THE MAIN PROVINCIAL TOWNS AS COMMERCIAL CENTRES

Scant attention has been paid to the effects of the growth of office employment in central London on the main provincial towns. The gov Command Paper 1982 on the distribution of rateable values between diff classes of property in England & Wales is used to answer some questions which arise re the effects on the commercial expansion, status & office employment in the towns. Data are presented in tabular form. The effects on rateable resources are seen as negative, since the 11 towns studied have had increases less than the nat'I X. Implications are considered, & a 12-point interpretation given. M. Farber.