NOTHING is more depressing in an urban environment than the sight of boarded-up or empty shop premises.

They certainly do nothing for the town’s image.

They are not only unsightly but must have a negative impact on the businesses next door to, or near, them.

I cannot understand why the council does not pass an ordinance requiring the owners of such properties to smarten them up – it’s not a difficult thing to do.

It would not cost a fortune to hire struggling art students to decorate the windows of their vacant properties with attractive murals – using washable paints that could be easily removed.

Not only would it improve the appearance of the town, it would certainly make the properties look more inviting to prospective tenants.

I work in Canford Cliffs and on one side of the short main street there is a row of four empty, dirty, derelict-looking shops that make the village look like more like a ghost town than the centre of one the most affluent areas of the country!

ROBERT READMAN, Norwich Avenue West, Bournemouth