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'Save our street' calls by councillor
A COUNCILLOR, who has said it 'shames' him to walk down Ilkeston's main shopping street, is launching a campaign aimed at pressuring the leading group into taking action on its sorry state.
Labour councillor Alex Phillips will be manning the first Save Our Street stall on Bath Street on Saturday morning and inviting shoppers to air their concerns.
He said: "It shames me to walk down Bath Street. Our once vibrant town centre has been neglected by this council and I fear that it's dying a slow and painful death."
The Advertiser's Staying Alive campaign, aimed at rejuvenating the town centre, is putting its support behind Cllr Phillip's campaign which will be asking people about their own personal worries about the street.
Labour borough councillors will be asking shoppers from 10am to fill out surveys about specific issues such as what should be done with the dozens of empty shops there. Other issues up for discussion are automated bollards and vandalism.
He said: "This has been a long standing grumble for us – the last serious investment in Ilkeston Town Centre was over ten years ago, with the Lower Bath Street Improvement Scheme.
"Since then there has been no serious and concerted regeneration of the town centre.
"The Conservative leadership aren't interested in making Ilkeston a vibrant town centre with an exciting shopping experience and that's demonstrated in the number of empty and often vandalised shops.
"The excuse is always the recession – when the economy was good five or six years ago it was just as bad then.
"The need for an overhaul of the town centre, to make it a more attractive destination of choice for shoppers, businesses and residents alike, is perhaps even more pressing now in the current economic climate."
Conservative leader of Erewash Borough Council Cllr Chris Corbett said: "I agree the recession has caused real problems for high streets throughout Derbyshire and the rest of the country and lots of shops have closed.
"Unfortunately, the council doesn't own any shops in Ilkeston, we don't set bus routes or the rents that retailers have to pay, so we don't have any direct input.
"But we do do what we can – for instance, we're offering a 1,000 golden hello to new shopkeepers and we're employing wardens to check CCTV to clamp down on vandalism.
"It's not as bad here as it is in the North East where every other shop is shut down."
However, he did throw his weight behind the Ilkeston Advertiser's Staying Alive campaign to rejuvenate the town centre.
The Save Our Street stall will be held on Saturday March 6 at the top of Bath Street from 10am to 12noon.
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Weather for Ilkeston
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Light snow
Temperature: -1 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
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Light snow
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