SO there's another crisis gone: the recession, we are told, is over. But its impact hasn't quite disappeared.

Take a walk down the high street. Does it look as though the recession is over? On average, 15 per cent of shops are empty. More than 100,000 people became insolvent over the past year, and 20,000 companies have gone under.

Penny-watching shoppers, rates increases and folding businesses are hitting town centres across Britain. But Neath traders are determined to ride out the storm, as they tell KATE CLARKE.

ANOTHER day, another shop closure: this time in Neath. The Wales Air Ambulance will shut up shop for the last time after Easter weekend, with the manager citing crippling 25 per cent rent rises from Neath Town Council as the last straw.

The closure comes on the heels of a run of others in the past year or two, including Evans, iconic brand Woolworths, and award-winning lingerie shop Girlie Things.

Traders in town centres all over Britain are facing tough times and cautious shoppers, and this is not a Neath-only story.

But now Neath shopkeepers have vowed to keep the town buoyant, in the face of yet more shutdowns.

Nicola O'Brien, from Fine China, in Queen Street, which has been based in Neath for more than 20 years, says she is saddened by the closures, and it gives the place a depressed air.

"It has had such an impact. Nobody wants to go to a town where half the shops are closed down do they?" she said.

And if large firms have struggled to keep afloat, she says, smaller family firms have less of a buffer to protect their business in tough times, so the fabric of Neath changes for good when those family shops go.

"We had a lovely little bookshop here which closed down about a year ago, and I know the main problem was that the lady who ran it said the rents were just too high. "She couldn't afford them," she added.

"It was one of those places where she would order a book in for you if she didn't have it, which you don't get in some of the bigger shops. So we aren't just losing shops, we are losing that kind of community way of shopping that you have in a small town."

Nicola is worried that the town council isn't doing enough to help.

"I don't think the council cares, really, and I don't think they are doing enough to help the town," she said.

"They put bollards up by New Look between 10am and 5pm, for instance, so delivery drivers can't get down there now, which doesn't help."

Keith Harding, from Neath Chamber of Trade, says the overview from his members is one of worry, but of determination too.

"One of my concerns is that some of the shops which have closed down might be waiting to go into the new town centre redevelopment, which isn't due to go ahead until 2012.

"If that is the case, that's a long time for those shops to lie empty. Thankfully, so far we have not had a problem with vandalism or anything like that, but no-one wants to see empty shops in a town."

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He says he is pleased, though, that the plan is to set the new shopping complex in the town itself, so businesses won't be drained off from the centre of Neath to an out-of-town development, as they have been from Llanelli to sites such as Trostre and Parc Fforestfach. "So yes, I am glad the centre will be in Neath itself," he added.

"But I am hearing mixed feelings about rates, as well.

"Some of the shopkeepers have expressed concern and some haven't, but I would like to see a cap on rates to give any potential new business a stable start and to support established ones.

"I think a cap on rates for a year or two would help people budget, so there isn't that danger of them starting a business in Neath and then facing huge increases they can't cope with in those early stages."

Keith, who runs a security alarm firm, says the idea of a local loyalty card is one his members are discussing, to try to give Neath a boost.

"I know there is one in Mumbles, which people use in the local shops there. It is one of many things we are looking at and it is a possibility for Neath as well, I think."

He stresses, too, that in straightened times businesses do well to focus on the things they can offer that the high street big-hitters can't.

"For instance, my business has grown year on year because we have built up customer loyalty, and a lot of our work comes from word of mouth. I have been here a long time so if, for instance, Mrs Jones phones up with an inquiry it only takes me a few seconds to work out that she is the Mrs Jones with the black Labrador. I know my customers and they know me. You only get that with small, established businesses, and I think customer care is more important now than ever."

Neath town centre manager Terry Hardy says he understands people's concerns, but the future of Neath as a trading town remains bright, from his perspective.

"I have no concerns, particularly with planning for the proposed new £80 to £90 million development going in towards the later part of this year," he said.

"The old civic centre has been demolished and the first phase will be to build a new 880 space car park." He says it is possible some companies will decide not to take up their lease again in the town centre, because they are holding off to move to the new site.

"I know Evans closed, not because of poor performance but because it didn't want to take up its lease again at that site."

But the overall message in town, he feels, is one of good news.

"Marks & Spencer is doing well and it has no plans to leave its site. A new coffee shop has just opened in Neath, Netty Betty's, and they have spent some money refurbishing the unit.

"We have an Italian market coming to Neath in May for three days and we had a very successful food festival in Neath in October, so there is a lot of good news."

He says calls for the town council to cap rates are misguided since only a handful of units in Neath belong to the council, most being in the hands of private landlords.

The clerk of Neath Town Council, Ann Ellis, says all its properties are dealt with by a property agent, and the increase on the Wales Air Ambulance site — sublet to that charity by Barnados — had been agreed with Barnados.

"It is a market rent for our properties," she adds.

Meanwhile, shoppers say they hope the town they love manages to build for the future.

Shopper Cath Daniels, aged 54, from Cimla, adds: "It isn't what it used to be. But having said that, I don't think it is faring as badly as some towns. Places like the market seem to be as popular as ever.

"And if we can just ride out the next 12 months or so, I think there are still good times ahead.''