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Whilst I applaud John & Sandra for getting off their backsides and making their point, I think they have in some ways missed the point.
Of course it looks like DDC had no plan for the town centre (they might have, but given no-one has seen it...); I do acknowledge the plan for the lower part of town and its connections to the seafront, but this proposal has dragged on almost as long as St James and is not even at the stage of being granted planning - how long do we have to wait for something positive to happen to replace the eyesores that are the old amusement arcade, the demolished Britannia pub, the crypt & a collection of bomb sites off Chapel Lane.
The reality is that most of our shopping area real estate is owned by large(ish) property management companies that do not give a damn about Dover and are not bothered by the odd void in their portfolio. They have escalated estimated property values based on recent auction sale prices and this impacts both rents and business rates adversely resulting in it being even less likely that people will rent the voids. On their own these people will do nothing and do not believe they owe the residents anything.
DDC need to create a Town Centre partnership working with DTC, The Town Team, Destination Dover, resident representatives, property owners etc. to plan, design and fund a town centre makeover that enhances the street scape to encourage its use as a social meeting space, to encourage property owners to separate and convert upper floors into housing, to encourage property owners to refurbish shop units, to encourage through various means (grants, business advice, discretionary rate relief etc) local entrepreneurs to open independent shops, cafes, restaurants, bars etc , to use Destination Dover to get the message out that Dover is a great place etc.