BRAINTREE town centre needs to forge its own niche to help it prosper, a business leader has said.

Around 20 business owners met last Monday morning for an interactive 'visioning meeting' with representatives from Braintree Council.

Amongst the topics discussed was the future of town centre trade and what the council can do to help traders going forward.

Brenda Baker, chairman of the Braintree Chamber of Trade and Commerce and manager of George Yard Shopping Centre, said: “Retail is always in a state of flux and at the moment we are going through a very difficult period of change again.

"Each time it changes you get some people that lose and some people that win.

“We have got to find a collective objective which people can understand and buy into.

“We have got to work co-operatively in order to move forwards. Nobody can move forward unless everybody moves forward.”

Mrs Baker pointed to factors such as the rise of the internet and supermarket expansions to the general decline of the British high street, and said Braintree would unfortunately be unable to pull in the big name retailers that some people want.

She said: “I don’t think Braintree has a choice but to go in a different directions from other town centres. I would like to see us forge a niche.

“Retail is changing and we are doing all this against a back drop of a sizeable number of people that have seen their wages drop in real terms.”

Mrs Baker said the Chamber will be working on a series of initiatives throughout the town centre, aimed at making Braintree more clean, safe and attractive for visitors.

Possible scenes include a wifi access point accessible across the town and a new interactive heritage trail.

Braintree Council revealed last week its latest plans for the Manor Street regeneration program, another important feature of the town centre’s future.

Mrs Baker said that the development would "certainly not hinder the town centre” and the idea of a cultural quarter on the development was a good one.

More similar meetings are expected to take place in the future to help formulate a plan between businesses and the council.

Robert Ely, owner of the Chophouse restaurant, in New Street, said: “I believe we all need to stop knocking the town and instead support it, yes the town is far from perfect, but if we keep holding it back it will never evolve.

"We have our part to play, negatively attracts negatively, positivity attracts positivity."

Braintree Town Team, set up when Braintree was awarded £86,500 as part of the Portas Pilot scheme, recently folded and became part of the Braintree Chamber.

Alex Cook, manager of Tesco in Market Square Braintree, said: "We have a fantastic Town Centre with so much amazing heritage and tradition, as a bigger retailer in our town we want to support and be part of its growth and development alongside its market town traditions.

"The interactive workshop was great to be part of and help to shape the vision so we will serve Braintree's shoppers a little better every day."