An open letter to MP?Sarah Wollaston:

I am writing an open letter to you to express my concern at the rapid decline in the high street retail sector, both nationally and more specifically in my home town of Dartmouth.

I know you are aware of the Dartmouth Business Improve­ment District which I initiated in 2012/13 to try to reverse the decline in our town, and I am also sure you are aware that it failed after only two years.

That is history, but it has left us a useful legacy in the Springboard footfall measuring cameras.

Springboard has generously given us free access to the figures and it gives us a simple comparative measure of the visitor numbers coming to the lower town retail area of Dartmouth.

I can see that you have occasionally read my Dartmouth business newsletters which publish these figures on a weekly basis.

Since November last year, they highlight a dramatic fall in footfall in Dartmouth this year, compared to last year ranging between minus 17 per cent to more than minus 30, with the Christmas week seeing a 32 per cent decrease.

My motivation for starting the Business Improvement District in 2012 was a decline of 10 per cent per year for the previous five years, measured by a local business on Lower Street, so the recent increase in the rate of decline is a cause for great concern.

I have raised this issue repeatedly at local/district council level with no response except to question my data, so I feel I must ask you to raise the issue with the Government both on my behalf and also on behalf of Dartmouth’s retail community.

The reasons for the decline are many and complex but certainly the dramatic rise in business rates in Dartmouth some years ago has made a significant contribution to the problem. I remember when the chamber of trade challenged the rate rise and the Valuation Office Agency’s response was to say that ‘Dartmouth looked to be thriving’ when it visited the town in June of the previous year.

I suggest it visits again now and reduces the business rates in proportion in the same way it increased them last time it visited.

This is a serious concern for the business community which relies on visitors to stimulate our tourism based economy.

There are other contributing factors, of course, such as the high commercial rents being charged by landlords, the perennial parking problem and the decline of our visitor centre with a consequent reduction in national promotion of the town.

I am also suggesting through my business blog that the town should be looking for funding under the recently launched phase five of the Coastal Community Fund. But I cannot see any organisation in the town taking up the challenge of applying for this funding.

I am no longer chairman of the business forum, so I can only act as an interested individual.

I would appreciate you raising the issue with the appropriate department within the government, but also to discuss our options with the South Hams District and Dartmouth Town Councils.

Paul Reach

Swannaton Road, Dartmouth