LOCAL shopping centres are fast turning into ghost towns - and Preston Borough Council should step in now to stop the decline.

That's the view of Councillor Albert Richardson who is complaining that something should be done to help the town's struggling small businesses.

He said 25 business premises in Ribbleton Lane alone were empty and is now appealing to shop keepers to set up traders' associations to force the council into action.

Mr Richardson said: "Every week another shop becomes empty. These shopkeepers have their backs against the wall. They have to fight to survive and they get no help from anyone. We don't even give them council tax relief."

He explained the problem was not limited to his ward and added: "New Hall Lane is another area where traders are struggling."

The situation reflects the national trend where small businesses can't compete in the price wars fought out by the major retailers.

Mrs Julia Horn of the Preston and District Chamber of Trade said that even in the town centre shops were being forced to close.

In Friargate, she added, the only shops which were surviving were food outlets. "Friargate's turning into a fast-food emporium. The council must address this issue because it's in everybody's interest that the independent traders do keep going."

Councillor Graham Worrall, chairman of the Economic Development Sub-committee, said he would be happy to talk to traders to see what the council could do to help.

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