Austerity has ruined our towns

One letter last week said that the fact that some women born in the 1950s were now receiving their pensions later in life than expected was contributing to the troubles on the high street. But it is also their low salaries. I work in local government and I have not had a cost-of-living wage rise in a decade. J. Bull, Hethersett, Norfolk There must be thousands of small businesses which would love a presence in their local town or city centre but cannot afford the extortionate rents and business rates for these prime locations. How about dividing large empty premises into smaller units to create an ‘indoor market’? It would make the shopping experience far more interesting. John Streeter, Crapstone, Devon