We learn this week that communities secretary Hazel Blears champions a plan for temporarily converting empty shops into social enterprises, local art displays or learning centres, in the interest of stopping high streets declining.
So what about Parkend, the village that rural development forgot, which greets visitors with an overgrown former shop? It's been this way a couple of decades, I understand.
What a waste, when it could readily offer opportunity, either as a retail premises or perhaps a drop-in centre for skills development. Perhaps also affordable accommodation for those in housing need.
We have a local MP who champions our Social Enterprise NHS Trust and not far away, another retail example in Brockweir. Surely it can and should be done, soon? – Jeff Mowatt, Folly Road, Parkend.