LOCAL Government Minister Hilary Armstrong is taking a step in the right direction in announcing up to 100 per cent rate relief for sole post offices and general stores, though only in communities with fewer than 3,000 residents. (LET, January 7)
This should be taken a step further, with the criterion not necessarily based on population.
Small shops in dying small towns should be helped by percentage rate relief, perhaps based on the number of shops already closed down which is as many as a third in some places.
This would perhaps, then, help towns as well as villages to also turn the tide of decline.
KATHLEEN BULCOCK, Wilkie Avenue, Burnley.
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