As his first act as president of Kettering Chamber of Trade, Newlands shopping centre manager Neil Griffin is writing to every trader in the town to give them a free 18-month membership to the organisation.

Of the 2,000 companies being written to, he hopes the majority of them will become involved in the chamber to boost the voice of business in Kettering and help them fight to compete against neighbouring town centres, including Corby and Wellingborough.

The Chamber of Trade currently only has 47 members and Mr Griffin said: "There has to be movement otherwise we are going to get left behind and we can't afford for that to happen. We are going to write to every individual business and say unless they say differently, they are a member for free until January 2010.

"We want to be an organisation with 2,000 members and have clout to say 'this is right' and 'this isn't right'.

"We can't let Corby and Wellingborough go past us."

The chamber aims to hold quarterly meetings, with the first scheduled for September.

The move to bring together Kettering's business community comes as plans are being drawn up to improve shopping in other towns in the north of the county,

After the completion of the £40m Willow Place shopping centre owner Land Securities has submitted an application for a second £100m development for the town. Plans are also in the pipeline for Wellingborough town centre.

Gus Brook, who runs Sonic Boom Records in Kettering.

He said: "It's important we're all pulling in the same direction."