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A retail expert has told councillors it probably only needs one major clothes chain to come to Haverhill to start an expansion in the range of shops - but that is unlikely to happen.

Members of Haverhill Area Working Party meeting yesterday were given a report by Debbie Kemp from the Kent Business School on phase one of their Destination Haverhill project to revive the town centre.

Ms Kemp said although she was now an acedemic, she had long experience of 'real world' retailing, working in various roles for Marks and Spencer.

The first phase had been a consultation with people about their shopping patterns, which had received 538 responses, including a wide cross-section.

She presented the analysis of this which showed extraordinary gaps in the sorts of shops available in Haverhill, particularly in clothing, toys, gifts, music and games and sportswear.

She described Haverhill as a town where people wanted to do something about this but where some responses were unwarrantably negative.

For instance, in focus groups people had complained about the standard of toilets. "Your toilets here are the best I've ever been into," she said.

The gaps in the market meant there was a huge opportunity for retailers in Haverhill. "There is a large segment of people who don't just want to buy cheap goods," she said, "and there are so many things missing in the town centre it is just such a huge opportunity."

One big retailer cming in would make others follow, she said. "If you had a Next and a Primark in town I could probably pack up my bags and go home," she said.

"But they need a mass of target audience that you have not got at the moment."

The only way they could be persuaded to come would be through some large incentive, similar to the way the cinema complex had been achieved.

Instead, the next phase for the project would be to work with the current independent retailers to give them 'master classes' and get them to 'up their game'.

She described shops in the high street as looking old-fashioned and tired.

But there was also a major issue about property landlords, which was not just in Haverhill but nationally, highlighted in Mary Portas' recent report to the Government.

"You have to stem the decline here first," said Ms Kemp. "The landlords are in control and must be encopuraged not just to take the first betting shop that comes alongbecause that won't add to footfall."

She alsowanted landlords to be compelled to put attractive decals in the windows of empty shops, which would be costly and encourage them not to leave them empty.

Andrea Mayley of St Edmundsbury Borough Council, who has been working with the project, said they had been trying to track down the landlords.

"One of the hardest problems is to engage with them because they are not interested," she said.

Cllr Anne Gower confirmed the former town centre manager had tried very hard on this front without success.

Cllr Tim Marks said: "We need to take control of what is happening in our town, but we seem to be powerless to do so."

One premises over which there is some control is the former Co-op which is owned by the borough council and Ms Mayley said they were taking the site to the big retailers to try to get them interested.

This week Morrisons, which rumour had linked with the store, publicly confirmed they were not looking at any sites in Haverhill.

Many of the town's independent traders attended the meeting. Colin Richards of TVL said he had been trading in the town centre for 40 years and felt it was rapidly losing its vibrancy.

Cllr Gower agreed the high street was losing its heart. "The alleyways from the car parks are not attractive," she said. "But they are within private ownership and there is a big issue about private landlords."