Bastie007

Could you stomach a 70% increase in your rent? I couldn't. So when a much loved local toy shop goes out of business for this reason, especially when their landlord is a charity that appears to have forgotten why it has charitable status in the first place, and is behaving like a big business, and I see that the Just Williams is the tip of the iceberg and that small independent businesses in my area could fall like dominoes in the wake of this unreasonable, non-negotiable rent demand, I stand up for them. I sign the petition, and I join the protest. "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke

If my rent was subject to an instant 70% increase I would leave immediately - it simply wouldn't be possible for us to continue living where we do. Extrapolate that out and a wealthier person with no connection to the area moves in, and the social mix of the area begins to change. With the current governments intention of allowing Housing Association tenants the right to buy the social mix changes completely - the people who run the local shops and bars can no longer live in the local area because it's untenable for them to buy there and the sense of cohesion goes - leaving us with any other anonymous collection of shops and streets - which is quite the opposite of what that community wanted in the first place.