“The trouble with Dingwall is that all they care about is football”

On 2 August, an article in the Ross-shire Journal gathered local views on what needs to be done to improve the 'ghost town' of Dingwall's High Street, with residents and businesses sharing their ideas.

The full report can be found here.

A reader wrote a letter to the editor to share his thoughts on how to improve Dingwall.

Ladies and Gentlemen

Dingwall is dead so people are going to Inverness where there is a great choice of shops and plenty going on, which I am pleased about.

Dingwall used to be a wonderful and pleasant place to shop, a place where I felt comfortable – but unfortunately that is no longer the case.

We need decent shops: a shoe shop for young people, a clothes shop for small and big people, a decent bookshop that has switched to modern books. Dingwall also needs to be cleaned up, the old pub fence needs to be removed and the weeds cleared. The place is dirty and uninviting and there are too many second hand shops.

And why are the shops not open at 9 a.m.?

We have no sports or fitness facilities, that's why we have the leisure centre. People blame Tesco, but where else are we supposed to go? There are two decent shops in Dingwall that hardly anyone uses because they are supposedly expensive – worth a look, nobody says you have to buy anything, there are cheaper options.

The problem in Dingwall is that they only care about football. The Highland Council is made up of older people who make decisions for everyone.

I know you will disagree with my opinion as I was not born here nor have I lived here all my life but if nothing is done then Dingwall will have only itself to blame for being stuck in the past.

Name and address are saved.

Other readers have shared their suggestions online.

Isabell MacColl said: “Is there a way to create a children's play area and a cafe for mothers and their children? A safe place where the mother can have a coffee while the child is left alone, but still supervised by the parents?”

Chris Dowling commented: “This is not just a Highlands or Dingwalls problem. I have just returned from a family wedding in Stoke-on-Trent, which is home to over 250,000 people, and I was shocked to see how many shops on the high street are now closed too. In contrast, we visited the Trafford Centre which was full and had no empty shops. So the problems in retail cannot just be down to online shopping, rent and fees. I can't imagine that the rent and fees at the Trafford Centre are low!

“It all comes down to what a high street is trying to 'sell'. Online stores sell convenience. The Trafford Centre sells an 'experience' from shops to restaurants to various family activities – all in a warm and dry environment. That all shopping centres can do this is not a given, as the half-empty Eastgate proves. But a big question about the purpose of all local high streets needs to be answered. We need to start asking why they exist, rather than focusing on how and what they do.”

Emma Mitchell added: “Capping commercial rents for a certain number of years would give businesses a break.”

Would you like to reply to this article? Then click Here to submit your thoughts for possible publication in print.