costa Coffee opened on Westbury Hill and yet another cafe proposed for the now empty unit in Carlton Court. 

Receiving less publicity in the Portas report are a number of potentially radical options for high street revitalisation. These include

• Virtual local high streets on line. Could Westbury shop owners benefit from a local shared site where they could sell online, without the cost and hassle of setting up separate individual web sites?
• Local markets to supplement retails shops. We already have  monthly farmers' market. Is there an appetite for developing this resource?
• WorkShops. Portas writes: "Instead of working from home people should have the chance to come onto the high street and work together in ‘hubs’, re-appropriating vacant units to create a shared space where entrepreneurs can work and be creative with ‘hotdesking’ for start-ups. I want to see working co-ops in town centres using other vacant units as ‘showrooms’ for their products and services." Interestingly, Bristol is a national centre for this type of co-working. Could the idea be more widely applied to local independent business owners in the BS9 area?   

Comments welcome, as always.

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Multi-Generation Living

Discovering that a nearly-retired couple I know in Westbury have built an extension to their home, have moved into the annexe, and have handed the original property over to their daughter, I was interested in this article from the Relationships Foundation which highlights multi-generation living as a growing trend in the UK. Findings include:

• half a million properties are currently inhabited by multi-generation households (three or more generations)
• the number is increasing due to the housing slowdown, falling pensions, rising childcare costs and increased life expectancy
• Singapore and Hong Kong provide financial incentives to encourage such schemes, due to their efficiency in reducing social care costs
• There are calls to make the practice attractive in Britain through tax breaks for such households and relaxed planning laws
  
• Pensioners now outnumber children in the UK for the first time
  

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Bristol Uni Professor Hits Nail on Head

Regular readers of Westbury on Trym's leading online independent blog will know that many items posted here celebrate the trivial and mundane - those everyday occurrences that reinforce a sense of belonging and a sense of place.

This approach, however, should not be mistaken for an indifference to more weighty matters and the following video by Bristol University's Professor of Jurisprudence, Julian Rivers, is submitted in that spirit.

Comments, as always, are welcome.

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