Council 'vision' is stuck in 20th century (From Salisbury Journal)

Council 'vision' is stuck in 20th century

6:00am Thursday 7th February 2013 in Postbag

FEAR the downward spiral of our city centre is not all due to the recession and changes in shopping habits.

I believe it's more about councils like our own failing to create and deliver a 21st century vision of a place where we all want to work, play and spend money.

Instead, we get a Salisbury 'vision' document that describes essentially a 20th century retailing centre designed to help a council sell land and collect revenue more efficiently. This way of thinking was outdated when it was published, and it is a recipe for disaster in 2013.

To save our high street, we need to build on the many aspects of the city centre that promote its role as the heart of our community; and this means not filling it up with chain cafés, bargain retailers and charity shops.

And it also means that the council needs to understand that chucking some paving stones on the market square won't mean a thing if the restaurants and pubs there go out of business.

JOHN-JAMES MCCHESNEY, Salisbury