The investment arm of Tameside MBC criticised over high rents and lack of investment in Essex shopping centre

Desperate shopkeepers are pleading for help to boost trade in an ailing Canvey shopping centre. There are currently four empty shops in Knightswick Centre, and when Penn Sports closes at the end of the month it will be five. Storeholders have claimed aging facilities and high rents are crippling them, while also discouraging new firms from openening there. The mall, in Furtherwick Road, is owned by the property investment arm of Manchester authority, Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council. Relations between tenants and the authority have deteriorated to such an extent some shopkeepers contacting the Echo were unwilling to be named in case it affected the renegotiation of leases. John Green, manager of Body's opticians in the Knightswick centre, said: “We have had a few meetings with the owners and every time we go over the same old problems and they promise something will be done, but it never happens. All these empty shops are making the place look like a ghost town.” Another shopkeeper, who did not want to be named, said improvements as simple as providing adequate public toilets had never been done. He said: “The current toilets are a disgrace. There aren’t even any baby changing facilities. “Where are people supposed to go if they’ve got young children with them?” Canvey councillor Peter May said the owner’s lack of investment was killing the town centre. He added: “The shopping centre is the heart of our town and the owners are doing nothing to work with the people here.” Louise Martin, a spokeswoman for Tameside council, said the recession was making it difficult to find new leaseholders and a new agent had been appointed to speed up the process. She added: “We maintain and repair the centre in accordance with our responsibility as a landlord, while also endeavouring to keep the service charge to a level that is affordable by tenants.”