Mary Portas

There are about half a dozen empty shops in town and if they were able to be rented with 0 rates for the first year it could make a the difference to failure or success for a new independent business.

I hope your WI succeeds nanaej - it sounds as though you have the critical mass of a variety of shops that will encourage people to go there and spend money.
I was listening to a piece on R4 the other day about how the Government is delaying the revaluation of commercial properties. The business rates are based on what rent might be charged (the rateable value) and in recent years rents have gone down, but because properties haven't been revalued, businesses are paying higher rates than they should.

WI is soon to vote on a proposal about using local high streets. I think we will all miss High Streets when they are gone.. it is true that it is often cheaper/ quicker etc online but it is soulless!

Our small High St seems to be doing OK but there is an active group of local shopkeepers /business who are proactive. They organise special days /events to increase numbers into town and there is a reasonably good balance of independent shops and 'chain' stores so we have independent butcher, greengrocer, fishmonger, florists, gift shop, craft shops, toy shop, shoe shops, cothes shops. These are interspersed with Gregs/Boots/Smiths/Halfords/R Dyson, Banks, Estate agents hair/nail/beauty salons, Costa etc etc plus Sainsbury and Waitrose and a good number of charity shops too!

However our WI is gong to write to the council about parking charges and campaign for low rates for start up businesses..always worth a go.. if it fails then I feel I can moan with impunity

No-one - not Mary Portas nor David Cameron is going to return Britain's High Streets to their former glory. Retailers themselves have got to realise that for most people, shopping habits have changed irrevocably. We now go to 'town' mainly to get our hair/nails/beauty therapy done/eat/ meet friends for coffee/ see our solicitor/accountant/ go to the bank etc etc.

If people want to be shopkeepers in today's climate, they must either be in a specialised niche market or have an online facility. They should stop burying their heads in outmoded and unrealistic ideas.

Supermarkets and all the chain stores have moved out of town centres to retail parks where parking is free. Local councils penalise town centre shoppers by charging them to park their cars, whilst at the same time demanding extortionate business rates. Don't blame the landlords - they are entitled to expect a reasonable return on their real estate investment.

It's no good high streets being destinations for anything unless people actually go there and spend money buying things. Expecting high street shops to survive in the face of out of town shopping centres which both local and central government encouraged, and competition from Internet shopping, is what my DH would term p**sing in the wind.
Sadly I cannot see 'socialising, culture, health, wellbeing, creativity and learning' actually producing enough income for businesses to meet the very high overheads caused by high rents and business rates, never mind produce an income.
I went to Morpeth last week - there is an attractive new shopping arcade with some lovely shops. But very few customers inside them, and on the high street, at least two shops having closing down sales

This from WIkipedia "In May 2011, she was appointed by the Prime Minister David Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to lead an independent review into the future of the high street. She published her report "The Portas Review" on 13 December 2011. Portas states the aim of her review to "put the heart back into the centre of our High Streets, re-imagined as destinations for socialising, culture, health, wellbeing, creativity and learning". The review goes on to detail 28 specific recommendations".

So she must have been on the payroll then, not sure whether she still is!

A series this week on BBC 4 was quite negative about her efforts. There seems to have been improvement in some places and none at all in others. Hard to see whether she's responsible for either.

No necessarily because of her! The areas picked were very vulnerable already..and some of the shop /business owners may not always want to take the advice given! If you saw the programme last week from Liskard it took a lot of kicking to get some people going!

I thought she was not being paid by the government but may have misunderstood.

She awarded a sum to a shopping area in Bristol and since then at least two more shops have closed