NUMBERS of empty shops are marring Forest of Dean towns in times of relative prosperity for the rest of Britain.

As the appearance of gap-tooth shopping centres worsens many traders are calling for a complete review of the rating of business premises.

With the staggering figure that one in eight business-rated properties in the Forest alone have ceased trading – some 300 out of a total of 2,500 businesses – the need for revival has never looked greater.

While the figure does not separate retail and industrial premises it is on the High Streets that the closures are most noticeable – Cinderford for example having 21 per cent premises empty against the average of around 12 per cent.

David Gardner, chairman of Cinderford Chamber of Commerce, said overheads were simply too high, particularly for retail start-ups.

"You can have a factory employing 25 people and do nicely while a shop occupying the same square footage pays just as much. It isn't fair," he said, adding that any worsening of parking problems would also hit trade.

And the fewer the shops and variety, he said, the less attractive it became for people to visit – they would go elsewhere.

In Coleford, Chamber of Trade secretary Janet Marrott blamed business rates as a major factor and urged the Government to give the whole area more help – particularly with impending redundancies at Rank Xerox.

"There is just no encouragement from the rates," she said, although the Forest Towns Market Forum was focusing on the problem and it was not being ignored.

While trade in Lydney did not seem too bad, smaller Newnham towards Gloucester had recently seen closures.

Outside the Forest the situation seems healthier, with traders in Ross, Monmouth and Chepstow reporting an upturn. Oddly however Monmouthshire's numbers of empty premises roughly match the Forest – 356 out of 2,848, or almost exactly an eighth.

Jonathan Preece, a Ross estate agent and president of the local chamber of trade, said: "Things here don't seem too bad, with a lot of interesting retailers who will be a credit to the town opening up."

But like his Forest counterparts he said business rates were too high – and anomalies where shops next door to one another paid different rates did not help.

Owen James, who heads the Forest of Dean District Council's regeneration department, said the revitalisation of shops "is a priority as far as we are concerned" and grants up to £5,000 were available to help new enterprises like Cottage Curtains – a Coleford success story.

He also had high hopes of attracting European Community cash for regeneration from the Leader+ fund which had already benefited businesses in Monmouthshire and Herefordshire.

In spite of appearances things were improving he said, particularly in the area of marketing local goods and produce.

"Otherwise I would be very depressed," he said.