TOWN centre traders blighted by four years of uncertainty over the High Wycombe £95 million Western Sector development have written to the council asking for assurance that the scheme will go ahead.

Acting on behalf of a client, chartered surveyor David Buller, of Wellings Commercial, wrote to Lee Dawson, Wycombe District Council's head of valuation services, following press reports that Great Portland Estates wanted to withdraw from the funding agreement for the new shopping centre.

He demanded confirmation that the council still intended to purchase his client's company.

In his letter Mr Buller pointed out: "My client's concern, and no doubt other affected businesses have similar concerns, is how to plan his business.

"He has already experienced considerable difficulty in recruiting and retaining staff as a result of job insecurity and he is aware that to maintain an ongoing business, significant capital improvements should be undertaken.

"He has now been put in a position where he is unable to make any rational decisions as to the future of his business."

Mr Dawson expressed regret in his responding letter that firms which are likely to be taken over by a compulsory purchase order were having difficulty keeping staff.

He said: "I am sure however that you will appreciate whilst the council are confident that the scheme will go ahead, nothing is 100 per cent certain. Until all the documentation is signed and there is no doubt about the future of the scheme, the council cannot purchase your client's interest.

"Once the council are in a position to implement the compulsory purchase order, we will be able to agree the level of appropriate compensation to your client which, when agreed, will be paid to him as soon as possible."

"Since that letter, we haven't heard a word," says Mr Buller, who wrote to the council back in January.

"Retailers affected by the scheme are all in a state of limbo a no-win situation."

The stalemate is likely to last until the result of a High Court case in July when GPE will ask the court to decide whether it has the right to pull out of its agreement with MAB, the Dutch company which put forward the chosen scheme to develop Wycombe's Western Sector.

The developer's contract with its funding partner prohibits MAB approaching other backers at this stage, though others are believed to have expressed interest.

A spokesman for GPE said the decision about its continued involvement with the scheme would be made following the court case.

Despite the recurring turbulence encountered by the council's efforts to give Wycombe a 21st century shopping centre to compete with neighbouring major towns, Alan Fulford, chairman of the Western Sector steering group remains optimistic.

He insists: "It is incumbent on us to resolve the difficulties and deliver this scheme because Wycombe needs it. It is a crying shame that for so many years it has been elusive."