People who use Ipswich town centre need to accept it has changed - but it can still have a bright future according to the borough's new chief executive.
Helen Pluck has already worked for the council for nearly 10 years - most recently as deputy chief executive to Russell Williams.
Last month she was confirmed as his full-time successor - and is looking forward to putting her own mark on the townby bringing a dynamism to the role to take the town forward.
The town centre is a concern - but Ipswich is not unique in facing serious challenges in this.
And Ms Pluck said it is important for people to realise it will not return to how it was in the past.
She said: "Ipswich still has a very strong retail centre - we have had shops like Primark that other centres are still only just about to see.
"But people do have to stop looking to the past too much - you're not going to see the return of huge department stores.
"What the town does have is a tremendous potential to develop as a great place to live and work."
One of the main things she wants to encourage is increased use of the town centre in the late afternoon/early evening when people are leaving work and then starting to head out for evening entertainment.
She said: "We do have to work to make people feel safe - I'm told the town centre is very safe but you have to ensure people feel that.
"We're seeing more PCSOs out - that's a step in the right direction."
Ms Pluck has been speaking to businesses looking to invest - and is hopeful that they will see what they can bring to Ipswich.
And she is confident that things are moving in the right direction in the Waterfront area of the town where borough council-owned properties near Stoke Bridge should soon start to see a new lease of life.
She said: "The silo and the former Burton's building are both coming along very well and that part of the Waterfront should really be transformed over the next few years."
The major part of her role, she says, has to be as a co-ordinator bringing the various different organisations running the town together and pulling in the same direction.
Sometimes it has seemed as different organisations are simply working to promote their own agendas - and the town has not been able to find common ground.
She said: "I want to try to ensure that people will work together to take the town forward.
"We do see people coming together from different authorities and organisations and I feel I have to help them to do that."
Ms Pluck's promotion to chief executive is just the first of a number of changes that could happen in the town over the next few months.
Current council leader David Ellesmere has already announced he will stand down after May's election and many local politicians are keeping a close eye on the run up to the next general election which is going to happen before the end of next year.
As chief executive, Ms Pluck will be at the forefront of the borough's development.
She has 10 years' experience as a council "insider" and wants to add to that a dynamism to drive the town forward.
And she knows it is not an easy time to be doing that: "In a recession authorities like us have to work hard to make our areas better, and there isn't much money around for that.
"It's quite a challenge but I'm looking forward to it."
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