HIGH rents and rates are strangling small Forest shops, a business owner has claimed.
Gloria Looker, of High Street, Cinderford, says the councils involved in the regeneration of Cinderford and other Forest towns should first take a hard look at why all the small shops are closing.
And, she says, a way out of the mess and to encourage people to open shops would be to offer a rates concession to new businesses until they were up and running.
Mrs Looker said rents in Cinderford were too high for small businesses to cope with, especially when linked with the rates tariff.
"I speak as a newcomer to the town who has recently opened a small, independent shop in the High Street, Magic Kidzwear. My shop has just been assessed for rates and it is ludicrous to expect a small business to get off the ground with such high overheads," she said.
Mrs Looker is convinced that, given time, her business venture could do well.
"In the meantime, until I can sell enough clothes just to pay rent and rates, how about a little encouragement?
"A concession wouldn't go amiss, especially as people seem to be avoiding the town while work of the Triangle is going on which has come straight on top of Severn Trent and their roadworks.
"If Cinderford is to flourish again we need small businesses to become firmly established. Who will pay the rates if we are all forced to close down?
"To those who sit and think of a number to charge us shopkeepers, please consider my comments seriously," said Mrs Looker.
"Cinderford might well be put on the map again instead of forcing the local folk to travel to Gloucester to do their shopping."