It was good to read the report in the Spalding Guardian about making the town great again, however words are not enough, what is needed is action.
It is an absolute disgrace that so many buildings in the town have been empty and unused for so long, some for decades.
The Johnson family must be turning in their graves that their gift of the Johnson Hospital to the community has been left for years empty and decaying.
I recall a councillor stating some time ago that if necessary they could compulsory purchase properties that were lying dormant for years on end.
That would have been money much better spent than the millions now earmarked for garbage trucks and wheelie bins despite the votes of the Spalding public against it.
It has been done in other towns so why not here.
Do the owners of these empty buildings pay rates and if not why not?
I suggest that they should be charged and that the amount should be doubled every six months it remains empty or undeveloped. That would surely generate some action.
I recall the leader of the council stating many months ago that he would contact Samuel Smiths, the brewery, to try to get The White Horse inn reopened. It is a lovely old building just going to waste. What has happened to that discussion?
What is really needed is more shops, not foreign food shops, not vape shops, not betting shops and no more hairdressers but shops where you can buy things.
The lazy answer to our problem is that it is happening everywhere. It is not.
I have two sons who live in different small towns, one in Oxfordshire, the other in Nottinghamshire and they are both towns that are thriving with plenty of shops, pubs and restaurants.
Just look at neighbouring Stamford, if a shop or café closes a new one replaces it within weeks. The town is buzzing.
Come on councillors, make Spalding the lovely town it used to be.
John Lister
via email
