Sir – I note the letter from Pamela Ashton (and that from Paul A Wenham of Nelson Road on October 17) about shop closures around the centre of Twickenham and share her concerns deeply.

The responsibility for inspiring the regeneration of the town has fallen on the shoulders of Twickenham Town Centre Management Board (TTCMB) and my letter in this paper on October 3 attempted to inform readers as to its current progress.

Rents have been a perennial problem, with almost as many different landlords as there are shops.

We have reached the first stage of knowing who these people are over the central area; this has involved applying to the property register and paying a fee for each address, the council not being permitted by legislation to give them to us.

Shortly we will be inviting all these landlords to a meeting chaired by MP Vincent Cable to coordinate our thinking as to their role in the regeneration.

The overwhelming need is for a town that is seen as an attractive place to do business.

Rates are another quite different subject, these are set and received by central Government; the local authority has no influence on their size and regulations as to their application.

This has led to market distortions such as charities being allowed 80 per cent discounts. As a consequence they have a significant representation in the central area because landlords find them desirable customers.

However, to all normal traders the undue prevalence of these people is seen as reducing the “quality of the central shopping area”.

While I regret having to be so pointed, this is a widespread reaction which cannot be ignored.

We have carried out opinion surveys with residents and existing traders, and are starting to formulate the direction in which our policies should be heading. In addition consultants have been engaged to provide an independent focus on our problems, thus in this direction we hope to shortly receive advice from those responsible for the very successful regeneration of Marylebone high street.

We have appointed a new town centre manager in succession to Esther Worboys who has been with us for nearly five years.

She starts in January and comes with a super pedigree, so we must hope that her efforts will begin to shine through during 2009.

Finally, we would like to start an address list of like-minded concerned residents who are interested in the work of the TTCMB, thus they are encouraged to either phone their name and address to the town centre manager or email E.Worboys@richmond.gov.uk with the same details.

Lastly our slogan, “Fill we will” a significant number of the empty properties over the next year so that once again they are contributing to the better interests of the town and of us all.

JOHN ARMSTRONG
Member of Twickenham Town Centre Management Board