By Ruth Whitehead

PUBLISHED: 09:19 EST, 25 August 2012 | UPDATED: 09:20 EST, 25 August 2012

Plans for Mary Portas' latest venture have suffered a major setback as four people from a town the so-called Queen of Shops was due to overhaul have resigned in disgust.

Margate in Kent is one of 12 'Portas Pilot' towns picked by Local Government Minister Grant Shapps to receive help from the retail guru, fighting off competition from more than 350 entrants.

But four members of Margate's 'town team' have resigned amid accusations that Ms Portas' film crew was more interested in making controversial television than helping the town.  

Queen of shops: Mary Portas' scheme aims to revive the fortunes of flagging high streets. Twelve have so far been selected from across Britain

Queen of shops: Mary Portas' scheme aims to revive the fortunes of flagging high streets. Twelve have so far been selected from across Britain

Each of the 12, which include Stockton-on-Tees, Bedford and Wolverhampton, is to receive cash from the Government and free advice from Ms Portas to revitalise their flagging high streets. Margate is due to receive 100,000.

Robin Vaughan-Lyons, chairman of the Margate town team and a local shop-owner, is the most recent member to quit. He said the filming of a Channel 4 documentary series had turned into a bitter power struggle.

Mr Vaughan-Lyons' resignation followed that of the vice-chairman, tea shop owner Roxanne Tesslar; the treasurer, bistro owner Ian Darkler-Larkings; and the group's secretary and press officer, Louise Oldfield. 

Shorely not: nearly 40 per cent of shops in the seaside town of Margate stand empty and remaining shop-owners were desperate to see their fortunes improve

Shorely not: nearly 40 per cent of shops in the seaside town of Margate stand empty and remaining shop-owners were desperate to see their fortunes improve

He accused the TV crew of deliberately trying to stoke up disagreements between the team's leadership and businesses in the town, claiming Ms Portas had 'completely blanked' the town's bosses while she attended filming.

Mr Vaughan-Lyons said the rows – which erupted as the film crew returned to Margate for a second spate of filming, following the town's successful bid to be included in the Portas scheme – came even before the town team could draw up a plan on spending the 100,000. 

'I'm absolutely devastated but I was left with absolutely no option,' he told The Grocer magazine.

Faded lights: Margate has struggled to regain the popularity it enjoyed in the Victorian era

Faded lights: Margate has struggled to regain the popularity it enjoyed in the Victorian era

He added: 'There are a group of people who are more interested in publicity and being on TV than they are in helping Margate and they have been deliberately encouraged by the film crew to make personal attacks on us.

He told the magazine: 'We have not objected to the filming of the show but for us it's more about what we do to help the high street. But the filming has led to all sorts of disgraceful activity.'

Ms Oldfield said in her resignation statement: 'My position has become untenable, with individuals consistently acting outside the team. I have been subjected to public bullying by individuals who are seeking to further their own personal interests rather than the aims of the bid.'

Not amused: members of Margate's town team complained of people who were more interested in publicity than doing the job of sorting the town out

Not amused: members of Margate's town team complained of people who were more interested in publicity than doing the job of sorting the town out

When Ms Portas arrived with the TV crew in June she caused outcry at a meeting with local traders when she appeared to suggest that the documentary was a pre-condition of getting the government grant.

She said: 'We either let the cameras in with me, or I go back on the train and some other town gets it.' She has since said she had made a mistake.

Mary Portas' spokesman, Peter Cross, said the loss of the Town Team was 'a terrible shame for the individuals' but that it wouldn't stop Margate benefiting from the initiative.

'Margate deserves it,' he said. 'This Town Team has failed. It's not for us to get into the politics. There are going to be many more obstacles to come. Mary would say it's far better to try than to do nothing. Margate will succeed. It will succeed with a different Town Team.'

Channel 4 said yesterday that whether businesses co-operate with the making of the documentaries would 'in no way' affect the assistance they receive from Portas in her capacity as a retail expert.

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Come on Mary, give Margate the support it so desperately needs. I've seen a couple of your shows before, where you have genuinely wanted to help the businesses who have asked for it. The public are sick and tired of so-called reality TV, set up only to intimidate and upset those who have taken part. We want to see successful and well meaning outcomes since people's livelihood is at stake.

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Idiots. What did they expect? It's not about them, helping the town or improving their shops, it's about television ratings - nothing more.

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This whole issue stinks. What skills does Mary Portas have? She is a publicity seeking minor celebrity who has somehow got her snout into a trough of public money and is making some sort of reality TV show with all the trimmings; nasty, rude, cruel and very watch able. Disgraceful. We put up the money so they can make a reality TV show?

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Quite simply, British society, British traditions, British values and the cohesion of all these has been massively eroded for decades. The High Streets are collapsing because our society has been debased and there is now little point in aspiring to the goods and services that accompany the 'normal' Britain of years ago. Top end fashion or jewellery will only make you a target. Flash homes or cars will do the same. It's set to get worse and worse. The High Street will eventually consist of Primark, McDonalds, and 'charity' junk shops. Britain was deliberately wrecked by the last Labour government and the damage is irreparable. 75% of the population is in no mood to 'shop till they drop' nor are they likely to be in the foreseeable future. Portas may well be 'getting a show' out of dying High Streets but Ramsey did the same over dying restaurants and fake haunted did the same out of the just plain dead - so what - it aint gonna change a thing. Bye-bye High Street, a bygone fad.

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Not al retailers are swish department stores are they Mary?

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Sadly this was somewhat predictable. Plus, £100,000 won't go very far. This hasn't been thought through. Something more meaningful, on a larger and more professional scale is needed to help towns across the UK - not just a gesture to create a tv programme. The world has changed and the dilemma is that we need to accept that some things we love will have to go. However, we need to do this without losing the heart of our towns. There are also some great shop keepers/owners out there but there are also others who have failed to move with the times. For instance, close open at 10am and close at 4pm. I'd love to use my local town more but it can be difficult because of simple things like opening hours.

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Portas is a complete waste of time. She's convinced some stupid people that she can revitalise our High Streets when anybody with sense knows that shopping habits have changed towards malls and the internet. It must be 20 years ago when I attended a meeting in M&S HQ and one of their directors commented that they had made a huge mistake in sticking to the High Streets instead of catering for the 'in-car shopper'.

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The only people to benefit from this is Mary, the tv people and the government department given the money to spend on shops, after taking their costs and expenses out of it. Shops will open only when rents & rates along with business tax comes down to a reasonable level, and the economy picks up. We all know this except the government.

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