A MARKET town's civic leaders are hoping to appoint a town centre manager by the end of the year, following the publication of a report into its economic health.

The appointment,, and a complete revamp of the Richmond town centre forum were highlighted in the report as crucial to the town's future prosperity.

Independent consultants Edaw, hired by the forum earlier this year, also set targets of 150 new jobs in the town centre, a reduction in empty shops, and a 50 per cent increase in retail turnover during the next five years.

The report was commissioned to assess the economic state of the town centre, particularly in the wake of supermarket Tesco opening a £15m store at Catterick Garrison.

Town centre forum chairman, Paul Cullen, said it painted an accurate picture of Richmond and stressed that the group would be acting on its recommendations.

He said: "The results of the study were quite positive and bode well for the future. It did recommend a completely revamped town centre forum, consisting of some sort of a board, and a town centre manager to take Richmond forward in the next five years.

"The way forward suggested was accepted by most people as a sensible approach and hopefully by the end of the year we will be in a position to have a new kind of forum and a town centre manager."

Mr Cullen said the board would probably be made up of ten to 12 people, representing authorities and associations connected with Richmond.

He said: "It's important to set these targets. Some are quite steep targets, but sometimes if you don't have steep targets you don't strive as hard."

Consultant Chris Duffill, of the Glasgow-based Edaw, said the Tesco store did have an impact on Richmond, but the full extent would only be known in about nine months.

He said the suggestion of a new-look forum was put forward because of the current group's lack of resources and a public feeling that it was ineffective.