Press Releases

High Streets Minister Jake Berry will set out the Government’s plans to support local shops in an address to the annual ACS Heart of the Community Conference in London today (Tuesday).

The conference, held at Church House in Westminster on October 17^th, features a range of speakers who shared their experiences of engaging in their communities, both with customers and local decision makers, and the benefit that local engagement has had on their businesses.

New research from the Association of Convenience Stores has shown the essential contribution that the UK's petrol forecourts make to the economy, to working people, and to communities. 

The 2017 Forecourt Report highlights the continuing evolution of forecourts as both retailers and service providers, with stores often leading the rest of the convenience sector in key growth areas like food to go, coffee and technology in-store. 

Key findings from the report include: 

ACS has raised concerns about the costs and administrative burdens that new ‘Track and Trace’ proposals on tobacco could have on the convenience sector.

The EU Revised Tobacco Products Directive aims to introduce a method of tracking the sale of legitimate tobacco products through the supply chain. Up to this point, the Directive has stated that they would only affect the ‘last economic operator before the first retail outlet’ but the latest draft of the regulations includes a number of demands on retailers purchasing tobacco from a wholesaler.

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has responded to Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Michael Gove’s announcement of a new call for evidence on bottle deposit return schemes, urging the Government to consider the negative impact that such schemes would have on the convenience sector.

ACS has welcomed a new report from recycling and waste management company Viridor which highlights the need for a more consistent approach to recycling from local councils.

Bottle deposit return schemes would impose significant time and cost burdens on convenience store retailers and their staff, according to evidence presented by ACS at the Labour Party Conference this week.

At a fringe event hosted by the British Soft Drinks Association on Monday evening, ACS detailed the issues that would be faced by retailers if they were forced to be part of a bottle deposit return scheme.

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has called on the Government to implement a series of measures on business rates, employment costs and duty rates to help local shops and other small businesses.

In its submission ahead of the Chancellor’s first Autumn Budget on 22^nd November, ACS has reiterated its calls for an overhaul of the business rates system, with urgent attention required to allow businesses to appeal their rates.

The submission calls for:

ACS has welcomed Local Government Minister Marcus Jones’ intervention to speed up the process of rebilling businesses that are waiting for rate relief.

In a Commons statement, he said: “The Government has been consistently clear that it expects local authorities to make rapid progress in helping business by implementing these relief schemes.

The Environmental Audit Committee has relaunched its inquiry into disposable coffee cups and plastic bottles, looking at ways to reduce the level of waste created by those products. 

ACS has welcomed comments from the Earl of Lytton in a House of Lords debate on the government’s Check, Challenge, Appeal system for business rates appeals.

During the debate, the Earl raised concerns about the processes that businesses had to go through just to access the check, challenge, appeal system, suggesting that they were ‘excessive and intrusive’.