The right way to stop town crumbling?

Alright. I know I may seem always to go on about our town centre but I am one of the many people who actually care deeply about the way things are going.

Ashford has suffered - along with many others - from a steady decline in the number of essential businesses in the heart of the town. It’s common knowledge that at least part of the trouble is the high business rates. Next time you find yourself in the central wasteland, take a look at the state of disrepair evident in many of the buildings. As far as I can find out, much of the problem here lies with absent landlords, but they, too, are faced with the problem that, all the time their buildings stand empty, they receive no income from them.

I would have thought that the council should have some responsibility to ensure that town centre buildings are kept in a good state of repair, that peeling paint on rotting timber window frames and fasciae should be dealt with before passers-by find themselves dodging falling pieces of architecture. You may have noticed, too, the amount of greenery growing from chimneys and brickwork.

The council has, as we might expect, a plan; it seems to be to give up on the town centre and promote new businesses in the area beneath and around Cineworld. The Designer Outlet is considering extending opening hours for some businesses but, surprise, surprise, admits this may further damage prospects for the town centre.

Next time you find yourself in the central wasteland, take a look at the state of disrepair evident in many of the buildings

Just lately, we have had a deluge of dodgy phone calls. The latest has been to tell us that, due to ‘illegal activity’ on our internet, the thing will be closed down within 24 hours. We have ignored the instruction to press

‘one’ on the phone’s keyboard which would, they say, connect us to their technical team who would keep us going. Strangely, despite the passage of two lots of 24 hours, our connection has continued uninterrupted.