[garinda]

You've got to know your demographic, and to put it bluntly Accrington doesn't have the kind of demographic to support the tweedy type shops Whalley and Clitheroe does.

As for towns supporting an arty farty array of shops, St. Ives, which has one of the biggest communities of artists in the country outside of London, has only three galleries, and one framers, and that takes into account the hundreds of thousands of tourists who go there each year, which certainly can't be said of Accrington.

If planning consent is given for Whitebirk to sell goods they currently can't, it will be the death knell for retailing in Accrington.

Ten years ago there were five shops/stores were you could buy electrical goods in Accrington, four independents and one multiple, now there are none.

I know the country around Bluewater quite well. What were once thriving towns, in affluent areas, are now deserted, with tumbleweed blowing past the ubiquitous hairdressers, take aways, and estate agents, where once there was an array of independent businesses, servicing the communities many and varied needs.

If Whitebirk does get the go ahead to sell things other than white goods, just watch the gradual exodus, as stores like M & S, Burton's, Argos etc. relocate there, and the smaller independent shops we currently have, disappear altogether.