A report by retail expert Mary Portas into how to breathe new life into ailing High Streets has been welcomed in Tendring.

Tendring District Council (TDC) Leader Neil Stock believes the report will open a healthy debate and get people thinking about new ways of how to increase much-needed footfall in town centres.

The Council has its own Shop Local campaign and is providing free parking at its own town centre car park sites between 2pm and 6pm through to March 2012.

It has also run a successful Pop-Up Shop scheme in Dovercourt which has been expanded into Clacton to help reduce the number of empty properties.

"I find there is a great deal to support in what Mary Portas has to say and I am pleased that some of her suggestions, such as tackling parking issues, have already been taken up in Tendring," he said.

"We have the free parking in the afternoons and are working on other initiatives which make it easier and more attractive for people to shop in our town centres.

"It is about time that we all took note of the views of successful business people like her and use her knowledge and expertise to help turn things around."

Cllr Stock said that Ms Portas had been criticised by some Council Leaders but he congratulated her.

"Some Leaders have said that local authorities have not been consulted but I fully welcome her intervention," he added.

"We need to re-invent and re-invigorate our town centres and we need different approaches as others have simply not worked so far."

Rachel Fryer, TDC's Town Centre Co-ordinator, said the report was desperately required and would get the debate moving in the right direction.

"Nobody will ever agree with everything in it - and it is horses for courses - but
we can all learn something from the experts and there is no doubt she is an expert in the retail field," she said.

"I think her idea of "town teams" is to be applauded, bringing like minded people together and getting them to think outside the box. It is a good way of coming up with new solutions."

Ms Fryer also agreed with the emphasis the report puts on customer service and believes that is vital to increase footfall in town centres.

"Good customer service will always bring people back time and time again and it is something which seems to have been forgotten along the way by many," she added.

13/12/11