Together for Retail: A Wales Retail Forum Action Plan

Look out small business - they're coming for your fridge doors

“The Welsh Government is working in social partnership to build an economy that promotes fair work, equality and economic, social and environmental justice” (taken from the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023.

On the face of it this sounds very altruistic, however ‘social partnership’ is described as a collaborative approach where governments, employers and trade unions work together. In other words a public - private partnership and possibly a fertile breeding ground for micro management of all workplaces with potential mandatory increases in box-ticking exercises.

The ‘Together for Retail; a Wales Retail Forum Action Plan’ was published two years ago and is due for imminent evaluation. It was signed by Vaughan Gething, then Minister for Economy and Hannah Blythyn, then Deputy Minister for Social Partnership.

It states that the government’s ambition is to build a more resilient retail sector that delivers for communities, businesses and workers and it is said that the Shared Strategic Vision plays an important part in building a ‘well-being economy’.

There a 3 pillars of the Shared Strategic Vision - people, place and resilience.

Under the ‘people’ pillar comes ambitions such as:

• Retail adopting social partnership as a preferred way of working.

• More retail workers are in a trade union.

• The sector champions workforce EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) at all levels. This Retail Trust website is linked. It is bursting with virtue signalling content such as ‘How to be a neurodiversity / menopause / LGBTQI+ ally’ at work and ‘Five ways men can be feminist allies at work’.

• Retailers in Wales understand the benefit of and agree to be part of the ‘Economic Contract & Code of Practice on Ethical Employment in Supply Chains’.

It cites case studies such as IKEA which is leading the way to develop opportunities to integrate refugees into the workforce. IKEA has also provided products and support from the store to transform the Welsh Refugee Hub.

Another case study is the M&S ‘Marks & Start’ programme ( in partnership with the Prince’s Trust) designed to support skills development and create new jobs. ‘Luna’, a trans woman talks of the acceptance she felt in this programme.

Under pillar 3 ‘resilience’ note the following points:

• Vision ‘Ensuring retailers of all sizes are prepared for the move to net zero is a key priority in realising our vision for the sector’.

• Anticipated outcomes ‘Retail sector moves at pace towards achieving net zero with more than 50% of premises in Wales at net zero before 2030.

• Retailers meet their obligations on accessibility and meet all consumers’ needs

  (does this include access to female fitting rooms for trans women?)

• Retailers’ supply chains are ethical and responsible and where possible shortened to reduce the sector’s global foot print.

Actions will include exploring options to support small business premises to utilise renewables and decarbonisation initiatives such as:

• Retrofit doors on fridges and freezers to reduce carbon footprint.

• Replace lighting to utilise LED lighting.

• Install insulation and draught proofing measures to save energy costs.

• Install solar and / or heat pumps where possible.

• Utilise electric vehicles where possible.

Actions are also required to ‘undertake research to understand how best to target consumers to return to the town centre’ and ‘develop measures to promote the message to shop locally and support the use of Welsh language in the sector’. So after years of building out of town retail parks, the government now wants to discourage such activity?

As the daughter of someone who has been a high street retailer for 35 years and has had his business permanently damaged by the temporary closure of ‘non essential’ businesses in 2020/21, I’d argue that this is a classic case of shutting the stable door long after the horse has bolted. I managed a shop for my father for ten years and still help out when required, since a) there’s a shortage of suitable and willing employees for my father’s needs which I have previously written about and it’s getting too expensive to employ people when footfall has dramatically reduced post 2020. Customers got used to buying ‘non essentials’ in the supermarkets or online.

Speaking regularly to customers we know exactly what they want in the high street - local butchers and greengrocers for a start, all of whom are rapidly disappearing and almost extinct from most small towns. They want to be able to park in towns, they want to be able to sit and take a rest on the high street (the number of benches for the elderly and disabled in the Rhondda for example is pitiful to non existent). Add to that the rapidly disappearing public toilets! Most want to see ‘diversity’ of choice in the high street - fewer fast food takeaways, fewer vape shops and Turkish barber shops. A surprising number of customers have told us they believe many of these are ‘laundering’ outlets, if you get my drift.

Here also are several questions for Welsh Government:

1. How will you rise to the challenge of encouraging and monitoring the use of Welsh language in the vape shops, nail bars and Turkish barbers?

2. What will the saturation point be before no further applications are even considered for such shops, following the recent story of the 13 barber shops in and around Hannah Street Porth?

3. What effect do you anticipate the one-size-fits-all approach to have upon SMEs (small and medium size enterprises) in Wales who, as always, are less able to absorb costs of mandated diktats than their corporate counterparts?

4. Why aren’t you being transparent regarding your ‘vision’ for the future of town centre high streets? Future Wales The National Plan 2040 states that town centres aren’t just for shopping:

   ‘The principle of ‘Town Centre First’ is well established in planning

   policy in relation to retail developments. However, good planning

   can help us re-think the future of town and city centres, which

   are moving away from their traditional retail roles. The impact of

   COVID-19 on the retail sector is a further driver towards making our

   town centres multi-functional places. Town centres remain important

   focal points of communities and are increasingly becoming places

   to live, centres of community and cultural activity, a focus for public

   services such as health and education, and the location of new

   co-working spaces. They are more than the extent of designated

   retail areas’.

If you know anyone who know is considering starting up a high street retail business in Wales, please show them this and tell them to be wary. Be very wary indeed.