MUM-OF-TWO Angela Maclachlan, who has just taken over as the new president of Devizes Chamber of Commerce, believes cheaper parking and promoting the benefits of the town to potential businesses are key issues.

Mrs Maclachlan, who is business development manager of The Bear Hotel, also wants to attract more retailers on to the chamber.

She said: "I think it would be good if we can represent a wider range of businesses. We have a lot of members from banks, building societies, solicitors and other office based businesses but it would be good to have more actual shopkeepers.

"We can offer a lot of benefits such as advice to do with staff matters."

She said she was pleased that the former Tesco store was not to be left empty following a decision by Poundland to take over the premises.

"It is much better to have a shop that is used and providing employment and helping the economy of the town," she said.

She believes that a perception that the town had a large number of empty shops was wrong. She said: "The vacancy rate is actually very low. But we could do with shops selling affordable children's clothes and mens' clothing."

A report just published by the Devizes Benchmarking Group that compares Devizes with a national picture from towns across the country shows that the vacancy rate for the town is much lower than nationally.

It shows that Devizes, which is classified as a large town as it has more than 250 business units, has a vacancy rate of just two per cent. The national figure for large towns is nine per cent.