The drive to modernise unsightly town centres is hastening the demise of the local shop, groups representing small businesses warned today.

With billions of pounds being spent on renovating centres across Britain, independent retailers are being "frozen out" as rents increase to levels that only large companies can afford.

Simon Briault of the Federation of Small Businesses said: "It's often the big chains which get the leases for the new properties, which makes it very difficult for small businesses.

"We think we are being frozen out and anything that improves the situation would be welcomed." City centres currently being redeveloped include Bristol, Liverpool, Exeter and Norwich, backed by property companies seeking to boost profits.

However, while the new malls and pedestrianised high streets may improve cities and towns aesthetically, a public backlash is emerging against the developments which usually appeal more to big chains.

Faced with higher rents and the growing trend towards supermarkets, internet and outof-town shopping, the independent retailer is being forced to shut up shop for good. Matt Hardman of the Forum of Private Business explained: "When there is a redevelopment in a city centre the cost of leasehold usually increases, which is squeezing out small independent stores.

"The danger is that larger investors have much more say with local authorities than local operators when it comes to the planning process."

However, some groups argue that the bigger retailers can afford higher rents because they are more popular and are welcomed by the general public.

Martyn Chase, vice president of the British Council of Shopping Centres, said: "When we do market research into what people want in their town centres, they want John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Next and other retailers."

The New Economics Foundation, an influential think tank which coined the phrase " clonetown Britain", found that 30,000 local outlets, including grocers, pubs, and post of f ices, c losed between 1995 and 2000.

The Evening Standard's Save Our Small Shops campaign has been praised by MPs for seeking to halt the spread of clone high streets.

A Commons Early Day Motion that warmly welcomes our 18-month long campaign has been signed by 39 MPs from all

the main parties. It calls on the Government and councils to do more to protect and encourage small retailers.

Kensington and Chelsea council has attempted to set an example with a report featuring experts such as design impresario Sir Terence Conran, which contains 54 suggestions to save independent traders, including ensuring a fifth of all new real estate space is saved for small businesses.

Last year the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Small Shops warned that independent retailers will vanish from British high streets as soon as 2015 with a possibly disastrous effect on community cohesion.

"The erosion of small shops is viewed as the erosion of the social glue that binds communities together," it said.

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