Don't turn village into ghost town

Jun 18 2009 Buckinghamshire Advertiser

I HAVE enjoyed living in Chalfont St Giles all of my life and I love the buzz of the village centre.

This is an aspect of the village which must be kept, but lots of the shops are closing down. This is a very big problem.

I am concerned that with all of those shops closing the village will lose its character and seem like a ghost town.

Another problem with lots of shops closing is that the village will not attract new shop owners, as they see the other shops which were unsuccessful. This will mean even fewer shops.

With not as many shops people are more likely to shop at supermarkets like Tesco and Waitrose instead of village shops.

This will mean the existing shops will close. Therefore we will not have any shops and that would be catastrophic.

Without shops people would not be able to meet other people in the village as easily, the community spirit would be lost, the village would go from being attractive to unattractive and would lose its soul. It is vital that the council thinks of ways to help new shops.

I suggest that the Government reduces the tax for a shop in its first year and perhaps there are ways of advising shop owners on how to make shops successful.

NICK MURPHY

Bottrells Lane

Chalfont St Giles

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