An association of businesses is appealing for Gerrards Cross traders to join them and help get more residents shopping locally, just weeks after a councillor said the town was going ‘downhill’ because of the number of empty buildings and “too many” charity shops.

Gerrards Cross Traders Association (GXTA), run by a small committee of business volunteers try to support and promote the community, meet every other month for all Gerrards Cross businesses to put forward suggestions for how to improve the town for shoppers.

They also helps organise and fund a number of events and projects throughout the year including the trees and lights at Christmas and the planters and flowers in the town.

The GXTA is now on a major recruitment drive to get more local businesses involved in the hope of being able to improve the town and “put Gerrards Cross firmly back on the map.”

At a town council meeting in January, councillor Peter Roberts said the town is going ‘downhill’ because of empty buildings and 'too many' charity shops.

At the same meeting, councillors expressed their concern that the GXTA needed more support from them to help them continue to have enough resources to provide the Christmas lights for the town.

Cllr Mike Lawson said he feared that “next year there might not be any money” for the Christmas lights and said the council needed to come up with ideas to support the traders association and “build and publicise them.”

Polly Lusher, committee member in charge of the Christmas Light campaign for 2015 and owner of Shu Shu, said they need to get more traders and businesses on board to make sure the town can be lit up again at Christmas this year.

She said: “We were only able to have lights this year due to the kind and generous donations of five local businesses in Gerrards Cross (BP Collins, Nunn Hayward, Nexus IT, Waitrose and Tesco), without these there would have been no lights in the high-street at all.

“Many traders/businesses believe the Christmas lights are wholly funded by Bucks County Council, but this is not the case.

“With the current small number of traders/businesses subscribing to the association this may jeopardise our proposed lighting scheme for this Christmas.”

For more information on the GXTA or to attend a meeting, email traders@gxtraders.co.uk for the next meeting date and venue.

• The GXTA AGM is on March 3 at BP Collins offices, Station Road at 5.45pm. Everyone is welcome to attend.