Chamber meeting 'fails miserably'

His comments came as a meeting called to revive the chamber fell flat on its face with only seven people turning up .

Among those attending last Wednesday were three traders (including the organisers), two council officials and a representative from Lurgan Forward.

A clearly frustrated Mr Gardiner said:”The total apathy which has been shown over the past number of years continues with traders apparently unwilling to engage in any type of representative body.”

He was later to point out the chamber had also lost its seats on the board of Lurgan Forward as there was no one there to represent.

Mr Gardiner said: “Rather than having a united voice, vision and strategy everyone seems to be doing their own thing.

“It’s a sad reflection that this once vibrant market town has come into such decline that the traders can’t even be bothered to attend meetings for their own benefit.”

Also present was Stuart Castles, who said it was not a unique decline: “I think most towns in the province are seeing the same thing.

“I’ve spent a lot of my time in Lurgan and it isn’t that much worse than other towns.”

Council representative Paul Kavanagh pointed out the council had conducted a survey in the borough and in Portadown there were 110 vacant shop properties or 18 per cent of the total. In Lurgan there were 57 – 11%.

Mr Gardiner welcomed the presence of the council officials and said it showed there were willing to cooperate with traders in the town.

This week we asked local people how they felt the town could attract more shoppers, see their verdict on page 21. We are also inviting our readers to have their say on the future of the town, be they shoppers or traders. Have your say by text on 81800 – remember to start your message LMCOMMENT.