Affect on local retailers
In the Courier “viewpoint” letters page response disappointed a reader writes of “terrible vandalism” & littering caused by schoolchildren in Thorne town centre at dinner times. Tony Brookes has pointed out that the majority of the children are well behaved & I personally believe these claims of vandalism are exaggerated.
Nevertheless, I agree kids can be cause a littering nuisance from my own experience of them here in Goole, where they discard their empty chip papers onto the pavement (sorry, I should have said, SOME of them do).
However, not to worry the Vardy Foundation are here now & they will sort out these troublesome pupils by the simple expedient of refusing to let them leave the school premises at dinnertime. That surely must be a good thing.
Well is it? Leaving aside the issues of whether or not the school should be overriding the wishes of the older pupils (with parental permission) to leave the school premises at lunch break, we also need to consider the effect this will have on local traders. Given that the pupils purchase their dinners, sweets, comics etc from them, this is something worth examining.
Here is a “back of an envelope” calculation that will give an estimate of their possible losses. Those traders most likely to be affected will be the owners of small general stores, fish & chip shops, bakeries, sweet shops & newsagents. Estimated number of shops effected; let’s say 15.
Estimate children at school (4 out of 5 (weeks PA) x (5 out of 7 (days per week)) = 4/5 x 5/7 = 4/7 x 350 (approx 1 year) = 200 days per year. Assume total pupils = 1200 & just 1/4 of these leave school premises to purchase food. This is 300. Finally assume they spend just £1.00 each on Food, sweets, drinks, comics etc. Local traders therefore receive a turnover from this of 200 days PA x 300 pupils x £1.00 = £60,000 PA. Spread around 15 shops that is an average loss of £4,000 PA turnover.
I believe this to be a fairly accurate estimate. The “days per annum spent at school” figure may be a little high as may be the number of pupil’s spending money outside the school premises. On the other hand, the figure of £1.00 per pupil is definitely low & I believe the true figure is nearer twice this at £2.00. However, it still gives some idea of the amount of money that is going to be removed from the local economy because of this action.
Although this is probably not enough to put any of them out of business, it should be pointed out that many small retailers are struggling to survive with trading conditions getting harder all the time. There are many reasons for this, high rates & rents, parking difficulties created by overzealous local authorities (who then complain about out of town shopping developments), competition from supermarkets, the internet & TV shopping channels. This latest twist will just be another nail in the coffin to be added to all the others. - Alan.