Terry Murden: Mary answers the call to save our shops - but it could be too late

SO THE government has called in Mary Portas, self-styled queen of shops, to sort out Britain's ailing high streets. It couldn't have been timed better, with Mothercare announcing that it is to close a third of its UK stores.

Portas has shot to fame as the feisty and demanding telly troubleshooter, called in to rescue and revive shops and stores of all sizes against a backdrop of closures and a major shift in Britain's shopping habits.

What began as a threat from the out-of-town retail parks has developed into a full-blown crisis as streets throughout the country are left with boarded up shops that are blighting town and city centres.

The problems are numerous, but Portas should start with the shops themselves: too many are tatty, unloved and adorned with garish signage. Their layout is poor, their staff woefully ill-informed about the products they are selling and often surly towards the customer.

Portas has made it a speciality to tear into arrogant, badly-trained or plain old-fashioned shop managers and teach them a thing or two about presentation, marketing and customer service.

But the real culprits are the authorities who pitch the small high street shop into an unfair battle with the big boys. They face punitive rates bills, car parking restrictions and poor road and rubbish maintenance so that shoppers who choose a trip to the high street must tolerate crumbling and litter-strewn streets before they step inside a shop.

In many instances, local authorities were too quick to allow out-of-town parks as they promised jobs and more revenue from business taxes. They were never designed to blend seemlessly with local shopping centres as they provided a rival service, and one which created another nightmare - the car-borne shopper who opted against a walk or a bus ride into town.

The impact of the retail park has been dramatic. Towns in every part of the country provide visible evidence of what happens when they cannot match the attractions of clean, dry and well-lit malls with car parking aplenty. Scotland's biggest town, Paisley, is a tragic example, caught between two shopping centres - Silverburn and Braehead. Its high street is, by comparison a sad and lifeless ghost of a place.

But not everybody likes shopping malls. Their homogenous, sterile environments offer little appeal to any shopper not looking for fashion items. In its heyday, the high street offered a mix of products, provided locally by shopkeepers who offered a service that commanded loyalty.

The crisis, of course, goes beyond local connections and no-one - not even Mary Portas - is going to recreate the high street of old with its butchers, bakers and candlestick makers. Not without support from the top. Maybe there was some merit in the former Scottish Government's attempt to tax the bigger stores (though this was badly executed and failed to recognise that even the bigger stores were struggling with the downturn).

The bottom line is that shops big and small have to compete to survive and must remain relevant to the shopper. Mothercare may have been hit by the ubiquitous supermarkets, but even parents seem to have noticed its shortcomings. Andy Barr, marketing director of BabyChild.org.uk said the shopping experience and customer service failed to compete against rivals such as Mamas and Papas.

Portas has the backing of none other than the Prime Minister, David Cameron, in her quest to save our shops and she is not the sort to accept defeat easily. After all, every episode of her television series ends with everyone a winner. But she'll need a huge helping of financial support and goodwill if she is to turn this one around.Shareholder rebels have little hope of beating current system

YET more shareholder rebellion against excessive pay rewards, this time at Lloyds Banking Group's annual general meeting.

The battle over boardroom pay has turned into a long-running showdown seemingly with no end and certainly no sign of victory. Corporate governance and shareholder bodies such as Pirc and the Association of British Insurers have been raising the alarm over excess pay for as long as any of us can remember and investors, usually individual shareholders, use their one opportunity of the year to sound off. But more often than not the big boys running the pension funds vote the remuneration reports through.

It may seem as if the whole exercise is a waste of time, particularly as the gap between top and bottom earners seems to be widening.

Britain's bosses earned 45 per cent pay rises last year and the High Pay Commission, launched last November, claims that wage disparity between the UK's top earners and the rest of the working population will return to levels last seen in the Victorian era unless action is taken to curb executive pay. National indignation is being voiced through these regular protest votes, but without reform of the remuneration process it looks like the protesters will struggle to get their voices heard.