High Street fund is too little, too late

■ SO, the Tories have set up a multimillion pound fund to regenerate our ailing town centres (Mirror, December 26). A good idea in theory, but when you consider the number of councils that will have to bid, or should I say beg for a share of the pot, £675million isn’t going very far, is it?

It will be very interesting to see who decides who gets what and just how Labour councils fare against the Tory councils in the bidding/begging war. After all, the Tories always look after their own.

My humble opinion is this is just another vote-grabbing stunt by a hapless Government and another cop-out from enforcing fairer tax regulations on big companies.

C Keegan, Leigh, Greater Manchester

■ The Tories’ £675million fund to revive struggling high streets is too little, too late. Our town centres have been in decline since the arrival of the giant out-of-town retail parks in the 1980s, while the boom in online shopping, extortionate business rates and cuts to council budgets have hastened their demise.

I fully support your High Street Fightback campaign and I hope others do too. We urgently need to breathe new life into our town centres.

David Metcalfe Middlesbrough

■ I’m not a shopkeeper, but I support your campaign to save our high streets. We’re lucky that in my home town our main shopping square has an interesting mix of independent retailers and, if you’re prepared to walk for a few minutes, there is very little that isn’t catered for.

Twice a week we have a flourishing market which brings buyers in from afar, and although there have been some casualties, for the most part Bury St Edmunds has remained open for business.

My pet hate are shoppers who use the high street for information then go home and shop online. To save a few pounds they are ripping the heart out of towns, putting many shopkeepers and staff out of work. Brian Davies, Bury St Edmunds Suffolk

■ The Future High Streets Fund to help struggling town centres is welcome, but not enough to prevent further decline. There also needs to be free or cheap parking and a reduction in business rates to attract retailers.

If the Government is serious about turning our towns into thriving community hubs, it should put its money where its mouth is.

Ken Gardner Northampton ■ People complain the high street is full of charity shops and boarded up premises and they then do their shopping at the mall or online. If we want to ensure the survival of our local high street we need to support it. It’s a case of use it or lose it.

C Austin, Folkestone, Kent

■ The reason for the decline of our once thriving high streets and town centres is that the Tories have decimated our councils and communities through their ideological austerity programme. The only way to get shoppers back on the high street is to vote in a Labour government under Jeremy Corbyn.

Andrew Adams, Dudley West Midlands

■ The only way to save our town centres is to introduce free parking, cheap reliable public transport and to reduce the crippling business rates. Many people blame the internet and the rise of online shopping, but these out-of-town outlets and retail parks are not suffering.

Keith Nicol, Doncaster