Dudley North MP Ian Austin will meet Mary Portas, star of BBC2's ‘Mary Queen of Shops' in October to discuss recommendations to revive town centres such as Dudley.

Portas is studying the health of the high street and will be presenting recommendations to the Prime Minister later this year.

Earlier this year Austin wrote to Portas inviting her to see at first-hand the challenges faced by Dudley town centre and also to hear from local shoppers, shop owners, councillors and residents about what they want to see done to improve things.

Ian Austin said:

"Unlike other areas our town centre failed to attract investment in a decade when the economy boomed. This lack of investment has left it in a much weaker position to cope with the effects of the recession."

"We need the council to make the town centre its number one priority and accelerate plans to bring empty buildings back into use and revamp the marketplace

"We have a fantastic heritage to draw on and we should use it to drive regeneration and bring tourism into the town centre to boost the economy."

"I am meeting Mary Portas on 18 October and it will be a great chance to listen to her expert take on what we can do to improve our town centre.

"Many people from Dudley have contacted me with their suggestions for how we can improve things. I will be sharing these ideas with Mary and I hope that the issues we highlight will be taken into consideration when she presents her recommendations to the Prime Minister. And I hope she will agree to come to Dudley to see the town centre for herself."