THE MAYOR of Wellington, Cllr Peter Critchard, has thrown down the gauntlet and challenged the town's shop keepers and business people to put their heads together to come up with new initiatives on how to draw people back into the town.

His call for unity comes amid concerns that a crisis meeting in the town tomorrow, Thursday, February 26 could degenerate into a finger-pointing 'blame game' as some local traders, who say they have seen their revenues plunge during recent road works, seek to apportion blame for their woes.

The aim of the public meeting, being staged by the town council which is desperate to inject new life into the town, is to come up with ways to promote the message "Wellington is open for business".

The meeting takes place in the United Reform Church hall, Fore Street, starting at 6pm.

See this week's Wellington Weekly News for more on this story.

What do you think can be done to attract more shoppers to Wellington? Have your say using the comment box below.

We'll publish the best comments in next week's WWN.