Cash help for traders in Liskeard

Caradon Council have confirmed they will be financially helping Liskeard's traders in a campaign to get shoppers back into the town as soon as the roadworks on The Parade are completed.

The move came after public meeting attended by 50 shopkeepers who expre-ssed dispay over their heavy loss of business during the regeneration work .

The town's Chamber of Commerce went to see Caradon's economic development manager Steve Vinson and told him that traders feared customers would not return and that some shops had lost 50 per cent of their business.

Mr Vinson said the council could look at match funding from such agencies as Leader 11, to help pay for advertising in the local press and on radio stations, and for the printing of door to door handouts. 'We will be happy to help promote a campaign to get Liskeard shopping again' he said.

Mr Roger Terry, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce said on Thursday that the good news from Caradon was proof of what a strong voice could do to alter things, and he urged all the traders who attended the meeting at the Lord Eliot Hotel on Monday night, to continue attending meetings. 'If we are a strong group which works together we can get things done to improve Liskeard' he said.

At the next meeting on July 5, the Chamber will be handing out compensation claim forms to members, in the hope of getting large reductions in the Uniform Business Rates for the period of disruption Many criticisms were made of The Parade scheme, including the bus bay which traders said was too short for two buses which would mean more traffic hold ups, and the reduction in traffic lanes in West Street.

It is understood that County Highways have already agreed to reconsider West Street and lengthen the bus bay, after a meeting in which these concerns were voiced, on The Parade on Wednesday.

There was also heavy criticism for Caradon's recent rise in car parking charges